West Recap | Preliminary Finals Sunday

Image credit: Michael Farnell (Sports Imagery)

Willetton Tigers (80) lost to Geraldton Buccaneers (99)

Grand Final MVP's Johny Narkle and Liam Hunt came up huge as Geraldton Buccaneers willed themselves to come from behind and beat the Willetton Tigers 99-80 in the preliminary final to advance to the NBL1 West Grand Final.

The Buccs have been a team on a mission all season long in 2025 after losing to Willetton at home in last year's preliminary final to miss being part of the first ever Grand Final at RAC Arena after finishing the regular season four games clear on top.

It was only fitting that it was a preliminary final rematch again on Sunday afternoon only this time it was at Willetton Basketball Stadium with a spot in next Saturday night's Grand Final at RAC Arena on the line.

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Geraldton finished the regular season as the hottest team in the league having won their last 11 matches by an average of 28 points and by putting up 113 points a game in that run, but they were then stunned at home by the Senators in the qualifying final.

That saw the Buccs have to beat the Goldfields Giants on Friday night in Geraldton just to advance to the preliminary final while the Tigers earned the hosting rights on the back of finishing fourth and beating the Flames in Rockingham by putting up 121 last Saturday night.

Willetton made a strong start opening up a seven-point lead in the first quarter and they were still leading 28-23 by quarter-time on the back of shooting 10/19 from the floor opposed to the 9/21 from the Buccs.

The Tigers did remain on top for most of the second term too but the Buccs were hanging around and Willetton were never quite able to push out to a double-figure lead.

The Tigers went into the half-time break only leading 52-50 which was a good result for the Buccaneers given how threatening Willetton had been looking to pull away.

Geraldton had stayed close thanks to 15 second chance points to six in that first half and then it was that will to crash the offensive glass led by Liam Hunt and Joshua Keyes that saw the Buccs work their way on top in the third term.

The Buccaneers would go on a 10-0 scoring run to be leading 73-66 at three quarter-time and then the Buccs retained control the rest of the way with 26 points to 14 in the final period to open up a 19-point advantage by the final buzzer.

Geraldton have now qualified for their first Grand Final since their championship triumph in 2023 and a 10th decider overall in their history as they attempt to win a fourth title now on Saturday night against the Warwick Senators at RAC Arena.

The major difference between the two teams was Geraldton desire to crash the glass and the Buccs pulled down 26 offensive rebounds to 12 for the game from which they scored 23 second chance points to 11.

That ultimately led to the Buccaneers taking 12 extra shots and 11 more free throws for the game than the Tigers as they willed themselves into a Grand Final after the devastation of losing at home to the same team in the same game 12 months earlier.

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Johny Narkle has the chance to begin his NBL career at the Illawarra Hawks by bringing another championship to Geraldton with the 2023 Grand Final MVP producing 25 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

The 2019 Grand Final MVP Liam Hunt was huge too with six offensive boards on his way to 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four blocks while also ended the game with a headband over a nasty cut following a head clash with Tom Gerovich.

Joshua Keyes also had six offensive rebounds for Geraldton on his way to 23 points, 14 boards and three assists with Akeem Springs providing 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Verle Williams nine points and three boards.

Willetton battled to get back to being part of the second straight Grand Final at RAC Arena with Damien Scott doing all that he could to will his team to another decider in the 375th game of his glittering career.

He reached his 350-game milestone in last year's Grand Final and it might take another appearance on that stage next year for him to reach the 400-game mark in 2026. He finished the game with 26 points, five rebounds and two assists on 10/12 shooting and 3/3 from downtown.

Tana Kopa finished with another 13 points, three assists and two rebounds, Taeshon Cherry 12 points and six boards, Michael Vigor 10 points, 11 boards and nine assists, and Roosevelt Williams Jr eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.

WILLETTON TIGERS 80 (Scott 26, Kopa 13, Cherry 12)

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 99 (Narkle 25, Keyes 23, Hunt 21)