‘To be annoying as hell on defence’ — that is Bardsley’s job
MATTHEW Bardsley loves to hustle.
He rebounds aggressively. He runs hard.
He is energetic on defence. And as the NBL has progressed, he has increasingly become a scoring threat for the Otago Nuggets.
The 1.89m guard had 18 points on nineof12 shooting to go with eight rebounds in Tuesday’s onepoint loss to the
Taranaki
Mountainairs.
Not bad for the final pick in the draft — although he has clearly shown he is better than that.
While thrilled with his individual performance on Tuesday, you can bet energy will remain his focus against the Canterbury Rams again tonight.
‘‘I think that’s what coach [Brent Matehaere] wants,’’ Bardsley (24) said.
‘‘He just wants me to go out and be annoying as hell on defence.
‘‘Then crash the boards and then get out and run, because that’s kind of my game. I just go out and give it everything.
‘‘Sometimes I’m only on for a minute or two minutes. It’s like that’s my chance to go hard so
I’ll just go on and give it everything.’’
After finishing at Palmerston North Boys’ High School, Bardsley moved to Dunedin for university.
He established himself as one of the top players in the city for the City Rise Bombers and in 2018 was named the club league’s most valuable player.
He said the step up to the national league was noticeable in plenty of areas.
It was faster, the players were more skilful and harder to guard, while the defence was harder to break down.
But he was starting to adapt and be confident he could translate his skill set to the higher level.
‘‘At the start I was probably a little bit more nervous than I am now.
‘‘Just the whole NBL thing and I hadn’t played at this level. I had the jitters a bit. But as things have progressed I feel more comfortable.
‘‘I know my teammates better, I have more faith in myself and, if I just do what I’m good at, the results are going to come.
‘‘That’ll be rewarded with more minutes, which is happening.’’
After a strong start, the injuryravaged Rams side has struggled as the league has progressed.
However, they have added Tall Blacks swingman Reuben Te Rangi, who provides them with potentially the most potent threat in the league.
He will offer important assistance to star guard Taylor Britt.
Bardsley said the Nuggets remained in good spirits despite Tuesday’s loss and had been happy with their fightback after a slow start.
He added Te Rangi would be tough to cover, although he was just one player.
ANDY Bay Kavanagh is showing last year was no fluke.
It remained unbeaten in the women’s club competition on Tuesday night after a 6958 win over Varsity.
The win leaves the team joint top of the table with Ajax after two weeks, following on from a strong thirdplace finish in last year’s competition.
Kavanagh — made up primarily of its defending ‘‘A’’ national champion school team — led by just one point heading into the final quarter. But Annabelle Ring scored 12 of her 30 points in the final quarter and the side managed a handful of key stops to close out the win.
Kavanagh cleaned the offensive glass early and jumped out to a 102 lead.
Varsity began to get penetration and its scoring came with it.
But a Dre Whaanga (12 points) threepointer gave Kavanagh a 1713 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Varsity responded in the
second quarter, securing rebounds to stop conceding secondchance points.
Two threes from Holly McCleery (eight points) kick
started its scoring, before Tara Clement (17 points) took over towards the end of the quarter.
She got to the line, then hit two threes of her own to give
Varsity a 3328 halftime lead.
But Kavanagh took back a slight upper hand in the third quarter to lead 4746 at the final break.
Ring and Kyra McEntyre (nine points) both hit threes early in the quarter as Kavanagh established a small buffer.
A run of baskets by Elly Koehler (nine points) helped Varsity stay in touch.
But Kavanagh’s defence locked in to get stops down the stretch and hold its lead.
Ajax pulled away to a 7749 win over South Pac OGHS.
OGHS battled well early and went to halftime at 3030.
But 15 secondhalf points from Zoe Richards sparked Ajax to remain unbeaten.
In the late game, Lisa Wallbutton topscored with 16 points as South Pac Magic notched its first win, beating the Andy Bay Falcons 7433.