NBL1 West Recap | Sunday Men's Preliminary Final

The Geraldton Buccaneers have been the standout team all NBL1 West season 2022 and they are now into the Grand Final following a thumping win over the Joondalup Wolves on Sunday.

The Buccs played host to the Wolfpack in Sunday's preliminary final at Active West Stadium with the winner to book in a place against the Rockingham Flames in next Saturday's Grand Final.

The Flames booked their place in a second straight NBL1 West Grand Final by defeating the Warwick Senators 85-74 in Saturday night's preliminary final at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

Their opponents were to be decided in Geraldton on Sunday with the Buccs having finished the regular season on top spot and then earning the rights to host the preliminary final by beating the Cockburn Cougars by 31 points in the qualifying final.

The Wolfpack had to beat the Goldfields Giants in a cracking contest in Friday night's semi-final to get to the preliminary final and then in Geraldton on Sunday, the Buccs flexed their significant muscle once again to deliver another emphatic performance.

The Buccaneers went on to win 107-81 to advance to the Grand Final as they attempt to back up their breakthrough championship win in 2019 after having two tough COVID affected seasons the last two years since.

It now looms as quite the fascinating Grand Final match up between the Geraldton Buccaneers and Rockingham Flames at Bendat Basketball Centre on Saturday night.

You have a Buccs team looking to win a third championship and second in four years while the Flames are out to make history by winning their first.

But if you look at the talent on either side, it's going to be a remarkable contest. You have superstar Buccs imports Shaun Stewart and Cameron Coleman up against the dynamic Flames duo of Devondrick Walker and Marshall Nelson.

You have legendary Buccs captain Mat Wundenberg in a big man battle with Tom Jervis from the Flames as well, you have 2019 Grand Final MVP Liam Hunt there for the Buccs and four-time NBL champion Greg Hire there for the Flames, and that's just some of the stars who will be involved.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
PRELIMINARY FINALS – SUNDAY

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 107 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 81

The Geraldton Buccaneers and Joondalup Wolves renewed their rivalry with a spot in the NBL1 West Grand Final on the line in Sunday's preliminary final in Geraldton.

While plenty of names and faces might have changed at the two teams, they famously met in the 2019 Grand Final where the Buccs broke their near 20-year championship drought while the Wolfpack suffered a fourth successive Grand Final defeat.

There's been a massive turnover in personnel at all levels of the Wolfpack since then while the Buccs had two tough years hurt by the COVID pandemic following that championship, but both teams have been right back on top of their games again in 2022.

Geraldton has had an outstanding 2022 season finishing on top of the table with a 19-3 record before they then delivered a 31-point hammering at home to the Cockburn Cougars in the qualifying final.

Joondalup ended up in third position at the end of the regular season before losing a tough qualifying final by nine points to the Rockingham Flames.

The Wolfpack then had the rights to host Friday night's semi-final and it was a tremendous contest that went right down to the final buzzer where they prevailed 85-83 against the Goldfields Giants.

So the stage was set for the Buccs and Wolfpack to renew their rivalry with a Grand Final spot at stake at Active West Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Just like they did the week before at Cockburn, Geraldton came out breathing fire and by quarter-time had blown the Wolves out of the water by piling on 35 points and conceding just the 18 with 2019 Grand Final MVP knocking down a three ball just before quarter-time.

While the Buccs' lead did get out to 20 points early in the second quarter, but the Wolves were able to stay within striking distance to cut Geraldton's half-time lead to 55-44.

The Buccaneers weren’t in the mood to let the visitors back into the contest, though, and the home team asserted their dominance once more in the third quarter. They blew their lead back out to 18 points and then it was celebration time in front of their loud and loyal home fans in the fourth term.

The Buccs delivered 27 points to 19 in the last quarter to see them end up winning 107-81 to reach the 2022 Grand Final where they will attempt to beat the Rockingham Flames and win the club's third championship, and first since 2019.

It was another complete performance from the Buccaneers as they outrebounded the Wolves 46 boards to 34 while shooting 52.7 per cent from the floor and knocking down 16/32 at 50.0 per cent from three-point territory.

The Wolfpack went at 42.9 per cent from the field while hitting 6/25 at 25.0 per cent from beyond the arc.

Shaun Stewart was outstanding once again for Geraldton finishing the afternoon with 28 points, five assists and four rebounds on 11/16 shooting from the floor.

Cameron Coleman delivered another 27 points, eight rebounds and three assists while hitting 6/11 from three-point territory.

Mathiang Muo also produced 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, Liam Hunt 13 points and eight rebounds, and Malik Meunier 11 points six assists, four boards and two steals.

CJ Turnage finished with 23 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Wolves with Jonathan Wade contributing 20 points and eight boards, Julian Pesava 13 points and five rebounds, Maris Colton 11 points and four boards, and Joel Vaiangina 10 points and six rebounds.