Long-Bomb Breakers Stun Hawks

Joel Tiller, Sportal
A red hot third quarter and some inspired three-point shooting from guard Phil Jones was enough to see the Harvey Norman NZ Breakers overcome the Wollongong Hawks in the Australian Hummer NBL Championship.

Jones top scored for the home side with a game-breaking haul of 32 points including six-of-eight from three-point range.

Fellow guard Kirk Penney (22 points) and forward Rick Rickert (24) provided sterling support for Jones as the home side put in a more complete performance than its opposition.

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Two-Penney Trick

Harvey Norman NZ Breakers marksman Kirk Penney will do double duty at the 2007 Australian NBL All-Star Weekend after being named in both the All-Star Game and Three-point Shootout.

The six competitors who will take part in the three-point shootout also including renowned marksmen John Rillie of the Townsville Crocodiles and CJ Bruton of the Brisbane Bullets.

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Dates Confirmed

Basketball New Zealand’s 2008 national championships calendar is …

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Journey Leads To Saints Job

Toby Robson, Dominion Post
If new Wellington Saints coach Doug Marty sounds like he’s done the interview before, it’s because he has.

The 47-year-old American jetted into the capital this week for the latest stop on a coaching career that has taken him from London to Kuwait, where he guided Kazma Sports Club to the Fahed League Cup final last season.

His impressive international resume convinced Saints owner Nick Mills to pounce when Marty returned to the United States too late to relaim a job in the NBA development league.

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Vukona Won't Be Back

Pete McNae, Nelson Mail
The Giants’ campaign for “two straight in `08″ has had a significant setback with the announcement that forward Mika Vukona won’t return to Nelson for next year’s Dominion Finance NBL season.

The 25-year-old told Blue Chip Giants coach Chris Tupu he had decided to remain based in Auckland, where he is currently playing for the Harvey Norman NZ Breakers and he is expected to join one of the two NBL teams there for the 2008 season.

Vukona had agonised over his future and felt he owed Nelson an explanation.

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Tilby Returns

Former Rookie of the Year Shaun Tilby has re-signed with the Cartridge World Otago Nuggets for the 2008 Dominion Finance NBL.

The Nuggets’ top shooting guard, named top newcomer in 2006, will rejoin team-mates Darryl Jones and Cowan Finch from this year’s roster, along with new signings Brent Charleton and Nat Connell from the Harbour Heat.

"We are very happy with Shaun's decision to return," says Nuggets general manar Warrick Diack.

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Wanted - Comms Assistant

Basketball New Zealand has an exciting role for an enthusiastic and professional communications assistant.

The purpose of this role is to help promote the basketball culture in New Zealand, and provide an information service within the sporting community and the general public through appropriate media channels.

Key functions for this role are:

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Nothing But News #17

The latest edition of the Basketball New Zealand referees’ newsletter, including reports from the Boris Stankovic Cup in China, the World University Games in Thailand and the FIBA Oceania Championships for women in Dunedin, and an outline of the 2008 Referee Development Programme …

Nothing By News #17 (pdf 368KB)

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Canterbury Juniors Rule

The national champion Canterbury U21 women made history at the Sport Canterbury Winter Spots Awards, taking out the major Team of the Year prize.

This is the first team award of its kind presented to basketball, in a category dominated in recent years by the successful Canterbury Crusaders and Canterbury NPC Rugby teams. The team was represented on the night by coach Kennedy Hamilton, manager Sandra French, vice captain Natalie Moore, Pip Connell, Hayley Gray and Erin Rooney.

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Baldwin Breaks Duck

Former Tall Black coach Tab Baldwin finally achieved his first victory in the tough Greek HEBA Championship, steering PAOK Thessaloniki to a 79-77 home win over Olympia Larisas.

PAOK trailed by 12 points with six minutes remaining, but produced a 15-3 run to get back in contention. They needed a three-pointer from Mamoutou Diarra with six seconds remaining to secure the result and improve to 1-3 for the season.

Harbour guard Hayden Allen continued his perfection from beyond the arc as his Singapore Slingers dropped a home game 93-111 to Adelaide 36ers in the Australian Hummer NBL Championship.

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Lavea Strong

Canterbury centre Donna Lavea produced a "double double" to lead defending NAIA champions Lambuth University to a 98-76 win over West Virginia Tech in their opening game of the annual Tip-Off Classic tournament.

Lavea, who transferred from Paris Community College this year, had 25 points (11/15 FG, 3/4 FT), 11 rebounds, a block and a steal in just 19 minutes off the bench as the Lady Eagles stretched a four-point halftime lead over the second period.

Canterbury team-mate Melissa Harrison also broke into double figures with 11 points (5/8 FG, 1/4 3pt), four rebounds and an assist in 19 minutes.

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Blaze Quelled

The Harvey Norman NZ Breakers sustained a four-quarter effort over the Gold Coast Blaze to run out comfortable 11 point winners, 90-79, in their Hummer NBL Championship clash at the Gold Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Led by star shooting guard Kirk Penney (22 points) and import centre Rick Rickert (19), the Breakers were never headed after conceding the first basket of the game to Blaze point guard Jason Crowe.

Rickert shot 8/9 from the field to go with 13 rebounds in just 25 minutes playing time, proving a handful for the home side, who looked a bit jaded after back-to-back games.

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On Song

Bedlam reigned at the “Cowles Cauldron” as the Christchurch Sirens staged a comeback of epic proportions eclipsing a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to outrun the Bendigo Spirit 86-83 in the Australian Defence Forces WNBL.

The crowd was entertained bya fine display of up-tempo basketball and the roller-coaster finish moved the Sirens to their second straight win.

Christchurch ruled the transition game, scoring 24 points from Bendigo turnovers compared to 11. Bendigo owned the offensive boards up until the final quarter, scoring 20 second-chance points to seven.

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X's & O's - The Triple Post Offence

By Tex Winter, former assistant coach of Chicago Bulls & LA Lakers

I was not the inventor of this offence, but an innovator of this style of play, I think this is a great offence ffor every level of play, from the high school to the pros.

To describe it, I would say it is a sideline triangle on one side of the court and a two-man play on the other side, where the offensive options are dictated by the moves and the reactions of the defenders.

The system we used with the Bulls and now the Lakers let the players take shots out of the flow of the offence.

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