Geraldton basketball round 12: Trades stun Pumas in upset while Valley and Hawks pick up big wins

Trades secured their third win of the season in an upset over Pumas in round 12 of Geraldton basketball, while Chapman Valley and Hawks both picked up 30-plus point wins.

Trades got the jump on Pumas early in their division one match on Wednesday and quickly built up a lead before Pumas closed to within one point at the quarter break.

In the second quarter, Trades sank back-to-back threes en route to 11 unanswered points. Jake Baker sank three-pointers on consecutive possessions to extend the Trades’ lead.

A late foul on Harry Evans made it a seven-point game going into the half-time break. Despite having just two wins prior, both against Stateside, Trades looked like the better side in the first half and Pumas could not connect on any shots from the deep.

The scoring troubles didn’t go away for Pumas in the second half as Trades stuck to a man defence, doubling players inside the paint, while Pumas had no outside scoring to punish them.

Pumas’ issues only built as Evans fouled out of the game early in the fourth quarter and from there Trades ran away with the match, winning 86-66.

Pumas made just three shots from deep while Trades sank 13 threes in the win, with Joseph Iaria leading the scoring with 27 points. William Galvin had 15 for the Pumas.

The battle between first and second on the ladder ended in a blowout as Chapman Valley kept their undefeated train rolling against the Olympians on Tuesday.

Olympians jumped out the gate after they won the tip off and sent a bullet to Bradley Roworth for the game’s first points.

Valley got physical early in the game, using the combination of Russell Hurst and Mathew Wundenberg to score inside, while Aaron Ralph continued to be a threat from three.

The high-scoring first quarter ended with Valley on top by six and Hurst with 11 points.

The game looked out of hand in the second quarter as Olympians struggled to get up shots and a three from Ralph made it a 20-point game just four minutes into the second.

Olympians were able to respond early in the third quarter but Chapman Valley dominated the fourth to pick up the 104-70 win, dropping Olympians from second to fourth on the ladder.

Ralph (30) had another big game from beyond the arc, dropping eight three-pointers, and was supported by Hurst (23), while Johny Narkle had 25 points for Olympians.

The final game on Wednesday saw Hawks debut their new uniforms against Stateside, who managed to keep the game competitive early with a high-scoring first half but couldn’t keep up a four-quarter effort.

Hawks secured the 107-71 win to snag the last spot in the finals as league-leading scorer Bob Griechen kept the train rolling with 33 points. Lucas Ronan had 19 points for Stateside, while Beau Simpson (18) was lethal from range with six three-pointers.

In men’s division two, Olympians grabbed a 72-59 win over Chapman Valley, Stateside beat Hawks 66-55 and Trades got up 55-32 over Pumas.