A hostile crowd at Tip Top Stadium were hushed on Saturday night as the Goldfields Giants defeated the Sun City Plumbing Buccaneers 113-104.

It was the first time the Goldfields team has left Geraldton with a victory since 2006.

The Giants jumped on top in the second quarter as they outscored the Buccs 30-15.

Buccs coach, Ray Evans said his players were outsmarted by their country rivals.

“They played a much smarter game than we did, we were out hustled for most the night,” he said.

Evans praised the Giants defence which was relentless from the opening tip to final buzzer.

“They made us force our shots while they let the game come to them,” he said.

A Ryan Zamroz jump shot with nine minutes to play in the final quarter brought the margin back to five points.

The Buccs were beaten at their own game as the Giants were lights out from beyond the arc, particularly in the final term as they opened up a 17 point lead in the final two minutes.

For the game the Goldfields team shot 51 percent from long range with Todd Earle being the main culprit with seven three-pointers.

Zamroz shot the lights out in the first half on his way to 24 fourpoints by half time, however he was restricted to just six points in the second half.

Giants coach Wayne Creek said he did not expect his players to shut down the league’s leading scorer.

“It’s very hard to stop a player of his calibre so all we could really do is make his life hard,” he said.

“This is a great win for us and the guys are stoked because it is a great place to play.” Michael Haney, Matthew Leske and Earle shared the scoring for the giants with 22, 21 and 23- points respectively.

Brian Connelly and Daniel Thomas shoulder the scoring load with Zmaroz for the Buccs.

Thomas scored 20 points while Connelly claimed himself a doubledouble, netting 21-points and snaring 14 rebounds.

Article by & Taylor Courtland (Geraldton Guardian)

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