Men's SBL coaches react to Week 4

GOLDFIELDS Giants coach Michael Haney hopes Saturday night's loss to the Slammers doesn’t come back to bite his team while Joondalup Wolves coach Ben Ettridge was proud of how the defending champions responded to a tough trip to Geraldton.

The Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants had a double-header road trip in Week 4 of the Men's SBL starting Saturday against the South West Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Their trusty bus broke down along the way pushing tip-off back a little and the Slammers handed the Giants a narrow 101-97 defeat.

Goldfields did bounce back less than 24 hours later with a strong 113-104 win over the Mandurah Magic at Mike Barnett Sports Complex to improve to a 4-2 record on the season ahead of a clash at home to the winless Kalamunda Eastern Suns this Saturday night.

Coach Haney was happy they bounced back on Sunday but hopes the Saturday night loss isn’t one they point to as being costly down the track.

"We had a long past weekend...bit of travel and a late Saturday night that the boys wouldn't have closed eyes until 1am," Haney said.

"We showed some ticker to pull the Sunday victory out and I was as proud as I was disappointed with our previous night's performance against what was again a mentally tough Slammers team. We will take the split but know that still could be an important game we look back on!"

Meanwhile, the defending champion Merriwa Tavern & Bistro City of Joondalup Wolves had a tough loss on the road to the Geraldton Buccaneers back in Week 3 with the Buccs prevailing 101-96.

That allowed Ettridge and his team plenty of time for thinking on the bus back to prepare for Friday night's clash with the Perth Redbacks at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

"The boys bounced back well after a tough trip to Geraldton. There's something about a five-hour bus trip home and getting to do some soul searching," Ettridge said.

"We have our expectations of how we should play, and we didn’t do that for 48 minutes. Credit to the Buccs, they are legit. I really like Matt Adekponya, he is an excellent pickup."

The Wolfpack cruised to the thumping 116-78 win over the Redbacks and while Ettridge was happy with it, he expects Perth to fire back when they next meet on July 22.

"The Redbacks were undermanned and undersized, and we are under no illusions that the next time we play them it will be a different story," Ettridge added.

"I am really pleased with our bench production. Our kids are really maturing into good, solid SBL players. It's a great advantage to not be playing the starters huge minutes early in the season."

The Nags Head Tavern Rockingham Flames also had a good win in Week 4 defeating the Lakeside Lightning at home 113-85 on Saturday night with Taylor Land playing his first game of the season, and Cooper Land back after missing the win over the Eastern Suns the previous Sunday.

Coach Mark Utley was glad to have his full team together and to score a strong win to improve to 4-2.

"Last week was a good team win in which we shared the ball around well against Lakeside," Utley said.

"We enjoyed getting Taylor Land back on the court and now look to build consistency for the rest of the season."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography




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