LUKE Wrensted said he has no problem with being removed from the starting line-up in favour of new Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers import Morgan Sabia if the American suits up this weekend.

The Buccs were still waiting on Sabia’s immigration papers to be cleared by Basketball Australia yesterday.

Scott Rubery, Buccaneers’ general manager, said the club would be very disappointed if the forward was unavailable for this weekend’s important double header.

He expected Sabia to be available for the games against the Perth Redbacks and Cockburn Cougars.

Wrensted said he would be happy to make way for the Hartford University graduate in the Buccs’ starting five.

“I do not mind coming off the bench, that is my role this year,” he said.

“I will be able to take the pressure off DT (Daniel Thomas) and Mike (Michael Lay) and give them more rest through the game.

“Morgan has been training well and is going to give us another option on offence. It will be good to have another big guy in the low post.”

Wrensted and the Buccaneers start the road trip with a tough test against the Perth Redbacks tomorrow night, who defeated Stirling Senators 104-84 last weekend.

The Redbacks have four players averaging double-doubles this season.

Adrian Majstrovich is the star of the team and is averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds a game, while playmaker Joel Wagner has given the Redbacks 14 points and more than 10 assists each time he has taken to the court.

They have won six of their eight games while Cockburn have won four of their seven outings to start 2012.

Brian Carlwell and Jeremiah Wilson will be high on Geraldton coach Ray Evans’ watch list when the Buccs play the Cougars on Sunday.

Carlwell is averaging more than 24 points this year while securing 13 rebounds.

Wrensted said it is very important for the Buccs to win both games and stay in touch with the top four.

“It is a really important weekend for us,” he said.

“Two wins means we are just out of the four. We just need to play good team defence and have all five guys on the court working together.”

The Buccs have lost just one of their four away games this season but have only managed to taste victory once on their home court.

Wrensted, who has been Evans’ go to man on defence this year, struggled to put his finger on why the team have struggled to win in Geraldton.

“For some reason we have played better on the road this year and hopefully that continues this weekend.”

Article by Taylor Courtland (Geraldton Guardian)
Photo by Geraldton Guardian