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RAMS NEWS:
HEARTBREAK STRIKES BACK
by Piet Van Hasselt
25 May 2003
1.
HEARTBREAK STRIKES BACK
The Wellington Saints stole victory from the jaws of defeat beating the
Scenic Circle Rams at home in a feisty encounter on Saturday night,
74-72. This follows on from another heart-wrenching loss for the Rams
after pushing the Waikato Titans all the way into overtime last weekend.
With the score at 72-71 to the visitors and 2.7 seconds on the clock,
Saints Forward Brendan Polyblank went to the
free throw line for two shots. He nailed the first one, but missed the
second for the go ahead score. However, newly signed Australian import
Ben Knight grabbed the rebound and tipped it in as the buzzer sounded.
Mike Pegues was again the focal point for the Rams with 31 points
(including three long-bombs), 11 rebounds and four assists. Tim Edmonds
showed his emerging class with 17 points (with two three-pointers) and
five rebounds after re-injuring his toe last weekend. Canterbury held
the advantage on the boards over the powerful Saints' frontline 47-38,
but lost the turnover battle 21-15.
Knight and Polyblank ended with 21 points
apiece for the Saints. Ex-Ram Terrence Lewis was restricted to four
points on 1/10 shooting, but had a game high three steals. High
performing point guard George Le'afa had
eight assists.
Ironically, both teams had 29 total field goals, with the end difference
being more made foul shots from Saints (12/19) to the Rams (8/11).
Canterbury had two more three-pointers (6/16 to 4/18).
The loss moves Canterbury to a 1-win, 6-loss record in the BK League and
will need to win almost all of their remaining home games and cause a
few upsets on the road if they are to make the playoffs. The return of
Clifton Bush and John Pope Whorton should bolster the line-up and make
for some exciting play down the stretch.
The Rams must now bounce back from the weekend, with a home game against
a strong Auckland Stars team that beat the Hawks tonight in Napier,
86-78. The match will be played at the Westpac
Centre, Christchurch on Friday 30 May tipping off at 7:30pm.
Wellington Saints 74 (Ben Knight 21, Brendan
Polyblank 21, Mike Tompson 11, Troy McLean 8, Craig Bradshaw 6,
Terrence Lewis 4, Aaron Nowell 3).
Scenic Circle Rams 72 (Mike Pegues 31, Tim Edmonds 17, Dave
Langrell 8, Ben Jeffrey 6, Rewi Manahi 6, Boyd Smart 2, Luke Osborn 2).
Halftime 40-32 (Saints)
Quarter Scores 1st: 22-22 (Tie) 2nd: 18-10 (Saints) 3rd: 17-15
(Rams) 4th: 23-19 (Rams)
BOXSCORE
2 MCALLISTER
WINS MAIR SCHOLARSHIP
Scenic Circle Rams Assistant and NZ Mens U18 Coach Peter McAllister
has been awarded the 2003 Keith Mair Scholarship and will attend a
clinic in Australia later this year. McAllister began his coaching
career in North Canterbury in 1989 and since then has coached a number
of North Canterbury and Canterbury underage teams and was involved with
the NZ Koru Developmental Tour to Australia as U14 Coach from 1999-02.
He is a NZ High Performance Coach and will coach the Canterbury Knights
this year for the third season. He has also been heavily involved with
the coaching Christchurch Checkers club teams. 2003 is McAllisters
second season as an assistant coach with the Rams (alongside
Dene Robinson) and he has been influential
in utilising the gamebreaker video system to analyse Rams team and
individual performances pre and post match. He is training to become a
PE teacher at the Christchurch College of Education and University of
Canterbury and is Canterbury born and bred. McAllister lives and
breaths basketball and his analytical style and quiet and controlled
manner are a calming influence for his players.
3. POPE AND
SUPERBUSH DUO EXPECTED BACK ON 7 JUNE
The June 7 home game versus the Nelson Giants should see the debut
of the superstar duo, BK League MVP John Pope Whorton and Clifton
Super Bush. Whorton was expected back sooner this season, but his
German playing commitments were extended by a month after his team was
forced to participate in the promotion/relegation series. Bush has been
sidelined all season with a knee injury sustained in his first
pre-season game for the Rams and he should be able to play alongside
Whorton as a kiwi as his citizenship papers soon. This duo will face
the daunting task of having to help the Rams win almost all of the
remaining games if Canterbury are to qualify
for the playoffs. American Mike Pegues has done a sterling job in the
interim filling Whortons spot averaging 25.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and a
deadly 89% from the free-throw line.
4. GARDINER &
MANAHI FEATURE IN SHOOTING STATS LEADERS
Power-forward Andrew Gardiner has shown he has three-point range
thus far in the 2003 BK League, knocking down six of his 13 attempts and
was leading the league before this weekends games. Going into this
season, Gardiner converted a total of nine three-point baskets in his 15
year NBL career, so no doubt will re-write his records from the land of
three! Forward Rewi Manahi has shown his mettle from the free throw
line, knocking down 16 of 17 attempts from the charity stripe. This was
good enough for second in the BK League before this weekends games.
5. TALL BLACK SQUAD
Tall Black coach Tab
Baldwin has named a squad of 25 for the first training camp of the year
in Lower Hutt,
June 1-4. The only players missing from the World Champs team are Rob
Hickey (retired), Sean Marks (injured) and Kirk Penney (unavailable).
Four newcomers have been named to the training squad including former
Nelson and Canterbury junior Luke Ruscoe who had a successful freshman
(first) year at Brown University. The other newcomers are Aaron Olsen,
Glen Joe, Mike Homik
and project Centre Calum McLeod. No doubt
there will be huge competition for places this season as everyone will
want to be a part of the successful Tall Blacks which finished fourth at
the World Champs last year.
See the Tall Blacks section for the 2003 Schedule.
Hayden Allen (Otago Nuggets), Ed Book (Nelson Giants),
Dillon Boucher (Waikato Titans), Pero Cameron (Waikato Titans), Daryl
Cartwright (Auckland Stars), Mark Dickel (Otago Nuggets), Judd Flavell
(Nelson Giants), Paul Henare (Hawks), Mike Homik
(Auckland Stars), David Hopoi (Waikato
Titans), Glen Joe (Waikato Titans), Phill Jones (Nelson Giants),
Terrence Lewis (Wellington Saints), Calum
MacLeod (Wellington Saints), Glen Newbold (Manawatu Jets), Aaron Olson
(Auckland Stars), Miles Pearce (Manawatu Jets), Brendon
Polyblank (Wellington Saints), Damon Rampton
(Nelson Giants), Tony Rampton (Cairns Taipans), Luke Ruscoe (Brown
University), Lindsay Tait (Auckland Stars), Michael Tompson (Wellington
Saints), Mika Vukona (Manawatu Jets), Paora Winitana (Hawks).
6.
CAVS WIN LEBRON LOTTERY
This
week the the Clevelend
Cavs won the right to the number one overall
pick in the NBA Draft lottery and will undoubtedly select the most hyped
high school player ever, LeBron James.
Detroit will get the second pick (after a previous trade with Memphis)
and Denver has the third pick. Also watch out for Yugoslav-born
Darko Milicic,
who many are touting as the next great European player following on from
Mr Versatility Dirk Nowitzki. Milicic is
perhaps the better prepared of the two for the NBA, having played
against men since a young teenager, while James has been playing only
with his peers. However if the unprecedented hype surrounding James is
even 50% true, he will be a great player at the next level, but bear in
mind hes only 18 years old!
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