Geraldton Buccaneers grab the win as they honour club legend and raise championship banner

The Geraldton Buccaneers have started their 2024 season with a win over the Willetton Tigers during a night of celebration, as legend Mat Wundenberg played his 500th game and the championship banner was unfurled. Wundenberg became the third player in league history to play 500 games. He joins the likes of SBL/NBL1 West legends Seb Salinas and Troy Clarke as the only players to have reached the milestone mark, but Wundenberg became the first to do so at one club. The celebrations didn’t stop there, as the Buccaneers finally had the chance to unveil their championship banner from the 2023 season, joining it with their banners from 2000 and 2019. The team has their sights set on going back-to-back and their quest for repeat championships began in the Saturday clash with Willetton at a sold-out Activewest Stadium. The Geraldton side came out with a new-look squad featuring Johny Narkle, Liam Hunt, Ryan Blanchettt, Nik DeSantis and Josh Keyes as the starting five. A fast start saw Geraldton put up a high-scoring first quarter but the Tigers kept the game competitive. The fourth quarter saw a 14-point Buccaneers lead cut down to just three with less than two minutes remaining in the game. During the closing minutes local Bob Griechen made his impact felt on both ends of the court. He and Keyes came up with big blocks to shift momentum and Griechen iced the game with a dunk in the final seconds, giving Geraldton the win 102-95. DeSantis scored 21 points and seven assists, Narkle shot 19 points, had eight rebounds and six assists, Griechen dropped a career-best 16 points and two blocks and Aaron Ralph 14 points and six rebounds, along with contributions from Hunt and Keyes. In the first game with his new team, DeSantis led the side in scoring but said it was just great to finally get on the court with the Buccs. “Really good, we’ve worked really hard, we’re continuing to build on it, it’s the first game of the year, it’s a long year . . . but I think we’ve done pretty well to get the job done in the first game,” he said. “So we’re still a new group, but we played hard out there and that’s kind of what got the job done in the end.” Coming to Geraldton from West Adelaide, DeSantis said playing at Activewest Stadium in front of the sold-out crowd was unlike any other home atmosphere. “It was awesome; the crowd was amazing, nothing I’ve experienced before and I think that really drove us in the end,” he said. “I mean nothing compares to where I’ve played, the energy, it’s unmatched so it’s awesome to finally get out there.” The Buccaneers now go on the road with back-to-back games against the South West Slammers and Mandurah Magic on April 13-14.