Pirates Catch Fire in Townsville

A star turn from import Mike Helms has helped the Hunter Pirates to a comfortable 119-93 victory over the slumping Townsville Crocodiles tonight at the Townsville Entertainment Centre.

Coming into the match both sides had some unwanted streaks going, but it was Hunter who was able to break their run of six straight defeats on the road and in the process extend the Crocodiles losing streak to six in a row.

The Pirates, considered one of the worst road teams in the competition, put together one of their best ever performances leading the match from start to finish and at no stage did they look like getting run down courtesy of a Helms point barrage.

The young American came into the game with a career high in the NBL of 28 points and by halftime he was just one point shy of that mark as he went on to record the highest score posted in the league this season with 42 points (13/21 from the field).

His long range shooting was the highlight going 5/7 from behind the three-point line, but it was his composure at the free throw line that really impressed as he went 11/11 from the charity stripe.

Helms may have been the headliner for the Pirates, but veteran Aaron Trahair also put his name in the lights turning back the clock to produce a vintage performance that saw him land a season high 27 points (6/10 3pt).

Townsville did not have many good things to focus on after the match, but their one shining light yet again was import Larry Abney who picked up a first half double double that saw him end with 22 points and 15 rebounds.

With 4,667 fans at ‘The Swamp’ cheering them on it was expected that Townsville would come out firing, instead it was the Pirates who got off to a flyer racing to an early eight point lead before a late Crocs rally capped by a John Rillie three pointer saw Hunter go into quarter time ahead 28-25.

Townsville continued to press in the second period and midway through the quarter drew level with the Pirates at 40-40, but over the concluding stages of the half Helms and Trahair took over combining for 17 of Hunter’s 21 points to give the visitors a handy 61-51 lead at the main break.

Much to the fans delight Townsville cut the deficit back to five points early in the third term, but once again Helms steadied the ship for the Pirates and by three quarter time they had pushed their advantage out to 15 points (89-74).

The Crocs tried to make a run at Hunter in the final period getting within nine points (94-85) of the visitors, but a barrage of three pointers from Trahair quickly saw off the threat as the Pirates went on to record their biggest ever win over Townsville in franchise history.

Hunter (3-6) will be looking to carry on from tonight’s performance when they play the second leg of the ‘Sunshine Swing’ against the Cairns Taipans on Sunday night, while the Crocodiles (4-7) will have just on 10 days to turn things around when they welcome the Wollongong Hawks to Townsville next Saturday night.

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