Saints given rev-up after close defeat

PERO CAMERON is demanding his Wellington Saints players improve their attitude after the two-time defending champions were pipped 76-75 by the Manawatu Jets yesterday.

Former Saints centre Nick Horvath had a monster game for the Jets in Palmerston North, scoring a game-high 26 points and dominating the glass with 17 rebounds.

The loss leaves the new-look Saints with a 1-2 record and plenty to work on ahead of this week’s double-header, away to the Auckland Pirates on Wednesday and home to the Southland Sharks on Thursday.

‘‘I thought we were again patchy – good in patches and average in others,’’ Saints coach Cameron said.

‘‘I think if the attitude was always correct, the issues wouldn’t be as big, or as broad. There’s a couple of areas where we need to look at ourselves.

‘‘We expect to be better than our record shows right now, and I think we are. But we’re just not transferring it into the win-loss column.’’

Former Tall Black Horvath is enjoying a hot start to the NBL season and the Saints, yet to gain the services of Sydney Kings big man Martin Iti, had identified him as the danger man.

‘‘I thought early we contained him good, Casey [Frank] and Arthur [Trousdell] did a great job with him but as the game went on it got worse and he got a lot of confidence,’’ Cameron said.

‘‘He had a great game, 26 and 17 boards, which is a lot. Credit to him, he turned it around late in the second half. As a team, we identified the threat he brings but we didn’t nullify it.’’

Cameron said Iti was expected to arrive on March 25 or 26 after the Kings season ends but was not using his absence as an excuse.

‘‘We should have done better, end of story. I still have a lot of confidence in this team and we will progress as the season goes on. But if we want to make the final four, we need to start playing better defensively as a unit.

‘‘It’s something we struggled with at times today. There’s not that much time to really work on things but we’ll get two trainings in this week and go from there.’’

Manawatu import Josh Pace also had a strong game with 16 points and 10 rebounds in a close contest in which neither side led by more than six points.

Saints import Anthony Gurley (16 points, nine rebounds) hit a three-pointer on the final buzzer but it wasn’t enough as the Jets moved into the top four. Every team in the league has posted at least one win.

‘‘I think every team is competitive, if you look around,’’ Cameron said. ‘‘Every team has improved and it’s great to see. It’s a tough league and I think this league will keep getting tougher every year.’’

In yesterday’s other game, the Otago Nuggets beat Southland 80-68.