Harbour Heat import Rick Rickert wins week three player of the week after a dominating 22 points and 22 rebounds in the 115-95 win over the Exodus Saints

After a successful stint with the New Zealand Breakers, Rickert has played very well in the first three games averaging 21.3 points and 14.3 rebounds. Saints had the likes of Tall Black Casey Frank and former Tall Black Nick Horvath, which just shows how good the 20/20performance was from Rickert.

Rickert’s 22 rebounds against the Saints was only two shy away from a Heat record of 24 by Brian Gomes in 2001.

Rickert is currently behind Alex Pledger (15.7 a game)in rebounding, while Pledger’s team-mate Eric Devendorf continues to lead the in the overall player rankings and is the only person in the league averaging over 30 points a game (31.7).

Corey Webster continues his good form with 26 points, six assists and six steals in the win against the Saints. Webster also leads the league in steals at 6.3 per game.

After an 18-game losing streak, the Taranaki Mountain Airs finally got a win, convincingly beating the Christchurch Cougars 84-62. Airs Jack Leasure could not be stopped from the outside shooting an amazing 7/8 from beyond the arc, scoring 30 points in the win. Leasure is now in the top five in scoring (24.7) and in the top five in three-point percentage (60%).

Another team that got their first win of the season in Round Three was the Zerofees Southland Sharks, who also got their first-ever franchise win. Sharks Rene Rougeau was outstanding with the stat line of 20 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Rougeau is second in the league in steals at 4.7 and first equal in blocks at 2.7 per contest.

Fico Finance Giants Michael Harrison had a strong performance in their 30 point rout over the OceanaGold Nuggets with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Nuggets imports Antoine Tisby and Tyler Amaya are still carrying their team offensively averaging a combined 47 points a game, which is 66% of the teams point production.