Featured image: J.S.Smith
The Willetton Tigers kept their winning form in the NBL1 West going while Damon Ballantyne starred as the Goldfields Giants hit back and Johny Narkle and Nik DeSantis led the Geraldton Buccaneers over the Joondalup Wolves in a Grand Final rematch.
Sunday's lone women's match in the NBL1 North saw the Willetton Tigers beat the Goldfields Giants 92-59.
The men's contests then saw the Giants beat the Tigers 90-86 while the Geraldton Buccaneers beat the Joondalup Wolves 89-72.
RECAP NBL1 WEST | ROUND 14 SATURDAY
RECAP NBL1 WEST | ROUND 14 FRIDAY
LUBCKE HOPES CONCUSSION JOURNEY CREATES AWARENESS
WOMEN
Willetton Tigers (92) defeated Goldfields Giants (59)
The Willetton Tigers scored a second big win of the weekend to further consolidate a playoff position with Sunday's 92-59 home victory against the Goldfields Giants.
The Tigers started their weekend with a 41-point win on the road on Friday night over the South West Slammers while the Giants started their double on the road with a 66-point loss the previous evening to the Warwick Senators.
It was a big task for Goldfields to try and turn that result around the next day up against a Willetton team having played in the past three Grand Finals and looking to put themselves in the mix to get back there again.
Willetton was able to take control in the first quarter with a 12-0 scoring run to open up a 17-point lead and then the Tigers kept building on that throughout the rest of the contest.
Willetton ended up leading by as much as 20 points in the second quarter, by 29 points in the third and then by as much as 34 in the fourth before securing the eventual 33-point win.
It's a fourth straight win now for the Tigers as they continue to build impressive momentum at the right time of the season to be sitting in sixth position with a 9-7 record.
After twin sister Amy top-scored on Friday night, Claire Jacobs took over on Sunday finishing with 22 points, four steals, two rebounds and two assists on shooting 7/14 from the floor and 4/10 from three-point range.
Melisa Brcaninovic also had 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots, Jillian Archer 13 points, 16 boards and seven assists, Desiree Kelley 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Amy Jacobs 11 points, seven assists, five boards and two steals.
The Giants return home having now lost five straight with a 3-14 record with Jhazmin Joson finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Lauren Fech also provided 12 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, Kate Sidebottom eight points, and Alex Clinch Hoycard eight points and three boards.
The Tigers are now on the road to the Warwick Senators on Friday night with the Giants back home to play host to the Eastern Suns on Saturday.
WILLETTON TIGERS 92 (C Jacobs 22, Brcaninovic 17, Archer 13, Kelley 13)
GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 59 (Joson 16, Fech 12, K Sidebottom 8, Clinch Hoycard 8)
MEN
Joondalup Wolves (72) lost to Geraldton Buccaneers (89)
With Johny Narkle spectacular again and Nik DeSantis running things expertly for the Geraldton Buccaneers, the reigning champs won their Grand Final rematch on Sunday over the Joondalup Wolves 89-72.
It was the second time the two teams have played this season since last year's dramatic Grand Final where the Buccs stormed home to claim a second championship triumph directly at the expense of the Wolves in the space of five years.
Their first meeting this season took place in Geraldton earlier this month and that saw the Buccs again prevail by 11 points and they arrived at HBF Arena on Sunday having only lost once in all of 2024 so far.
The Wolfpack were back home and on a six-game winning streak of their own so the stage was set for another fascinating contest with it also pitting first against third in the current standings.
Joondalup were on a mission too to change that feeling of losing at the expense of the Buccaneers with the Wolves starting strongly to lead by as much as 10 points in the first quarter, and to still be up 27-20 by quarter-time.
But the Buccs have remarkable self-belief and inner drive where they can just find a way out of any jam, and that's exactly what they did in the second quarter with a spectacular display.
The Buccaneers piled on 39 points to 13 for the quarter including scoring 14 consecutive points to turn that seven-point deficit at the start of the quarter into a 19-point lead in their favour by the half-time break.
