Buccs Too Hot For Flames
The Rockingham Flames SBL Men opened their 2009 campaign on the road at Geraldton against the perennial final contending Buccaneers on Saturday night in a game that was tipped as the match of the round.
With the Flames waiting on a last minute approval from the immigration department, their was uncertainty from Flames Head Coach Mark Utley whether new import recruit Joey Harrell would suit up which eventually didn’t come through causing some last minute changes to his rotation.
The Flames got off to a hot start with swarming pressure at the defensive end leading to some easy transition baskets and took a commanding 10-2 lead early in the first quarter forcing the Buccs to call a time-out. In the remaining nine minutes of play new Buccs import Luke Meyer showed his smooth shooting finishing the term with 13 points but the Flames took a 30-23 lead in the first break with Godfrey, Moore and Gerovich finding the hoop on multiple occasions.
The second term saw much of the same with the Flames getting solid interior production from Moore and Colley which was complimented by a cameo from Ryan Jeffrey who collected 8 quick points to push the Flames lead out to 17. Meyer kept the home side in the hunt finishing the half with 21 points of his own but the Flames took a 59-44 lead into the main break.
In the third a fired up Buccs line-up lifted the tempo and with the Flames starters beginning to tire the home crowd pushed the likes of Meyer, LeBlanc and Witts to take the lead by a single point (75-74) which set up for an enthralling final 12 minutes.
This weekend will see a Friday night SBL doubleheader at the ‘Hot House’ with Southwest Slammers coming to town. The Women will tip-off at 6:30pm while the Men will do battle at 8:30pm. The game comes with extra significance as Travis Moore will suit up for his 300th game and import Joey Harrell will line-up for his first game.
By Ryan Rogers
In the last the Flames couldn’t penetrate the Buccs defence while fellow import Michael LeBlanc had 11 points for the term helping the home team cruise home to claim a 102-88 victory.Speaking after the game coach Mark Utley said “we got some nice transition scores in the first half and obviously we were disappointed Joey couldn’t suit up but we aren’t making excuses because we’re really excited about what this group can achieve moving forward.”
Travis Moore led the way with 19pts whilst being ably supported by Aaron Colley 18pts and Trent Gerovich 17pts which included five three pointers. For the Buccs import duo Meyer and LeBlanc had 38pts and 27pts respectively.
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