Giants douse Flames with fighting finish

The new look Goldfields Giants notched their first win of the State Basketball League season with a thrilling 131-121 come-from-behind victory on the road against the Rockingham Flames on Saturday.

The Flames got out of the blocks early at the Mike Barnett Sports Complex through some excellent outside shooting, which fell away in the second half.

The loss means the Flames remain winless after two starts.

Down 35-26 at quarter-time and 72-57 at the half, the Giants turned the tables in the second half with centre Dwayne Radcliffe playing a key role by curbing the influence of Flames’ import Cooper Land, who scored 25 of his 36 points in the first half.

Giants import Steven Weingarten made the crucial layup to tie the game at 113-all with less than 10 seconds of regular time.

Both teams’ starters were in foul trouble in over-time with the Flames forced to throw some under-sized players into the fray with Land, former Perth Wildcats development player Marko Deric, Brendan Maddalena and guard Trent Gerovich all fouled out. That meant Sanders-Frison, who stands at 201cm and weighs in at an imposing 120kg, posed an even bigger dilemma for the Flames as he scored eight points in over-time.

Goldfields dominated the keyway at both ends of the court, racking up 64 points in the paint to 44 with Sanders-Frison leading the charge. The Giants also dominated the rebound count 67-48.

In other results, Lakeside Lightning made it back-to-back wins to open the new season with a 118-83 win over Kalamunda on Friday night. The only other unbeaten team is Perry Lakes with the Hawks downing the South-West Slammers 106-88 on Saturday.