THE Geraldton Buccaneers' fell to a second loss in less than 24 hours on Sunday afternoon at the hands of Willetton while the Goldfields Giants bounced back from a Saturday night defeat to beat the Mandurah Magic on Sunday.

The two matches on Sunday to conclude Week 4 saw the Goldfields Giants bounce back from a loss to the South West Slammers on Saturday to beat the Mandurah Magic 113-104 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

And the Willetton Tigers handed the Geraldton Buccaneers their second loss of the round, winning 112-88 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The Buccs were able to stick with the Tigers throughout the first half with Willetton leading by just the nine points, but it was all one-way traffic in the third period.

The Tigers piled on 38 points to 23 to set up the eventual 24-point victory.

Willetton took tremendous care of the ball with just the nine turnovers for the game and that helped make up for being outrebounded by 15 in combination with the 19 turnovers they forced the Buccs into making.

Geraldton also shot just 34 per cent from the floor, 17 per cent from three-point range and 63 at the free-throw line. Willetton was better in all areas with 40, 35 and 70 per cent.

Damien Scott had to wait a while for his breakout game for the Tigers since crossing from the Cockburn Cougars last year, but that sure did come on Sunday afternoon.

The former Perth Wildcats development player had a day to remember with 45 points, eight rebounds and four assists on the back of shooting 16-of-28 from the field, 10-of-18 from three and 3-of-5 at the line.

Jay Bowie also had a good day for Willetton with 24 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds with Josh Johnson contributing 11 points and seven boards, Kyle Armour 10 points and eight assists, and Andrew Black eight points, four rebounds and three assists.

The Buccs fought hard led by 21 points and 10 rebounds from Carter Cook.

Matthew Adekponya shot just 5-of-17 but still had 18 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots for the game.

Aaron Ralph contributed 15 points and four rebounds off the bench with Mat Wundenberg adding 13 points and 14 boards, and Maurice Barrow 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Mandurah then played another home game at its temporary home at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and despite leading 58-52 at half-time, Goldfields ran over the top of the Magic in the second half.

The Giants put up 35 points in the second quarter and then finished the job in the fourth to run out nine-point winners to bounce back from a loss to the South West Slammers on Saturday night at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Jacob Holmen continues his push to be a genuine MVP candidate leading the way for the Giants with 39 points and 16 rebounds shooting 15-of-27 from the field.

Kenny Manigault added 23 points, nine rebounds and three steals for Goldfields while Daniel Goodluck had 15 points and six boards, Jerome Reid 13 points and Edin Zunic 11 to go with eight boards.

Trevor Setty had another good outing for the Magic with 27 points and five rebounds with Taylor Mullenax adding 24 points and nine boards.

Ben Smith also had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Mandurah, Jarrad Jackson 11 points and five boards, Daniel Florance 11 points and seven rebounds. But the Magic got just 11 points, two rebounds and one assists from the bench.

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Mandurah Magic 104 lost to Goldfields Giants 113
Willetton Tigers 112 defeated Geraldton Buccaneers 88

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by June Halliday