Saints send league stern warning

The Wellington Saints are well and truly back, that much is clear after their season-opening win against the Otago Nuggets on NBL’S opening night.

So are the Southland Sharks, another of the three teams to sit out last year’s Covid-19 enforced Showdown competition, easing past the Nelson Giants in their first game since 2019 yesterday in Nelson.

While two of the first three games were relatively one-sided, the Auckland-derby between the Huskies and Bulls was decided by a late threepointer.

Sharks power past Nelson

A 30-point fourth quarter explosion powered the Southland Sharks to an emphatic 84-65 road win over the Nelson Giants.

They’d struggled to shake the Giants in a low-scoring match up until that point, despite restricting the hosts to a measly nine third-quarter points. A Brayden Inger (15 points) jumper from beyond the arc ignited the Sharks. Inger, the leading scorer among the visitors, was one of six Sharks to score in double-figures in a rounded offensive performance. Saints go marching on

One of three teams to opt out of last year’s Covid-19 induced Showdown competition, the perennial heavyweights were back to business in fine fashion on Saturday, downing the Otago Nuggets 95-73 at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin.

Having claimed four titles, and been runners-up twice, in the six seasons prior to the unique last one – including going a perfect 20-0 in 2019 – the Saints, even with a largely new-look squad, were quick to stamp their mark and put the Nuggets feel-good story from 2020 well in the past.

Led by 31 points from captain Dion Prewster (11 of 19 shooting, along with five rebounds and a game-high seven assists), the visitors were buoyed by the debut of American import Kerwin Roach (19 points).

Nuggets skipper Sam Timmins was immense in his first game for Otago since debuting as a 15-year-old in 2013, fetching 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while American import Isaiah Moss collected 20 points in a losing cause.

Late three-pointer sinks Bulls Auckland Huskies guard Jeremy Kendle drained a last-minute threepointer to propel his team to a thrilling 99-96 win over the Franklin Bulls on Sunday.

The Indiana native, who scored a game-high 32 points, hit the clutch jumper with just three seconds remaining on the clock.