West Spotlight | Flames too hot in top teams battle

Featured image: Tiarna | @tiarnarosephoto

The Rockingham Flames might have had their usual blistering offensive performance but they proved too strong at home of the reigning NBL1 West champion Geraldton Buccaneers to win the battle of the top two teams 92-75 on Sunday.

It always shaped as one of the games of the NBL1 West season at Mike Barnett Sports Complex with both teams occupying the top two positions with Rockingham on a nine-game winning streak and Geraldton having won eight in-a-row.

Both teams also won on Saturday night with the Flames beating the East Perth Eagles by 17 points while the Buccaneers started their road double beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns by eight.

Throw in Devondrick Walker's first return to Rockingham as an opposition player with Geraldton and there was plenty to look forward to, but the Flames on their home floor were on top most of the way.

Rockingham ended up winning by 17 points in the finish to make 10 wins on the trot to improve to a 14-2 record to be further clear in top spot now ahead of the 11-3 Buccaneers.

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Rockingham were in control of the contest on their home floor virtually the whole way even if they were well down on their season average of scoring 108.7 points a game.

It was their first win of the season where they hadn’t scored in triple figures but still the Flames ended up shooting 51 per cent from the field to 41 from Geraldton while they only went 6/23 from deep and 12/14 at the foul line.

Rockingham also had 12 offensive rebounds to eight while forcing Geraldton into 12 turnovers on the way to the 17-point win with all five starters scoring in double figures and having a significant impact.

Blake Jones had a big afternoon inside for 28 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and two assists with 14/20 field goal shooting.

Isaac White added 19 points, five rebounds and three assists, Tevin Jackson 13 points and five boards, Emmett Naar 11 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds, and Michael Harris 10 points, four assists, two boards and two steals.

It's a first loss on the road of the season for Geraldton and a first defeat overall since May 2 with Walker finishing with 12 points and three assists with 5/14 shooting in his first return as a visiting player to Rockingham.

Liam Hunt added 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals, Verle Williams 10 points, three assists and two steals, Josh Keyes 10 points, 10 rebounds and two steals, Matt Norman 15 points with 3/7 three-point shooting, and Cooper Creek nine points and four rebounds.

It had all the makings of being a Sunday afternoon classic in the Hot House between the top two teams in the league with both arriving on nine and eight-game winning streaks respectively.

Throw in Devondrick Walker's return to Rockingham and you had everything you could hope for, but Walker managed just two points on two shot attempts in the first quarter for the Buccs with Rockingham already leading 21-16 by quarter-time.

The Flames did get back to an eight-point lead in the second quarter before Geraldton went on an 8-0 run and by half-time Rockingham were just clinging to the 43-39 advantage with Emmett Naar scoring 11 points and Isaac White 10.

The Flames were shooting 50 per cent from the field to the 39 from the Buccaneers with Walker up to nine points with 4/8 shooting while Cooper Creek also had nine points and Liam Hunt eight to go with six rebounds.

Hunt did add another eight points and two rebounds in the third quarter for the Buccs but Rockingham had 29 points to 22 in the end with Blake Jones up to 18 points while Naar had eight assists by three quarter-time with the Flames leading 72-61.

That lead got out to 17 points in the last period too for Rockingham before they completed the deal on the 17-point victory to make 10 wins in-a-row to now move further clear in top spot.

The Buccaneers now return home to host the Perth Redbacks on Saturday night while Rockingham remain at home to host the bottom placed South West Slammers on Friday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 13

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 92 (Jones 28, White 19, Jackson 13)

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 75 (Hunt 16, Norman 15, Walker 12)