Geraldton Buccaneers call for supporters to join ‘winnable’ basketball road trips

The Geraldton Buccaneers are calling for travelling support as they look to get a disrupted season back on track with two away games the side’s coach says are winnable.

The Buccs play away against Mandurah Magic at the Mandurah Aquatic & Recreation Centre this Saturday, before travelling to Kalamunda to face the Eastern Suns at Ray Owen Sports Centre next weekend.

Buccs coach Dayle Joseph said both games were winnable for the side as the last ever State Basketball League winners look to turn around an inconsistent start to their first season in the NBL1 West.

The Buccs lost 63-90 over the weekend to a Perry Lakes Hawks side which is top of the table on percentage with five wins and a loss.

Mathiang Muo put up 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Buccs, while Ben Purser top-scored in a strong and even performance from the Hawks with 17 points and five assists.

“We got outplayed and outclassed by a good team,” Joseph said.

“We’ve still got to work on our execution at the offensive end.

“Their bigger bodies and intense defence made it difficult for us, which is probably what we would like to be at our end, be disruptive and make it tough for teams to run their plays.”

He said the Hawks had scored 22 points from fast breaks while the Buccs had scored two.

The team will be looking to improve in its upcoming games, and Joseph said it would be interesting to see how much travelling support showed up for the Buccs’ next two games, which should be “winnable”.

Mandurah continued to show just how much they have improved in 2021 under the coaching of Aaron Trahair with an impressive 82-74 victory over the Perth Redbacks.

Ben Smith put up 21 points and nine rebounds.

Mark Worthington’s South West Slammers backed up their remarkable double overtime win from last week’s round, beating Kalamunda 90-80.