Loss of McLaughlin felt as Nuggets just miss against Hawks

The scores

IRA Lee looped in a hook shot with three seconds remaining to clinch a tense 9594 win for the Hawke’s Bay Hawks in Dunedin last night.

The Otago Nuggets did get one last shot at glory.

But with that amount of time left in the game, it had to be hurried.

Michael Harris let the attempt fly, but it dipped well short.

It would have been some finish and some win for the defending champions, who had a late setback before players took the court.

Star point guard JaQuori McLaughlin injured his knee ................ 95 94 the scores with 90 seconds remaining, the momentum appeared to have shifted to the home side.

Robbie Coman grabbed an offensive board and made the layup to put the Nuggets in front 9493 with 13 second left. Enter Lee.

Hyrum Harris lobbed in the pass and somehow Lee got the shot over the defence and in the hoop.

He topscored for the Hawks with 24 points and nabbed 11 rebounds.

Hyrum Harris collected 14 points and 12 rebounds in a quality performance.

Sam Timmins was not too far off a rare tripledouble. The

Nuggets captain scored 13 points, grabbed 10 boards and made seven assists.

Earlier, in the game it was immediately obvious how much McLaughlin’s passing game would be missed.

The home side’s ball movement lacked its usual zip.

Some quality defence helped compensate.

Timmins muscled his way to the hoop for some early points, but it was Michael Harris who did the bulk of the early scoring.

He poured in nine points in the opening period to give his side a 2119 lead at the break.

The Australian shooting guard hogged the spotlight in the next period as well.

Rebounds fell nicely for him, he made a couple of nice assists and, most importantly, banged in another nine points.

The Hawks stayed in touch, though. Hyrum Harris forced his way to the hoop for a late bucket.

Jordan Hunt had drilled an important threepointer to help cut the gap as well.

Up four at halftime, Withers limped back on court and landed an early three.

Michael Harris got in the passing lane and picked off an intercept.

Coman converted that turnover with a triple.

But the Hawks together a few stops. strung

Lee bowled over Withers on his way to the rim for a couple.

Derone Raukawa hit a midrange jumper.

Hyrum Harris got a layup and steal and it was all even briefly.

Darcy Knox hit backtoback threes to establish a small buffer for the Nuggets again.

But Raukawa snatched back the lead with a couple of free throws at the end of the third.

The Hawks upped the tempo and rapidly opened up their onepoint lead to nine.

Timmins slogged his way through the paint for another basket and Withers hit triple after triple to set up a photo finish.