Buccs in contention as they move to third on the MSBL ladder
Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers coach Ray Evans was quick to downplay his team’s championship credentials after a stirring 123-116 win over Lakeside Lightning on Saturday night.
Lakeside, who had lost just two of 18 games prior to the weekend’s match, could not match the Buccaneers up-tempo game.
Buccaneers import Carter Cook was the star with 42 points while Robert Kampman (28), Aaron Ralph (27) and Daniel Thomas (20) also scored more than 20 points.
Evans said there is still a lot of work to do to achieve the team’s ultimate goal.
“It definitely gives us the confidence to beat the best teams,” he said.
“We know we have to keep getting better tho.”
Evans praised Cook’s performance and said the high tempo game was one Buccs fans should get used to.
“We asked him (Cook) to handle the ball a little more because of the Lakeside pressure and they obviously had a tough time trying to stop him,” he said.
“I think playing the best team brings out the best in everyone and that was the case.
“We would obviously like to restrict Lakeside’s scoring to less than 100 points but we definitely want to push the ball and make teams chase us.”
The Buccaneers connected on 52 per cent of their field goal attempts.
Cook led the way with 18 made field goals from 26 attempts.
Ralph led the way from behind the arc, netting seven long range buckets from 11 attempts.
The victory, in what was Buccs forward Mark Heron’s 300th SBL appearance, moves Geraldton to third position on the table.
The Buccs led by five points at the first change after 34 first quarter points but Lake Side hit back in the second term and held a two-point buffer at the main change.
The Buccs outscored Lakeside 33-25 in the third term before extending the margin by a point at the final buzzer.
Ben Beran and Justin Cecil led the way for the Lightning with 30 and 25 points respectively.
Geraldton were also able to keep the league’s leading rebounder Jarrad Prue below his season average.
The centre still managed to grab 18 rebounds, 10 of which came on the offensive end.
Article by Taylor Courtland
Photo by Mick Cronin
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