Buay Tuach continues brilliant season as South West Slammers men’s side suffer two more losses

Another pair of standout performances from Buay Tuach were not enough to haul South West Slammers men’s side over the line in either game of their weekend double-header, suffering losses to Willetton Tigers and Eastern Suns. The Slammers produced competitive efforts in both contests but were defeated 87-77 on the road by the Tigers on Friday before going down 83-76 to the Suns at Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday. The losses see the Slammers remain in 13th on the NBL1 West ladder with a 3-12 win-loss record. Tuach did all he could in both games, coming up with 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists against Willetton before following up with 23 points and seven rebounds against the Suns. He also produced one of the highlights of the season in the first fixture, getting out of trouble after picking up his dribble by throwing himself an alley-oop off the backboard and finishing with a thunderous dunk. The team’s captain sits sixth on the league’s scoring charts with an average of 24.2 points per game and is also contributing 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals per contest. Tuach’s fellow import Alex Holcombe was also strong in both contests, producing a pair of double-doubles with a 17-point, 12-rebound effort against the Tigers and a 13-point, 10-rebound performance against the Suns. The league’s leading shot-blocker made his presence felt on the interior, swatting four shots against Willetton and two more against the Suns. A strong start against the Tigers saw the Slammers out to a 24-19 lead in the midway stages of the second term but the second-placed hosts closed out the first half with a 22-11 run to take a six-point lead into half-time. Pharell Keats nailed a three-pointer moments into the second half to cut the gap to three points but that was as close as it got, with Willetton taking control of the contest with a 31-21 third term and not letting the Slammers back into the contest. Saturday night’s clash see-sawed throughout the first half but the Slammers threatened to break the game open in the third term, opening up a nine-point lead with a 11-1 run. But the team’s issues with late game offence again came to the fore, scoring only 12 points in the final term stars Marek Nelson (36 points, seven steals) and Raphell Thomas-Edwards (18 points, 10 rebounds) came up with clutch baskets for the visitors.