Saturday, April 30

The HBS Bank Hawks (6-0) who have come out of the deep south with two wins after defeating the Sharks 74-62 at the Velodrome.

Hawks our now proving to be the team to beat winning six straight, with no team getting within double digits against them.

Paora Winitana and Arthur Trousdell were joint top scorers for the Hawks with 16 apiece. Josh Pace the only other Hawks in double digits with 13.

Sharks leading scorer was Jordan Lawley who had a game high 19, but had to put up 19 field goal attempts to get them.

Brendan Polyblank the only other Sharks to score over 10 with 18. Former Tall Black and present Sharks point guard Mark Dickel really struggling from beyond the arc missing all eight attempts.

Sharks have struggled to put the ball in the hoop in their first two games and it was much the same tonight scoring 33% from the field and 13% (2/16) from the three point land.

It all started from the beginning when the home side missed their first eleven field goal attempts.

Polyblank finally giving them their first field goal with 4:44 left in the first period. But before that the Hawks had already accumulated a 11-1 lead.

At the end of the first the Sharks ended up shooting an unexplicable 2/22 in the period, scoring only 8 points. The Hawks leading by as many as 16, with a 20-8 lead at quarter time.

In the second the Hawks led by as many as 16, ending the first half up 38-28. After the first half the Hawks would continue to keep the home side at bay leading as many as 13, but could not fully get away from the Sharks who kept within 6-10 points for the majority of the period.

Sharks did manage to get back in the game scoring 11 quick points to start the fourth, cutting the Hawks lead to three.

Dickel had a chance to tie the game with a three, but the Hawks scored 11 unanswered points to give them a fourteen point buffer with little over one minute left.

Sharks will now have a week off and will need to figure out how they are going to score the ball, when they travel up to Hamilton to play the Waikato Pistons who will most probably have their full squad available on the Wednesday May 11.

Hawks have created a huge lead at the top of the table and will be happy to know they will be returning home where they will host the Auckland Pirates next Friday.

Zerofees Southland Sharks 62 (Jordan Lawley 19, Brendan Polyblank 18, Gareth Dawson 8) HBS Bank Hawks 72 (Arthur Trousdell 16, Paora Winitana 16, Josh Pace 13), Final

Referees – Raewyn Willocks, Gavin Zimmerman, Bevan Maslin
Live Stats Click Here
Sharks v Hawks Box Score

The HBS Bank Hawks had too much Pace for the Otago Nuggets – Josh Pace that is.

 His haul of 23 points and 10 rebounds was probably the difference between the two sides, although Paora Winitana had a big second half and landed some crucial three pointers.

The 97-86 win was the Hawks’ fifth consecutive win this season while the Nuggets’ miserable losing steak has been extended to 30 games. Amazingly, the franchise has not been able to sneak a win in more than three years.

The team appears to be getting closer to ending the drought. Craig Bradshaw scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Point guard Scott O’Gallagher came alive in the second half, netting 18 points and Lance Allred had 16 points and seven rebounds. So there is enough firepower in the line-up but the team just seems to lack some belief.

Captain Sam To’omata felt his side’s inexperience was the difference when the match was evenly poised with about three minutes to run.

“I just think it comes down to experience,” To’omata said.

“They have bench players that can start for any team in the league and we’ve got some kids that are coming through and probably won’t be at that level for another couple of years.”

The game looked to be slipping away from the Nuggets midway through the third quarter. The gap had ballooned to 15 points but the home side rallied.

Sam King stole the ball back and Bradshaw knocked down a mid-range jumper and moments later landed a three-pointer. O’Gallagher drove to the hoop and got the basket and the foul. Suddenly, the margin had been cut to three with 10 minutes to play.

Pace owned the opening stanza, waltzing his way to the basket with consummate ease. He went quiet in the second and third periods but like the champion he is he found another gear when the match was on the line.

He scored 11 points in the last quarter to seal the win and left the small crowd of about 450 wondering how the ball found its way through the hoop. He fired his shots like you would skim a stone but they went in all the same.

At least he had to earn those shots. He got far too many freebies early on.

“I think our transition defence was weak and we are going to have to go back to the drawing board for that. That has nothing to do with experience. That comes down to discipline,” To’omata said.

“[Pace] got too many easy baskets and we didn’t really make them work hard enough for their shots.

“But our team last year would probably have got done by 20.”

The number of times Ben Hill was left unguarded on the outside was a sin. The big guy has a nice touch from out wide and he hit four three-pointers in his haul of 16 points.

Arthur Trousdell continued his impressive season with a solid match with 15 points and seven boards, and Winitana scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.

At Edgar Centre, Dunedin

OceanaGold Nuggets 86 HBS Bank Hawks 97, Final

Referees – Gavin Zimmerman, Raewyn Willocks, Bevan Maslin