Round 14 Spotlight | Shorthanded Buccs show fight against Senators

The Warwick Senators came away with the win they needed on Sunday afternoon at Warwick Stadium, but the shorthanded Geraldton Buccaneers sure made them earn it in what turned out a physical, eventful, spiteful and overall entertaining contest.

Both teams were coming off Saturday night victories with the Senators welcoming back Justin King and beating the Joondalup Wolves while the Buccaneers began life without both Mat Wundenberg and Aaron Ralph with a road win over Lee Roberts and the East Perth Eagles.

However, backing up for the Buccs the next day at midday at Warwick Stadium was going to be a challenge after Brandon Holloway, Mathiang Muo, Elijah Barbour and Will Galvin all played 35 minutes or more against East Perth.

The rotation shrunk even more as Sunday's game unfolded for the Buccs as the upset victory was genuinely on the cards. While the Senators got the important 81-76 victory in the end they needed as the end of the regular season closes in, the Buccs certainly lost no admirers.

Geraldton started strongly and with two threes from Mathiang Muo to close the opening quarter, they led 23-22 by quarter-time.

It was more of the same as the tight and tense battle gathered steam in the second quarter and when Brandon Holloway hit a three for Geraldton just before half-time, it was the Buccaneers who went into the break leading the Senators 41-39.

It was no surprise to see the Buccs begin to tire in the third quarter with starters Galvin, Muo, Taite Wattie, Barbour and Holloway playing just about the whole term to try and keep the game close.

However, the Senators had too much firepower to not get rolling at some point and they opened the second half with the first six points and when Caleb Davis, Cody Ellis and Ethan Elliott all drained threes the game threatened to blow out.

It became a double-figure lead and was still eight in favour of Warwick by three quarter-time but Geraldton found another gear somehow and gave it one last crack.

Five quick points from powerhouse Wattie had Geraldton suddenly just four down with just under three minutes on the clock.

The drama then went up another level on the next play out of a timeout after the Buccs forced a turnover. Things got heated under the Geraldton basket and the end result was the ejection of Davis for the Senators and Wattie for the Buccs with two and-a-half minutes to go.

Once the dust settled and the free-throws were shot, it was a 75-72 lead for Warwick with game on. Muo would draw another foul and he brought the Buccs within two shortly after and the stage was set.

It was teenage sensation Ethan Elliott who got to the rack for a big bucket for Warwick but Holloway answered to keep it a one-point game. 

This time Alier Riak put the Senators back up three and then the big call of the game, an offensive foul on Muo with the charge drawn by Ellis, saw a Geraldton turnover and Justin King made two big free-throws as the Senators held on to win by five to keep their top four hopes alive.

Cody Ellis finished with 20 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals for the Senators while shooting 7/12 from the field and 3/6 from downtown.

Caleb Davis added 17 points and seven rebounds, Justin King 17 points and six boards, Ethan Elliott 13 points, four boards and four assists, and Alier Riak eight points and four rebounds.

It was a brave showing from Geraldton with Mathiang Muo playing all 40 minutes for 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds. 

Young big Will Galvin also played the whole game for seven rebounds and two steals with Brandon Holloway running the point for over 38 minutes for 15 points and three assists. 

Elijah Barbour also played 34 minutes with 13 points, four boards and four assists while Taine Wattie (13 points, four rebounds) and Oliver Haste (eight points, 2/5 from three) split that role as fifth and sixth man.

Coming into this weekend with a 3-10 record and having lost club greats Mat Wundenberg and Aaron Ralph to injury for the rest of the season and already on a five-game losing streak, and the Buccs could have been excusing for thinking everything about 2021 had become too hard.

But coach Dayle Joseph used that to spur on the players he did have available for this road trip and they came up huge to beat East Perth on Saturday night, and you couldn’t question the spirited effort they gave against the Senators.

Taking away the 860 games of experience combined with championship winning Buccs legends Ralph and Wundenberg, Joseph trusted his remaining group this week to relax and have fun, and focus on themselves and it paid off.

"On Tuesday night we tried to keep it pretty light and have a bit of fun. We just did a lot of shooting and played a few games to make things a bit light-hearted," Joseph said.

"Then on Thursday we just concentrated on ourselves instead of what the other teams we're playing are doing. We just focused on how we can get better individually and I think that's pretty important for us moving forward.

"We probably said after the game that there's not too many times when you can walk away and be proud of the way you played even in a loss. But coming off last night and backing it up today and perform well against a good team is something we're proud of. 

