Basketball: Stakes high in Battle of the Bridge

The Battle of the Bridge between Auckland's Stars and the North Harbour Heat tomorrow night carries more weight than usual, with the Stars able to cement a finals place and eliminate their cross-town rivals from contention.

Conversely, the Heat must win if they are to stay in playoff contention.

The availability of Harbour's 2004-05 Breaker, Hayden Allen, will be crucial. He has missed the last few games with a quadriceps injury but is back in training.

Coach Steve Done said he was unsure if Allen would be fit for the return encounter, this time at the North Shore Events Centre. The Stars were one-point winners at their home court.

"We have to do a good job on their guards," Done said, paying respect to the Breakers' Lindsay Tait and Aaron Olson.

"We have to do a really good job shutting them down - we can't stop them, but we have to limit their contribution."

The Heat have made a good fist of defence this season and early on caught some teams by surprise.

Tomorrow night's game promises to be a clash of styles: offence against defence.

The Stars score an average 85 points a game and concede an average 81. The Heat score an average 78 and give 74. They have held three teams to fewer than 60.

Done said his opposite, Kenny Stone, was "the coach of the league".

"To be able to keep them at the top when they're the champions, and without those guards for a few games, you have to give him credit. They stepped up - he keeps them focused."

Done disputed that Stone had the best team: "They have the best eight but they don't have the best starting five."

The Heat have never held the Auckland-Harbour trophy and Stone intends to keep it that way. He expects the Stars to have cured their inconsistency in not playing through all four quarters.

"We need to carry some momentum into the finals.

"There has been an inconsistency in execution and we have to remedy that," said Stone.

"We've been pulling games out of the bag in the fourth quarter and that's not how you win playoffs."

Captain Casey Frank has a wrist injury but is expected to play.

Breakers' contracts

The Breakers have sent two more player contracts to the Australian NBL for registration but are unable to announce the signings until that is done. Both are locals, and one is believed to be Nelson forward Mika Vukona.

Coach Andrej Lemanis was in Hawkes Bay this week looking at up-and-comers Arthur Trousdell, who is invited to trial at the Tall Blacks camp this month, and Everard Barrett.

Lemanis said he wanted to keep a handle on domestic league players who might come into the Breakers in the future, so they could be put on the programme and would be conversant with routines when their time came.

The Breakers have made a contract offer to Wellington forward Brendon Polyblank, who is also considering some options in Europe.

They have also put an offer to young Australian forward Daniel Green, who has been playing second-tier college basketball in the United States.

Referee to retire

NBL referee Chris Benson will retire after officiating at the Nelson Giants v Bay Hawks game on July 18.

Benson debuted on the national league panel in 1995 and will fall just short of a century of games - the Nelson fixture will be his 97th.

Junior Tall Blacks lose

Harbour forward Tom Abercrombie led all scorers with 19 points, but the Junior Tall Blacks opened their account at the the San Diego International Sports Invitational with a 59-78 loss to Russia.

The teams were locked at 20-20 after the opening period, but New Zealand fell into a huge hole when they could only score eight points in the second quarter to trail by 13 at halftime.

The Kiwis were just 10 behind with a little over a minute remaining, but turned the ball over several times in their effort to bridge the gap.