Marlborough Magic coach Mark Rainbird is optimistic about what lies ahead for his team, despite their 13-point loss to club side Nelson Rhythm and Brown in the curtainraiser to Saturday's NBL pre-season clash at Marlborough Lines Stadium.

The relatively short and inexperienced Marlborough men's team were made to pay for a slow start, eventually going down 92-79 as the crowd built up for the main game between the Nelson Giants and Canterbury Rams.

Rhythm and Brown led 29-18 at the end of the first quarter, before the home team charged back to within three points by winning the second quarter 22-14.

There was still nothing in it at three-quarter time, with the Nelson side in front 65-60, and early in the final stanza Marlborough took the lead for the first time.

However, they could not maintain that advantage for long and the more experienced Rhythm and Brown outfit pulled away in the final five minutes for a flattering final scoreline.

Captain Andrew Hayward led from the front for the victors with an equal game-high 29 points, while Brodie Hanna (21) and Tejas Arn (14) also chipped in.

For the Magic, athletic guard Dan Paul easily made the biggest offensive contribution by dropping 29 points, with young Sam Cootes and Hamish Penlington both making three from beyond the arc on their way to 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Rainbird said he was "pretty happy" with his side's performance and felt their strong three-point shooting kept them in the game. He said Paul and Penlington "both had awesome games", but made special mention of Cootes.

"He really stepped up. I started him in the third quarter and he played really well. This is the first time he has played for Marlborough. For a year 11 to be playing at Marlborough rep level and more than holding his own, that's awesome."

The team will continue to prepare for their major tournament of the season, the Tasman Cup against Nelson, West Coast and Buller in Westport on June 20-21. And although he gave the team's first effort a pass mark, Rainbird said they still had small things to work on at both ends of the floor.

"We need to drill our offence over and over again, so it becomes so familiar to them. At the moment we have guys who sometimes decide to just make stuff up, but if we can work more as a team and get people coming off screens it's going to be a lot easier to score and there will be less pressure on everybody.

"We can [also] work on our help defence. There were classic examples today where a player would drive and beat his man and there was no-one in behind to help out. There's lots of little things we can improve on, but at the same time there is heaps of good points."

Marlborough Express.