Import lands with spring
UNI Rebels forward Spencer Coleman had only stepped off the plane from the US in the afternoon, but that night he shone in his team’s 72-59 win over HPP in Darwin Basketball Men’s League Challenge action.
Jet-lagged Coleman, a star import from the University of Montana, scored 28 points in his team’s victory on Thursday night.
The scary thing for opposition teams is he will only get better, after helping his team to its third straight win.
The Rebels’ other American import, Tim Morris, scored 31, with both registering 59 of their team’s 72 points.
“He just arrived. We picked him up at 3.30 this afternoon,” Rebels coach Malix Laurel said after the game.
“He’s like Tim, but taller and more powerful on the jump as you saw with one of his dunks.
“That’s when he’s jet-lagged – imagine when he’s not.
“He gives us another element on our offence and defensively it’s stopping the bigger players.”
Coleman sets high standards and was a hard marker on himself, despite his impressive showing and jet lag.
“We started a little rough. We talked about it. I had something to do with that,” he said.
“I didn’t have the flow. Those guys (HPP) played hard.
“It was fun though. Once we figured out we were playing well, we enjoyed it.”
Laurel said his team needed to get better at being more ruthless against the teams they were expected to beat.
“I think we play to the competition and that’s our problem,” he said.
“We need to get over that and really assert our dominance early on, like last game when the game was over by halftime (before a big 82-59 win over Ansett).
“But the boys picked up in the second half and it ended up going well.”
HPP coach Rod Tremlett said his young outfit competed well.
He only used the Northern Territory’s best under-18 players to prepare them for their National Championships campaign in Townsville, starting on Saturday.
“We didn’t play any of our 20s and that hurt us a bit. They’re all improving and that’s what the program is about,” Tremlett said.
“I’m really pleased with the way they’re going and how they’re applying themselves.”
In other Men’s League Challenge games, Lightning beat TV Jets 62-50, Ansett defeated Palmerston Power 99-71 and the undefeated Eagles easily accounted for Razzle 102-51.
Ieasha Friel, just 13, scored 38 points in Eagles’ 77-59 win over Razzle in Women’s League Challenge action.
Eagles are also undefeated season after eight games.
In other women’s top-grade games, Ansett beat Lightning 60-45 and the TV Jets prevailed 59-41 over Uni Rebels.