West Spotlight | Buccs stay unbeaten, Magic winless

Featured image: @hyperfocusimages | Michael Bailey

It was the battle of the last two NBL1 West champions and the Geraldton Buccaneers stayed unbeaten and kept the Mandurah Magic winless with the 78-68 victory on another huge performance from Liam Hunt.

Both teams came into the Sunday match up at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre after thrillers the previous night with the Magic losing a heart stopper to the Willetton Tigers and the Buccs digging deep in their first road game to hold out the South West Slammers.

Jock Perry, Lachlan Bertram and Ryan Blanchett have continued to hold down the fort for the Magic as they await the arrival of Matt Kenyon and Michael Dupree, and they did so again but the Buccs proved too strong with Hunt outstanding all afternoon and Devondrick Walker having 17 third quarter points.

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While Mandurah are still awaiting the arrival of some key pieces, Geraldton also were without injured import Josh Banks with championship winner Josh Keyes also not yet having arrived for the 2026 season.

But still the Buccs stayed undefeated to improve to 4-0 to start the season and completed their first road trip double successfully with three-time championship winner and 2019 Grand Final MVP Hunt continuing to embrace the captaincy he's taken over Aaron Ralph for.

He finished with another 19 points, 15 rebounds, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks while playing over 38 minutes.

Former MVP Walker had 17 points in the third quarter alone and 23 for the game with three rebounds, three assists and two steals with 6/13 three-point shooting.

Verle Williams added 16 points and nine assists, and 546-game triple championship winner Mat Wundenberg continuing to play a big role to start the season with another 28 minutes for seven points and 10 rebounds.

The Magic might be now 0-5 but again there are enough signs to suggest that once Kenyon and Dupree arrive, and join Bertram, Perry and Blanchett, it's going to be quite the formidable outfit.

But coming off the gruelling battle with Willetton the night before, they ran out of legs at home to the Buccs who admittedly also had come off a tight battle against the Slammers the previous night too.

Bertram played all 40 minutes of the game for the Magic for 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on 5/22 shooting while Perry played all but 1:04 for 20 points, 14 boards and five assists.

Blanchett was coming up against the team he won the 2023 and 2025 championships with for the first time and had 19 points and six rebounds on 6/10 shooting, but that trio just didn’t have enough help.

Mandurah went ever so close the night before to breaking through for a first win of 2026 and backed up at home on Sunday with a fast start to open up an early 10-point lead after scoring nine straight points against the Buccaneers.

The Magic were still lead 19-10 by the end of one with another nine points already from Jock Perry while they shot 40 per cent from the field to just 24 from the Buccs who were only going 4/17.

Geraldton warmed up to the task better in the second term with 20 points to 12 and Liam Hunt led their charge and had 14 points and 10 rebounds already to his name by half-time with the reigning champs leading 32-31.

That was despite still shooting just 33 per cent from the field with Devondrick Walker shooting 2/9 for only six points.

That changed quickly in the third term when the former league MVP and NBL import put up 17 points in the period while shooting 6/8 to catch fire like only he can.

On the back of that, Geraldton put up 28 points for the quarter but couldn’t quite shake Mandurah who did add 26 themselves and it was only a three-point lead for the Buccs by three quarter-time.

The Magic ran out of gas in the fourth quarter shooting just 3/15 from the field for only 11 points with Geraldton taking away the 10-point win to stay undefeated after their first road double of the season.

The Magic will try again to open their account for 2026 on Friday night but it's quite the challenge against Isaac White, Michael Harris, Blake Jones, Emmett Naar and the Rockingham Flames.

The Buccs are back home for the hotly anticipated return of Johny Narkle who will mark the occasion with his debut with the Cockburn Cougars on Anzac Day.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 4

MANDURAH MAGIC 68 (Perry 20, Blanchett 19, Bertram 15)

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 78 (Walker 23, Hunt 19, Williams 16)