Shooting costs young Jets
The Manawatū Jets will need to find away to generate more points if they want to mix it with the rest of the league this year.
The Jets lost 78-57 to the Taranaki Mountain Airs at the Arena on Sunday, their first game of the season, where their shooting let them down against an experienced Taranaki side.
Taranaki were playing their second game in two days after losing 92-59 to the Auckland Tuatara in Auckland the night before.
Manawatū are awaiting the arrival of four key players and the young brigade are having to hold the fort until they arrive in the next couple of weeks. Forward Shane Temara is still in Norway, two American imports are still overseas awaiting visas and a third import is yet to be signed.
On Sunday the young Jets team didn’t lack the confidence to shoot and created scoring opportunities, but just couldn’t get the ball in the hole. They shot at 37 per cent compared with Taranaki’s 50 per cent.
They scored just 10 points in the first quarter and 11 in the second, before their best effort in the third, as they came out firing after halftime. They scored 16 points in the fourth spell.
A handful of turnoverswere costly in the first half too as the Airs built a 20-point halftime lead.
Jets coach Natu Taufale said it was a welcome to the NBL for the side. He said they struggled offensively and shot the ball poorly, but was pleased they were generating the shots and backed themselves.
‘‘We couldn’t knock those shots down. Sometimes it was just the speed of the game we were getting accustomed to and getting used to the physicality of the game.’’
But he was happy with their defensive effort, holding Taranaki, who had an in-form Tall Black Tai Wynyard scoring 25 points, to 78 points.
In the mean time the young players, including Lukah Richards and Nathaniel Salmon, who are both 17, will have to do the job. ‘‘It’s the direction we’ve gone in,’’ Taufale said. ‘‘We want to be investing in those guys. You’ve got to grow up really fast in this league.’’
The offence is something that will need to improve before they host a strong Southland Sharks team again this weekend. Southland beat the Wellington Saints 117-81 in their first game.
Manawatū’s best spell came in the third quarter, which they won 20-15, with their attack clicking briefly, but Taranaki started smothering them as the gamewent on.
Jacob Collis was handy off the bench with 12 points, shooting six from six.
Before the game therewas amoment’s silence to honour former Jets player Jake McKinlay, who died in a car crash in December. Taranaki guard Haize Walker, a former Jets player, presented McKinlay’s familywith a Jets jersey.