Basketball New Zealand

The defending champion Waikato Titans face a road trip over the Kaimais to play Tauranga’s Western Bay Suns as the 2008 Conference Basketball League tip-offs on Saturday.

The Jeff Green-coached side, gunning for a CBL four-peat this season, will be one of 13 teams getting things started in the Northern Conference this weekend, with nine games scheduled in round one from Taupo to Kamo.

The Suns, who were second qualifiers from the Central Conference last season, have added former Harbour Heat import Mike King, a one-time member of the Canadian national team, and welcome the Titans on Saturday and AUT University on Sunday to the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre in a first round home double-header.

A feature of the Northern Conference in 2008 is the entry of a Junior Tall Blacks/Breakers development side, as the JTBs look to get valuable game time as they prepare for their Oceania qualifying series against Australia in August.

The JTB/Breakers, that includes Oreo Under-21 National Championships MVP Brook Ruscoe, Duane Bailey, David Beck, Poutu Edwards and big man Rob Loe, have drawn a Sunday away trip to the Taupo Volcanoes, who have picked up American guard James Carr as their import.

Three prominent players – Zachariah Makavilitonga, Jeremiah Makavilitonga and Houston O’Riley - from the Waitakere team that finished runner-up at the Oreo Under-21 National Championships in March feature in the AUT side, while the Burger King Northside team will feature BJ Anthony, a member of the Appliance Shed Harbour Heat, as their import/NBL player, while Heat team-mates Brandon Brighouse and Ezra Fantl will also feature.

The Waikato Pistons development team includes NBL bench-warmers Jamie Barnett, Muka Silver and Barney Fitzpatrick and have added German Carl Whittred as their one restricted player.

In other first round Northern games, Counties/Te Wananga host Massey in the first game at the Mangere Rec Centre, Eastern Bays welcome Waikato Pistons to Farm Cove School, the Volcanoes host the first game in their home double-header against AUT University, the Harbour Heat Reserves travel to Kamo to face Taitokerau, and Auckland host Northside at the Auckland YMCA in Saturday games, while Massey hosts Taitokerau at St Dominic’s College in Henderson in the other Sunday game.
The CBL Central Conference will start later this month, with four teams – Wellington Saints, Wellington, New Plymouth and 2007’s third placed team, Turanga Health Rising Suns – likely to make up that conference. The Southern Conference format has yet to be confirmed.

Conference Basketball League

Northern Conference

Round 1
Saturday, May 3
Counties/Te Wananga vs Massey, Mangere Rec Centre, 12pm
Eastern Bays vs Waikato Pistons, Farm Cove School, 2pm
Western Bay Suns vs Waikato Titans, Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, 3.30pm
Taupo Volcanoes vs AUT University, Taupo Events Centre, 5pm
Auckland vs Burger King Northside, Auckland YMCA, 6pm
Taitokerau vs Harbour Heat Reserves, Kamo High School, 6.30pm

Sunday, May 4
Massey vs Taitokerau, St Dominic’s College, 12pm
Taupo Volcanoes vs JTB/Breakers, Taupo Events Centre, 12.30pm
Western Bay Suns vs AUT University, Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, 2.30pm