Match report presented with thanks to Harry Hawker
ECU sports journalism student 

 

Ridell Camidge impressed the Joondalup audience in his first game at HBF Arena on Saturday night scoring 32 points en-route to the Wolves 91-83 win against Goldfield Giants.

Camidge scored eight of his 13 three-point attempts including three in a row to start the second half.

When asked about Camidge’s hot shooting performance, Coach Ben Ettridge said that Camidge was right on the radar “on November 13^th when I first saw his highlight reel.”

Fellow boom recruit, and Oceania region international, Earnest Ross Jr. also impressed with 25 points and dominating the glass with 15 rebounds.

Wolves second import Kevin Davis got into foul trouble early but will be looking to make his mark as the season continues.

Goldfields got off to a strong start with Patrick Burke hitting two shots with contact late in the first quarter giving the Giants a lead of 30-26 heading in to the first break.

Burke would top score for the Giants with 24 points to go along with eight rebounds.

The game would stay tight with both teams trading buckets in the second quarter until Ross and Camidge combined for 11 points in the last two minutes making the halftime score 53-42.

Late in the second quarter, Goldfield’s Michael Gardner would sub out of the game with a sore ankle and would not return. Gardner had four points without missing a field goal.

The second half soon got underway and was highlighted by Ridell Camidge hitting the first three shots of the half all from long range.

With a lead of 18 points the Wolves looked to run away with this one until and inspired 19-6 run by Goldfield got the lead back to three points.

Led by Julius ‘Jay’ Bowie who scored seven points in a row and David Humphries with five quick points to end the quarter, the teams went into the final break with Joondalup leading 73-68.

It was a slow start to the fourth quarter with only seven points being scored in the first three and a half minutes.

With the game still on the line at 76-72, David Humphries traded threes with Robert Huntington keeping the four-point cushion intact.

Another big shot from Humphries brought the lead to just two points with four minutes remaining in play before Camidge hit his eighth triple of the game giving the Wolves a five-point lead with three on the clock.

As time expired Earnest Ross came through strong, scoring six points in a row and setting Joondalup up for a 91-83 victory.

Following the game Coach Ettridge was questioned on how a game seemingly in the bag still came down to the wire.

Ettridge said “we’ve had 45 minutes together as a team, so we’ll look at it but those little things that you can build in where you can perhaps call a timeout or make adjustments. It’s a long process and we’ll be ready when we’re ready”.

 

Joondalup Wolves will be looking to continue their hot streak to start the season next Saturday at HBF Arena against Stirling Senators, in the annual SBL blockbuster fixture, the Battle of Joondalup IV game.