THE Goldfields Giants sounded a warning to the rest of the State Basketball League by toppling another championship contender Geraldton 116-110 at Kalgoorlie’s Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium on Saturday night.

The Giants’ third successive victory clinched second spot on the ladder, improving their record to 18-5 with three regular season games remaining.

Geraldton scored 12 points in the final 26 seconds of the game to draw within six, but the final margin flattered the visitors who slumped to their fourth consecutive loss.

The Giants had led by 21 points during the third quarter when imports Alonzo Hird (25 points, 11 rebounds) and Michael Haney (16 points, nine rebounds, nine assists) controlled the keyway.

In a game notable for the league’s second highest-scoring offense in Geraldton coming up against the No.2-ranked Goldfields defence, the Giants stood tall.
Points in the paint told the story, with the Giants dominant inside with 42 points compared to Geraldton’s 20.

Geraldton imports Luke Meyer and Michael Le Blanc combined for 54 points, while former Giant Tom Witts scored 21 points.

However, the depth of the Giants’ roster was an important factor, scoring 21 points to the Buccaneers’ four off the bench.

Milestone man Ryan Hulme became the 21st player in SBL history – and just the third Giant – to play 300 games and enjoyed his most productive game since April with 26 points and six assists.

Hulme opened the match in blazing fashion, rarely putting a foot wrong as he opened the Giants’ scoring with back-to-back three-pointers.

The 178cm guard scored 10 of the Giants’ opening 12 points when the early going was all about which team would stamp their authority on the contest. It proved to be the Giants, who took a 34-29 lead into quarter-time after Jimmy Bowler sunk a three-pointer on the buzzer.

Giants coach Stephen Charlton, in his 113th game in charge which surpassed Jeff Willamson’s club record, was called for a technical foul in the second quarter.

It did nothing to stop the Giants’ momentum as they took a 60-51 lead into half-time, which blew out to 88-71 at three-quarter-time.

The Giants were out-scored 39-28 in the last period, but would not be denied their first win against Geraldton since August, 2006.

“They had a five-game winning streak on us, so it’s nice to actually get one back on them,” Charlton said.

“I think it was probably one of our better games, for large patches we did a pretty good job and I thought we did well to stretch it out to 21.

“To Geraldton’s credit they did a heck of a job to pull it back as well and tied it right up.

“It was a big win for us with spots up for grabs and obviously Ryan’s 300th, so for him to play well was a nice little bonus.”

The Giants hit the road for the final time before the play-offs next Saturday in a top-of-the-table clash with Lakeside Lightning, followed by another tough match-up with fifth-placed Perry Lakes on Sunday.

“We’re building and I don’t think any of us believes we’ve played our best game of basketball yet,” Charlton said.

“We keep getting better and as long as we keep doing that the results will take care of themselves.

“We could end up in the top two, but you tend to end up where you deserve to at the end of the regular season. We’ll work it out from there.”

Article by Jarrod Lucas (Kalgoorlie Miner)
Geraldton import Luke Meyer and the Giants' Russell Hurst contest for the rebound. Photo by Travis Anderson