Basketball: Rams square season series with Saints

Ethan Rusbatch of the Rams dives past Leon Henry of the Saints. Photo / Photosport

The Canterbury Rams have squared the season series with an emphatic 97-72 win over the Wellington Saints.

It was a team effort for the Rams with five players reaching over double-digits, Marcel Jones returning from injury to lead all scorers with 22. McKenzie Moore backed up his player of the week performance with a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists to go along with five steals.

It was always going to be a test for Wellington after playing the night before in Te Awamutu and missing key players Tai Wesley (suspension) and Dion Prewster (ankle), and tonight the league leading scorers were held to a season low 72 points, shooting 4/23 from the three-point line.

Canterbury led by 16 at halftime and would not let up in the second half to extend their lead to as many 29 points

Head coach Mark Dickel will be extremely pleased with his sides overall performance, his side forcing the Saints to turn the ball over 22 times and his bench outscoring them 25-16.

The Rams now have their fifth win of the season and move ahead of Wellington to second place behind the Mike Pero Nelson Giants (6-2). They will try to inch closer to the Giants tomorrow when they travel to Invercargill to the play the SIT Zerofees Southland Sharks (4-4). It will be the second time in a week that the Rams face the Sharks and if they win they will sweep the regular season meetings.

Tomorrow the Augusta Airs will try to get their season back when the in the Hawkes Bay against the Indigo Hawks (0-7).