South West Slammers men’s side suffer 13-point loss to Goldfields Giants

The South West Slammers came home from their Kalgoorlie-Boulder road trip without a win for either of their senior sides, with the men’s team going down to Goldfields Giants by 13 points. A hot start had the visitors out to an early 16-8 lead, with Mathiang Muo drilling two threes as part of eight quick points before star Buay Tuach scored six of his own. The Giants closed the gap to three at the first break and wore the Slammers down over the rest of the game, winning the second, third and fourth quarters by seven, eight and three points to claim a 98-85 victory. In what shaped as a big opportunity for a win, Shane Goff leant heavily on his core group, playing Tuach for the entirety of the game and spelling Holcombe for only a little more than two minutes. Tuach still managed to score 21 points despite the Giants throwing double teams at him from the opening tip, while Muo (19 points, four rebounds, four assists) continued a strong start to life in Slammers colours and Holcombe finished with a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double. The Slammers had no match for Giants imports Randy Bell and De’Sean Parsons, who combined for 54 points and 21 rebounds on the night. The loss drops the Slammers to 12th on the competition’s ladder with a 1-4 win-loss record, but 12 of the competition’s 14 sides occupying percentages between 90 and 110 suggests margins will be fine.