One game stands between the Geraldton Buccaneers and their third straight NBL1 West grand final appearance

A preliminary final separates the Geraldton Buccaneers and their third straight NBL1 West grand final appearance.

The side got up over the Mandurah Magic in their first finals game, taking down the fourth seeded team 106-100.

Although the match was tight late, Buccs coach Dayle Joseph said they were just concerned with getting the win.

“Really pleasing that we got the win, and we don’t care how that happens this time of year, a wins a win,” he said.

“I remember in the past, a lot of those first finals are always close. I think last year we beat Willetton by a point.

“You’re talking about matchups of the top four teams in the competition, so not expected to be a breeze through game.”

Depth has been the key point of difference for Geraldton all season, and it showed up against Mandurah.

The Magics’ Joel Murray had a massive game in the loss, scoring 42 points, while the Buccs had three players score in the high 20s.

Despite some players not having the best night on the scoreboard, Joseph said that there was always another player who could fill the role.

“Sometimes they think that if they can shut down a couple (of the Buccs scorers), then they might have done a pretty good job,” he said.

“But I think that’s the luxury with our team, with our depth, if our main scorers aren’t scoring, then someone else’s stepping up.”

The depth can be a major factor come finals, with Murray from Mandurah fouling out during the loss while Geraldton could keep all their stars out in the dying minutes.

“Foul trouble can sometimes come into play in finals, sometimes referees get a bit excited as well,” Joseph said.

“All of a sudden you can find yourself in a bit of foul trouble, it happened to us a few years back.

“So you got to be able to have the numbers around to cover it and get players in and out, and get them through 40 minutes.”

The Buccs’ preliminary final opponent was to be decided on Thursday night in a match between the Willetton Tigers and Rockingham Flames.

Before the match, Joseph said that he did not have a preference on who travels to Activewest Stadium.

“Either one of those is going to be a challenge, I don’t preference, they both play similar sort of offensive structured games,” he said.

“So we can prepare for either team that we come up against, so it won’t matter who we play.

“Most of the work during the week is done on our own game, we spend a brief 20 minutes or so discussing our opposition and how we can defend situations.”

The side has had one of its most successful regular seasons in club history, and although outside expectations may be high, inside the four walls they are even higher.

“We’ve set pretty high expectations, being last year’s champions and having a pretty good season with a 20-2 record, anything less than making (the grand final) is probably going to be disappointing,” Joseph said.

Geraldton’s last game at Activewest Stadium this season is on Saturday, against either Willetton or Rockingham, with a 7pm tip-off.