NBL boilover: Hawke’s Bay Hawks turn back year of losses to beat the top team, the Otago Nuggets

American import Chase Jeter, a former US junior representative, finally gets on to the boards for the Big Barrel Hawke's Bay Hawks and helps pave the way for the Hawks' first NBL win in almost a year. Photo / Michell Fey

It was the starting five that counted for the Big Barrel Hawke’s Bay Hawks as they brought off the Sal’s men’s National Basketball League boilover of the season on Saturday.

At the bottom of the table, with 12 losses in a row since last winning on May 24 last year, the Hawks beat competition leaders the Otago Nuggets 91-82 at Rodney Green Arenas in Taradale.

New head coach Will Lopez said it was even better that it came on their home court, where the Hawks last won a home game on May 1 last year.

After a horror start to 2026, with five losses – including three in the first week – it was the first time that American imports Chase Jeter and Jeremy McLaughlin, Australian NBL players Dan Grida and Keanu Rasmussen, and local Tall Blacks representative Jackson Ball had been together in the starting line-up, and all scored double figures.

McLaughlin scored a game-high 21 points, while there were big games from Rasmussen (17pts, 10 rebounds) and Grida (16pts, 13 rebounds), who sits fourth on the National Basketball League (NBL) table for average points and third for average rebounds.

Ethan Rusbatch, who once shot 36 points for the Hawks against the Nuggets, on Saturday shot 18 as a visitor to the Nest, but had just two successes from eight three-point attempts.

The Hawks’ hopes were buoyed by the appearance of the 2.08m Jeter, who had recovered from injury and got on court for 29 minutes of the game, enabling the home side to finally have some height advantage.

That meant there were some important rebounds and some well-timed scoring runs for the Hawks to lead 23-14 at the end of the first quarter and, after it was down to five points at halftime and a single point going into the last 10 minutes, the hosts came home with a nine-point margin at the end.

Lopez had seen the turn, reminding the team last week of the hopes that were still alive for a place in the top-six playoffs by reminding them that, last year, nine wins was enough.

“It’s taken us a few weeks to get over the hill,” he said. “It was particularly nice to get it at home for the fans who have stuck with us through the rough patch.”

The coach had even more evidence after the win, which dropped the Nuggets to fifth place on the 11-team ladder and meant that with a win against the Nelson Giants on Sunday at the start of a four-match away stretch, the Hawks could find themselves in seventh place.

The Hawks then continue on the road to play the Franklin Bulls (May 23), the Wellington Saints (May 26) and the Tauranga Whai (May 30), before the return match against Nelson in Taradale on June 4.

In the Rapid League curtain-raiser on Saturday, the Hawks beat the Nuggets 46-31, a third win in six games in that league.

Doug Laing has had a career of 53 years in journalism, recently completing 39 years consecutively in Napier, firstly with the Daily Telegraph, and then, since 1999, with Hawke’s Bay Today.