The SKILLED Goldfields Giants went a long way to ending a travelling hoodoo in Geraldton by upstaging the Buccaneers 113-104 in their State Basketball League clash on Saturday night.

With forward Todd Earle draining seven three-pointers for 23 points, the Giants silenced a parochial home crowd of 800 at Geraldton’s Tip Top Stadium en route to their third successive victory.

It was just the Giants’ eighth win from 27 attempts in the Midwest town.

“I think the thing that set the game up for us was our defensive intensity and the fact we played as a solid team unit,” Giants head coach Wayne Creek said.

“There were no passengers – everyone did what they had to do.

“We had a great team atmosphere within the group and you have to.

“To come up to Geraldton where it’s 800 versus 17 of us on the bus, you have to stick together and we did that.”

The Giants had far greater depth off the bench, with substitutes scoring 28 points to Geraldton’s six.

Creek was pleased by the even contribution from the Giants, who had six players post double figures, including acting captain Matt Leske with a season-high 21 points.

American import Michael Haney brought his usual physical presence to the game in chipping in with 22 points and nine rebounds. Fellow import John Vaudreuil had 17 points and four rebounds.

Guard Jimmy Bowler continued his stellar month with 15 points, backing up from 10, 11 and 16 points in his previous three games.

Recruit Lordan Franich was also in double figures with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Much of the pre-game hype had concerned Geraldton import Ryan Zamroz, who had been averaging close to 34 points a game this season.

But Creek praised his side for making Zamroz work hard for every shot and was unfazed by the fact he ended up with 30 points, shooting 10 of 22 from the field.

“We pushed him out wide and made his life as hard as possible,” Creek said.

“I was really pleased with how the guys stuck to their task.

“They scored 100 points, but it was a tough 100 points.

“Our defence created a lot of our offense. The guys were patient as well when we were on the offensive end and controlled the tempo of the game.

“We were able to play our game and stick to the game plan, which the guys executed perfectly.” The Giants were due to complete their road double-header against the Wanneroo Wolves last night.

Goldfields will be back at Kalgoorlie’s Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium next Saturday when captain Ryan Hulme is scheduled to return after missing six games on his honeymoon in Mauritius.

Article by Jarrod Lucas (Kalgoorlie Miner)