Giants break duck with win over East Perth
UPDATE: The Goldfields Giants have broken their duck, finishing what is likely to be the season’s toughest road trip with a hard-fought win over reigning SBL Champions East Perth.
While a late charge from the Eagles saw the 15 point lead the Giants took into the final change briefly threatened, an inspired performance from import Jacob Holmen saw them rally and break through for their maiden 2015 victory.
Holmen was immense, with 43 points and 15 rebounds, while former Wildcat Mathiang Muo had 24 points and 7 rebounds.
The win made for a bright end to the tough away trip, after the Giants fell to the Geraldton Buccaneers by 16 points the night before.
Giants coach Michael Haney said his team fell right into the Buccaneers' trap after suffering a tough 107-91 loss to their traditional rivals on Saturday night.
The Giants put up a fight against the Buccs throughout the first 24 minutes, and entered the second half trailing 61-60.
However, the Buccs rattled off an 18-0 run over 11 minutes across the third and fourth quarters, ending any hope of an upset.
"You have to give them credit, they are the top team for a reason and they're hard to beat at home," Haney said.
"They made shots, but we didn't execute - we had shot clock violations, we weren't aggressive and fell into the trap that momentum causes.
"Whenever teams make momentum runs like the Buccs did, we need to counter it by being aggressive, and we didn't, we were just playing on our heels.
"We fell right into the trap."
Outside shooting again proved the Giants' downfall, connecting on only five of 26 attempts, just one week after going three for 27 against Stirling.
Geraldton, on the other hand, were red hot from outside, going 15-41, with Aaron Ralph and Carter Cook making 10 between them.
Despite the discrepancy in outside shooting, the Giants were able to win most other major statistical categories.
Haney's men outrebounded the Buccs (63-55), outscored them in the paint (40-36) and had more points off the bench (23-13).
Jacob Holmen continued his good run of form, scoring 27 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Reserves Mike Exell and Russell Hurst also combined for 20 points and 18 boards in their return to the line-up.
Haney said he was pleased how his team fought through to the end, but they needed to stick with what was working.
"Jacob played very well, we exploited the mismatch when they had Ralph on him and (Matt) Wundenberg on Ed (Zunic)," he said.
"However we went away from that in the second half and it cost us, but we did show we weren't going to lay down.
"We showed toughness, we showed we can play against the top team, even if it was for only 24 minutes so be it.
"We were hungry, the bench came in and played hard and didn't give up, but they are 9-1 for a reason."
