GOLDFIELDS Giants coach Stephen Charlton has denied his team are the State Basketball League’s new championship favourites, despite Saturday’s emphatic win over top side Lakeside.

The Giants led by as much as 19 points in the 88-78 victory at Lakeside Recreation Centre, highlighted by a brilliant offensive display from captain Shamus Ballantyne and vice captain Mark Heron on the defensive end.

Ballantyne racked up an impressive 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Heron had 17 points himself and blanketed the influence of Lightning import Luke Payne, who was restricted to just 13 points following his 30-point haul in April’s 84-77 win over the Giants in Kalgoorlie.

“They were pretty big buckets he (Ballantyne) scored for us,” Charlton said.

“He controlled the tempo of the game and when we needed a basket, he was the one that came up with one for us.

“Mark’s pretty much turned the tables (on Payne) after he produced one of the best shooting efforts we’ve seen for the season.

“He doesn’t say much, but Mark was pretty keen to have another crack at him.”

The Giants burst out to a 28-16 lead at quarter-time and maintained a 50-37 half-time buffer. Goldfields led 70-56 at three-quarter-time and were never seriously challenged in the final period.

The Lightning have dropped two of their past three games for a 21-4 win-loss record, but Charlton denied the Giants have now assumed top billing.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t really thought about it,” Charlton said. “I think Lakeside probably still deserve to be favourites after the strong season they’ve had.

“The win might put us back in the thinking of a few people.”

The Giants play their final regular season game against Willetton at Kalgoorlie’s Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium next Saturday before embarking on their sixth straight play-offs campaign. Goldfields are striving for a hat-trick of SBL titles in their fourth play-offs series under Charlton.

When asked how the 2009 team was travelling leading into the play-offs compared to the Giants of the past three seasons, Charlton replied:

“It’s hard to relate it to previous years because it’s a different group and a different set of momentum.

“I think the most pleasing thing is the fact we’re playing better than we have at any other stage of the season.

“We knew we were going to have a tough run to the play-offs and the guys have responded to that by playing some of our best basketball which is a good sign.

“We were happy to have the tough run because we knew we would be prepared to play play-offs.”

Article by Jarrod Lucas (Kalgoorlie Miner)
Photo by Travis Anderson - Andmedia/Sports Vision © 2009.