Buccs to face shake-up
RAY Evans has threatened to shake-up the Sun City Plumbing Buccaneers line-up after the team lost its fifth straight game on Saturday night.
Ladder leaders Lakeside Lightning put another dagger into the Buccs’ playoff hopes with a 102-73 win at Tip Top Stadium.
Evans said he hopes changes to the line-up can keep their slim playoff chances alive.
“It is now do-or-die time for us as a team,” he said.
“If we do not come up next week, against a team I think we should beat, I guess we have to change what we are doing — change the starting five and chuck in guys that want to go out there and play.”
Lakeside’s Luke Payne was at his sharp-shooting best for the visitors netting a game-high 34 points including six three-pointers.
Ben Beran chimed in with 16 points while Jarrad Prue secured 14 rebounds.
Michael Lay topscored for the Buccs with 22 points while Todd Brown netted 21.
Evans said he was frustrated with his players’ lack of concentration at stages of the game.
“We changed a few things on defence tonight because I think we need to be more alert on the court,” Evans said.
“We fall asleep at certain times and do not concentrate as well as we should.
“I think that could be a confidence thing, but when we are not scoring the ball we have to stop the opposition from scoring.”
The Buccs managed to keep the game close in the first quarter until a quarter-time buzzer beater from Payne gave the Lightning a 29-21 point lead.
Lakeside then extended their lead to 20 points with three minutes remaining in the second quarter and took a 54-38 lead into the main break.
Evans’ men started the third quarter with a 6-0 run to reduce the margin to 10 points but that was as close as they got for the rest of the night.
Lightning responded with a 21-4 run which gave the visitors a 75-48 lead late in the third quarter and the four premiership points.
The Buccs return to Tip Top Stadium on Saturday night to face Mandurah Magic in a round one rematch.
Article by Taylour Courtland (Geraldton Guarian)
Photo from Geraldton Guardian
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