Buccs lose two-for-two away from home

A tough weekend on the road has seen the S&K Geraldton Buccaneers slip to ninth on the ladder after they lost both matches in their away double-header.

After starting brightly in Saturday night’s contest against the ladder-leading Cockburn Cougars, the Buccs faded in the second half and struggled to generate any offence, eventually losing 104-89.

Static ball movement proved costly as they gave up 20 turnovers to the Cougars 10, while also only managing a paltry five assists for the game.

Buccs coach Aaron Trahair said he hoped their carelessness with the ball was only a one off, while admitting the low assist numbers were concerning.

“It’s something that was mentioned after both games… (it’s) just about sharing the ball a little bit more and trying to create for each other,” he said.

“That’s definitely something we’re going to be working on going forward.”

Mat Adekponya continued his strong early season form with 31 points and seven rebounds, while captain Mat Wundenberg made a surprise return to register a double-double after declaring himself fit once they’d arrived in Perth.

However, it wasn’t enough as Cougars big man Marcus Goode did as he pleased on his way to 31 points and 18 rebounds, while Rhett Della Maddalena scored 22 points from 11-15 shooting.

“We had a real hard time stopping their big fella Goode from scoring, he really got a handle of us in the second quarter and he (also) really slowed us down offensively,” Trahair said.

“It was good to see Mat out there, he gave us what he always does but it took me a bit by surprise to be honest.”

It was always going to be difficult for the Buccs to back up on Sunday afternoon in their game against the Alan Black-led Willetton Tigers and so it proved, as they never really got going before crashing to a 112-88 loss.

Tigers guard Damien Scott was on fire, scoring 10-18 from deep, while their star recruit Jay Bowie chimed in with 24 points and four steals.

Trahair gave more minutes to his bench players due to the previous night’s taxing effort, but no one really managed to make much of an impact.

The Buccs record now sits at 3-3 and they will be keen to get back on the winners list on Saturday night against the Rockingham Flames.