Basketball: Coach blames match officials for Stars' loss

Auckland Stars coach Kenny Stone took a swipe at the officials after his team slipped to their second loss of the season in what was a re-match of last year's final with Hawkes Bay.

"We let poor officiating take us out of the game. We knew it was going to happen, we talked about it mid-week. There are two Hawkes Bay officials and unfortunately every team in the league knows it's going to happen," Stone said.

The officials were the experienced Gavin Whiu from Hamilton, who has officiated about 168 games since 1994 and Apai Apai and Shane Nikora, who have less than half that between them after starting in 2005 and 2002 respectively.

"We had executed really well for three quarters and defended okay," Stone said. "When the calls started to go against us we lost our focus."

The Stars still lead the table with 11 wins and two losses. The Hawks have 10 wins and one loss, then follows Nelson, nine-four, and Wellington, eight-five.

Stone and Hawks coach Shawn Dennis agreed that those four teams would make the playoffs, with the rest gone after nine of 13 rounds.

Dennis thought the win over the Stars was as intense, if not more so, than the final won by Auckland last year. "These are the best teams in the competition, though I would never write off Nelson or the Saints if they find their feet."

The Hawks may be boosted by the return of Tall Black point guard Paul Henare, subject to how far the Banvitspor team goes in the playoffs underway in Turkey.

AJ Majstrovich is still troubled by his long-term knee problem and Callum Baynes had a shin injury but otherwise the team was healthy and running well, Dennis said.

"We would not have beaten Auckland if we were not at full strength."

The team chemistry was good, he said. "There are no egos, no bitchiness between players and from a coach's perspective it's good not to have to worry about that stuff."

Nelson beat the Jets 93-80, their coach Nenad Vucinic equalling Tab Baldwin's record 143 wins in the NBL, Baldwin taking 203 games and his Tall Blacks assistant Vucinic, 209.

The win came on the back of a 24-15 second quarter, imports Josh Pace with 25 points and Eric Freeman, 24 and 15 rebounds, backed up by Tall Black Phill Jones who shot 20 including four from eight three-point attempts.

After losing in Dunedin on Friday, Waikato stayed level with Otago at the bottom of the points table after winning 97-87 in Christchurch.

The Rams missed point guard Jeremy Kench, who was out with a shoulder problem and shot 43 per cent to the Pistons' 49. Import Vidal Massiah top-scored for the visitors with 37 to make up for his none-from-10 attempts on Friday night.

Fellow American Kit Rhymer had 21 and 11 rebounds and the Rams import Dennis Trammell was their top-scorer with 29.

Yesterday, Wellington Saint's Tall Blacks forward Brendon Polyblank nailed a freethrow with 48s left to give his side a 74-73 home win over Taranaki. Saints led after each quarter, but could not put away their guests whose frontline of Tony Rampton (18 points/12 rebounds) and Link Abrams (16 points/10 rebounds) kept the visitors in the game.