Basketball: Breakers ruin perfect record on China tour

Lindsay Tait has left the Breakers in China to join the Auckland Stars. Picture / Dean Purcell

The Breakers lost their latest China tour match to the Melbourne Tigers 81-68 yesterday.

Previously unbeaten in three matches in the Asia-Pacific Cup, the Breakers had only seven players to call on after injury and sickness problems.

Lindsay Tait has returned to New Zealand and will join the Auckland Stars for their road trip to Manawatu and Hawkes Bay this weekend, Americans Robbie Reid and Chris King were struck down by stomach bugs and will not play the next game, Blake Truslove played despite a recurrence of a foot injury and Townsville's Greg Vanderjagt suffered a back strain early in the second quarter of the latest game and was unavailable.

Earlier, the Breakers beat Jiangsu 106-99 in their third game, with Aaron Olson leading the scoring with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. Clifton Bush scored 22 points, grabbed six rebounds, made six assists and six steals.

Blake Truslove scored 14 points and had seven rebounds and King scored 13.

Teenager Tom Abercrombie collected 14 points including three-from-three beyond the arc, three boards and two steals.

Stars seek wins

Stars coach Kenny Stone sees this weekend's two road games against the Jets and Hawks as crucial to their path to the final.

"We need to win, we need to consolidate our top-two position," Stone said.

Forward Ben Knight will miss Wellington's next NBL game against the Otago Nuggets as he travels to Singapore with the champion Sydney Kings for the inaugural Singapore Cup.

Knight will be back to bolster the Saints for the return game in Dunedin next Thursday, Wellington needing two wins over the table easy-beats to lift from a poor start, six losses from nine games and second-last placing on the points table. Tall Black Brendon Polyblank is likely to take Knight's place in the starting five against the Nuggets in Wellington on Sunday.

Boucher bides time

Unwanted Breaker Dillon Boucher will take an offer from another Aussie NBL team but only if it is a good one.

With a young family and new home, Boucher is not concerned about chasing a job in Australia. He has two more seasons to go on his contract with the Auckland Stars and will focus on that and possibly return to the coaching and development job he had before the Breakers came along.

"It's a waiting game at the moment. I'm looking at Australia but the offer would have to be right. There's nothing concrete at the moment," he said.

"The perfect scenario would have been staying at the Breakers," Boucher said, while accepting that the new coach, Andrej Lemanis, has to put his stamp on things. He has not given up hope they may need him if injury strikes or poor form persists.

Injured Lewis keeps job

American forward Greg Lewis won't be losing his NBL job with the Waikato Titans, despite a broken hand expected to keep him out of action for six weeks.

Lewis broke his left hand while dunking during the warm-ups for last week's Titans-Auckland Stars game in Hamilton then proceeded to score 38 points and grab 15 rebounds despite the injury. After viewing the x-rays, doctors were stunned he could play through the pain and weren't hopeful of his returning to action any time soon.

Lewis is adamant he will be back sooner, not later, and Waikato management are backing him.

The league-leading Titans are seeking a replacement for Lewis. Their attempts to fly 2.02m American Jamil Terrell into New Zealand this week fell through when it was found he did not have a valid passport.

But they have assured Lewis, who is averaging 22.8 points and 11.8 rebounds, he will regain his spot on the roster as soon as he is healed.

Saints precarious

Defending regular season champions Wellington Saints are deep in a slump and may be one loss away from missing out on a semifinal spot.

Saints, who won the 2003 league title and were eliminated in the semis last year, lost three games last week and have now dropped four of their last five. They lose Ben Knight for this week's game against the winless Otago Nuggets, but will at least welcome the return of Tall Black forward Brendon Polyblank from his off-season stint in Switzerland.

Polyblank, who averaged 16.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 2004, has arrived back in New Zealand later than expected after his Herens team made the Swiss league playoffs and extended favourites Monthey to a fifth and deciding game in their quarterfinal series.

Last season, Auckland scraped into the semis with seven losses, as did Manawatu in 2002. But in 2003, Nelson's 11-7 record was not good enough to progress.

Another loss would have Saints, one of the pre-season favourites, teetering on elimination.

King wears crown

Canadian forward Mike King was the NBL Player of the Week after his performance in Harbour Heat's 93-85 win over Wellington Saints last Saturday.

At 2.05m, King is the resident big man in an undersized Harbour roster, but has not taken a backward step against bigger opponents all season. His 27 points, 17 rebounds, four blocks and three steals last week overshadowed Saints rival Ben Knight, who was a member of the 2004 All-Star Five.

Wallbutton stands out Harbour's Lisa Wallbutton was a standout performer in the second round of the women's NBL, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the Breeze's 64-36 win over Wellington Swish.

Harbour maintained their unbeaten record in the north, while the Canterbury Wildcats continued to rule supreme in the south with a 102-44 romp over newcomers Waitakere.