Geraldton went on with the job from there in the second half to lead by as much as 22 points and to end up scoring the 17-point victory away from home and return home on an 11-game winning streak.
The Buccaneers remain clear in top spot as a result at 18-1 with Johny Narkle backing up his Grand Final MVP performance last year against the Wolves with another 23 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
Nik DeSantis could very well be the recruit of the year right across the country at least in terms of local players and he starred again for Geraldton with another 19 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
Former league MVP Josh Braun is finding his groove nicely too and had 15 points, four rebounds and three assists with Liam Hunt contributing 13 points, six boards, three assists and two steals, and Joshua Keyes 10 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
The Wolves still sit in third at 14-5 having missed a chance to replace Willetton in second spot with the Tigers having lost twice this weekend, but the two teams do play another this coming Saturday.
Jonathan Wade once again top-scored for the Wolves with 19 points to go with six rebounds and two assists with CJ Turnage contributing 18 points, Jacob Wiley 14 points and seven rebounds, and Caleb Davis 13 points, six boards and two assists.
The Wolves are on the road next Saturday to the Willetton Tigers in a tantalising top two match up while the Buccs are back home to host the Rockingham Flames on Saturday.
JOONDALUP WOLVES 72 (Wade 19, Turnage 18, Wiley 14)
GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 89 (Narkle 23, DeSantis 19, Braun 15)
Willetton Tigers (86) lost to Goldfields Giants (90)
Damon Ballantyne came up huge for the Goldfields Giants in a bounce back and impressive 90-86 road victory on Sunday against the Willetton Tigers.
Both teams came into the Sunday match up at Willetton Basketball Stadium on the back of losses with Willetton's six-game winning streak ending on Friday night down south against the South West Slammers.
The Giants, meanwhile, started their road double weekend with an 11-point loss against the Warwick Senators the previous night so both teams were looking to hit back with plenty on the line for each.
It was a high scoring and exciting opening quarter with the Giants ending up leading 28-26 by quarter-time before Goldfields still maintained that narrow 51-49 edge by half-time.
Willetton were the ones to make the move first in the second half with the home team pushing out to a seven-point lead in the third quarter, but the Giants were able to fire back.
Goldfields captain Jerome Reid hit a huge three-pointer to start the fourth quarter to tie scores up once again but the lead continued to switch between the two teams with the tension building.
Eventually the biggest shot of the afternoon proved to be Randy Bell knocking down a three-pointer with just over two minutes to play to give Goldfields a six-point lead.
Bell then knocked down another three soon after in response to one for Willetton from Marshall Nelson, and in the end a dunk from De'Sean Parsons made sure of things and the Giants scored the four-point victory.
The result could be a defining one for both teams with the Giants going home having split their road weekend and now sitting in sixth spot with an 11-8 record.
The Tigers are only just clinging to second spot with two losses at 14-4 and a clash with the third placed Joondalup Wolves to come.
Giants imports Randy Bell and De'Sean Parsons have been in imposing form of late, but key to Sunday's win was Damon Ballantyne stepping up to deliver 28 points, six rebounds and two steals on 10/17 shooting from the field and 7/7 at the free-throw line.
Parsons also provided another 21 points, 18 rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Bell 21 points, six assists, four rebounds and two assists with Kon Anguik contributing 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
It was a tough double loss weekend for the second placed Willetton with Marshall Nelson finishing with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists with Michael Vigor adding 18 points, six boards, four assists and two steals in the 298th game of his career.
Roosevelt Williams also had 15 points and six rebounds, and Deng Gak seven points, eight boards and three assists.
The Tigers are now on the road to the Warwick Senators on Friday night with the Giants back home to play host to the Eastern Suns on Saturday.
WILLETTON TIGERS 86 (Vigor 18, Nelson 18, Williams 15)
GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 90 (Ballantyne 28, Bell 21, Parsons 21)
