FINAL SCORE
(73) Panaceum Geraldton Buccaneers v (94) Eastern Suns
NBL1 RECAP
KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 94 defeated GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 74
The Kalamunda Eastern Suns clearly got sick of being the lone winless team in the NBL1 West competition in 2021 and put together their best performance of the season to beat the Geraldton Buccaneers on Sunday.
Both teams had played on Saturday night with the Buccs winning impressively in Mandurah by 15 points over the Magic with Mathiang Muo starring with 41 points and eight three-pointers.
The Eastern Suns, meanwhile, fought hard as well on the road to the Willetton Tigers before ending up losing by seven points for their sixth consecutive loss of 2021.
But the Sunday afternoon games with the visiting country team playing their second game of the weekend can always throw up some interesting results, and this game was one of those occasions.
The Suns sensed this could be their chance at the drought breaking victory as well and they started strongly to lead 26-19 by quarter-time against the Buccs.
Mathiang Muo quickly closed that gap single-handedly in the second quarter but it was Kalamunda who still held onto a narrow 45-44 edge at half-time on their home court.
The hot shooting continued for both teams for much of the third quarter and it was the Suns heading into three quarter-time with a 67-62 lead.
It was then all Kalamunda in the fourth quarter as they played their best basketball of the season to secure their first victory with 27 points to 12 and to end up beating the Giants 94-74.
There were plenty of strong contributors in the breakthrough win for the Eastern Suns with Brendan Dinardo finishing with 14 points, four assists and three rebounds, and Dyson Lowe 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Carl Aylett also had 13 points and three assists for Kalamunda, Ryan Blanchett 10 points, six rebounds and three assists, Jermaine Malie nine points and seven boards, and Chuatwech Reath eight points and three rebounds.
Mathiang Muo backed up his 41-point effort for Geraldton on Saturday night with another 35 points on Sunday to go with seven rebounds and four assists while shooting 14/23 from the field and 4/8 from three-point territory.
Aaron Ralph also had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Buccaneers, and Dylan Myers six points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
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