West Spotlight | Buccs win on banner night

Featured image: @snapactionphotography

An injury scare to Josh Banks wasn’t ideal, but Liam Hunt, Verle Williams and Devondrick Walker gave the Geraldton Buccaneers a winning NBL1 West start despite Cam Huefner continuing to get up plenty of shots for Perry Lakes Hawks.

The Buccs were scheduled to open the season back in Round 1 at Active West Stadium to unfurl their NBL1 West 2025 championship banner ahead of a Grand Final rematch with the Warwick Senators.

That was put on hold when Cyclone Narelle intervened meaning they had to wait until Round 3 to join the season and do the celebrations with the banner ahead of hosting the winless Hawks on Saturday night.

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The Buccs did open up a 15-point lead in the third quarter before Huefner caught fire to give the Hawks a sniff only for Geraldton to pull away again to lead by 19 in the fourth and win by 10 to the delight of their rabid fan base.

Josh Banks had an impressive first half to start his NBL1 career with 15 points on 3/5 three-point shooting but his night was soon over with a knee injury.

Three-time championship winner and first-time captain Liam Hunt had 25 points, nine assists, three rebounds, three steals and three blocks with the dynamic Verle Williams delivering 21 points and nine assists.

Former MVP Devondrick Walker marked his Geraldton debut and return to the court with 20 points and seven rebounds with 4/9 three-point shooting.

Mat Wundenberg played the 544th game of his career and put up 28 minutes for eight points and six rebounds.

Perth Wildcats development player Cam Huefner once again wasn’t shy getting up plenty of shots for the Hawks. The big man ended up going 9/22 from the field and 6/14 from long-range for 29 points and nine rebounds.

It was in the third quarter he got hot, though, going 5/6 from the floor and 3/4 from deep. The rest of the night he went just 4/16 and 3/10.

Over the three games this season, he's shooting just 38 per cent overall and 29 from downtown on 71 shot attempts and 45 from three.

Andreas Grubisa also had 23 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Apiok Dau 17 points, nine boards, three steals and two assists while Darcy Knox added seven points, nine assists and six rebounds.

The Buccaneers finally entered the NBL1 West season after the delayed start and they did go on a 10-0 scoring run in the first quarter to lead by nine points, but by quarter-time it was only a two-point lead with Cam Huefner having eight points for the Hawks.

New import Josh Barnes and triple championship winning veteran Mat Wundenberg combined for 12 points for Geraldton in that solid start with 53 per cent shooting opposed to the 35 from Perry Lakes.

Geraldton managed to push out to a 12-point lead during the second quarter and Barnes was making quite the impressive debut with 15 points already by half-time with 3/5 three-point shooting.

It was a hot first half shooting display from the Buccs as they went at 63 per cent to be leading 53-45 with the Hawks going at just 38 per cent including Huefner just 4/12, but they were working hard with nine offensive rebounds to one to stay in touch.

Then just as the Buccaneers looked like running away with it with a 15-point lead in the third quarter, Perry Lakes fired back and Huefner's shots started to fall.

He went 5/6 in the quarter and 3/4 from deep while as a team the Hawks show 9/18 with 5/8 from three-point range to be within eight at three quarter-time again.

Geraldton wouldn’t be denied on their home floor, though, and put in a strong fourth quarter to open up a 19-point lead and end up securing the 10-point victory.

The Buccs now embark on their first road trip of 2026 next weekend against the South West Slammers and Mandurah Magic while the Hawks try to get on the board at home to the Lakeside Lightning next Saturday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 101 (Hunt 25, Williams 21, Walker 20)

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 91 (Huefner 29, Grubisa 23, Dau 17)