"I think there were condolences going around from some people towards us before we even started this weekend, but we threw that challenge out there to the guys we've still got playing and it might have been a bit of bait for them. I thought they competed really well on the back of it."

On the back of a morale-lifting win against East Perth on Saturday night, the Buccs threw everything at the Senators on Sunday only really using six players and Joseph couldn’t have been prouder of the fighting effort.

"I know there was a little bit of an incident there with about two minutes to go when I thought we had the momentum. That probably gave them a chance to regroup a little bit and it would have been interesting if that just played out," he said.

"They then go away from us a bit in those last two minutes but we fought it out and still with 30 seconds to go it was only a three-point game. If they had told us that coming into the game we would have taken that every time. 

"Brandon Holloway proved his worth and he's coming back from a second knee reconstruction, and he showed that he's a quality point guard and it made a hell of a difference to our team with him being in control of running things."

There was a lot of exciting signs for the future for the Buccaneers from the weekend and nothing more so than the 79 minutes played from young big Will Galvin.

He had 17 rebounds across the two games but it's the learning and development he would gain from that much court time opposed to the likes of Lee Roberts and Ash Litterick that will prove invaluable for the 20-year-old.

"We made Will Galvin play on Lee Roberts and he spent most of the night against him even though we did play a bit of zone, but more often than not he was fighting out of his weight division a little bit," Joseph said. 

"He ended up playing 40 minutes and I know he didn’t score, but he probably stopped a lot and he played an awesome game. Elijah Barbour has been promising me that he's got more in the tank for us and for him to step up like he did was awesome too."

What another new arrival for this season Taine Wattie from New Zealand provided this weekend offered a glimpse into why Joseph was so keen to sign him, and hopes to see him stick around beyond 2021.

"We got Taine for that very reason, we were looking at a couple of players from his club back home and we have a bit of a connection with some of the players there so we were looking at some of their players," he said. 

"Taine's description of his rugby background and competitiveness caught our eye hence we got him over and I like the way he plays defence. 

"He has come up against some pretty tough and competitive players lately and especially I thought he fought hard against Greg Hire who is such a smart, aggressive player. Then in this game he came up against guys like Caleb, Cody and Justin King, and I thought he did a good job while giving up some inches."

To sum up the challenges of trying to put a team together for 2021 for Joseph and the Buccaneers, to have the start to the season interrupted by Tropical Cyclone Seroja, and now to have had the personnel and injury troubles they have means it's tough to put it into words.

However, one thing Joseph could never question is the heart shown and commitment given from everyone involved at the club, and now for the rest of 2021 he just wants to help ensure everybody is improving in one form or another, and getting the best out of themselves.

"We probably don't have long enough to go through everything what we've been through this year to be fair. We started looking to build our team back in November and had players ready to go who pulled out," Joseph said.

"We sweated on imports hoping that door would open and it didn’t. A couple of players were prepared to commit and then didn’t, and that continued this week. 

"We had someone coming over from Melbourne but then on Wednesday the border closed and then even on Saturday we had someone who was prepared to come over from New Zealand, but airport issues meant they couldn’t get out. We could just about write a book about this year I reckon.

"Even coming down this weekend our goal was to make sure everyone got better. Harry or Tom didn’t hit the court, but I think hopefully they learned something from seeing how hard we played and what's required to play in these circumstances. 

"Hopefully they take something from that and same with Elijah, I don’t know if he'll stay around or not, but the idea is to make him a better player by the time he leaves us and it's the same with Mathiang. 

"Whatever happens, we hope every player gets better over the remaining time we have together and hopefully we improve as a team, and can pinch some wins along the way."

NBL1 WEST MEN'S DIVISION 2021
ROUND 14

FRIDAY
South West Slammers 73 lost to Cockburn Cougars 90
Lakeside Lightning 91 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 86
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 76 lost to East Perth Eagles 82

SATURDAY
Perth Redbacks 89 defeated Lakeside Lightning 77
Perry Lakes Hawks 95 defeated South West Slammers 69
Joondalup Wolves 77 lost to Warwick Senators 90
East Perth Eagles 72 lost to Geraldton Buccaneers 75
Mandurah Magic 65 defeated Willetton Tigers 62
Goldfields Giants 60 lost to Rockingham Flames 96

SUNDAY
Goldfields Giants 78 lost to Cockburn Cougars 84
Warwick Senators 81 defeated Geraldton Buccaneers 76