Basketball: Brilliant shooting lifts Jets to top of NBL table

By PETER JESSUP

The Manawatu Jets lead the NBL as the only unbeaten team after four games, thanks to a brilliant start from their outside shooters who set up the early lead for a 95-80 upset victory over the Waikato Titans.

Hunter Pirates forward Geordie Cullen was top-scorer for the Titans on Saturday with 25 points.

It was a quiet night for Pero Cameron, who has a question mark over his fitness because of a calf strain. Mike Chappell shot 19, the consistent Prem Krishna backed up with 12 but the rest did not score well enough.

Daryl June led the Jets with 18 points and eight rebounds, shooting eight of 12 from the field. The Jets jumped out to a 20-point lead in the run home after nailing seven of 10 three-point shots. Five of the team scored in double figures.

The Wellington Saints again produced mean defence to keep the Otago Nuggets down 84-63.

Aussie import Ben Knight scored only five in his first game this season but provided gel for the victory.

Otago's Aussie Andrew Latimer top-scored for the losers with 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Hawkes Bay were the other team to emerge from the weekend looking dangerous after a 93-87 victory away in Taranaki. Their two Aussie league Kiwi-born players led the scoring. Adrian Majstrovich scored 25, Breaker Paul Henare 20, Adelaide import Gary Boodnikoof 8 and American arrival Morgan Bell 11.

The Canterbury Rams got one win from two in Auckland. Wollongong centre Axel Dench led North Harbour to an 86-80 win on Friday night and the Rams responded to that with a tough, scrappy game against the Stars on Saturday for a 77-76 victory after Damien Matacz from Perth sank the final free-throws for victory.

The end came in a flurry of dissent with Auckland players claiming a shot-clock error that turned over possession and asking for fouls to be called against the Rams for blocks in the last seconds of play before Daniel Barritt's last-gasp shot missed.

Auckland travel to Christchurch on Friday for what looks like being an intense rematch and back up against Otago in Dunedin on Saturday. Waikato meet the Jets on Friday night, this time in Te Awamutu, and go to Taranaki on Saturday.

* Across the Tasman, new Tall Ferns coach Tom Maher has one more day to get the Ferns ready for battle against his old side the Australian Opals. There are two Olympic warm-up games between the sides in Canberra on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Maher, 51, had previously coached outgoing coach Carrie Graf with the Nunawading side in the Aussie WNBL and she was his coaching assistant with the Opals until he stood down from the job after winning silver in Sydney.

More detail has emerged about the hand-over in Canberra following Graf's announcement on Friday that she was leaving for a job with a pro team.

Graf said Maher's involvement made her feel much better about her departure, knowing she was leaving the Ferns in good hands.

"To be a head coach at an Olympics is a dream of mine and I was excited about getting there with the Tall Ferns. But I felt this other opportunity was something I couldn't pass up at this stage of my career."

The players did not anticipate the changeover. "I had brought Tom in as a consultant and that was how we approached the changeover.

"We had a short meeting, told them what was happening and then it was into practice with Tom coaching. They are Olympians who want to represent their country as best they can. They know Tom can help them do that."

Maher is realistic about the Tall Ferns' Olympic chances. They face a pool that features four of the top six teams from the 2002 world championships and their opening game is against titleholders the United States.

"I think a medal is not an expectation but we have to play in typical New Zealand fashion. New Zealanders are respected through all sporting codes for the way they play and basketball is no different. They play hard. We'll see if we can get a couple of upsets and see where we go from there."

The Ferns are in the tougher of the two pools with China, Korea, the Czech Republic, Spain and the US while Australia are grouped with heavyweights Russia and Brazil and lighter opponents Nigeria, Japan and Greece.