Basketball New Zealand

Conference Basketball League

The Western Bay Suns became the early Northern Conference front-runners after back-to-back wins in week one of Conference Basketball League (CBL) play.

The Suns pulled away in the second half to beat the three-peat CBL Champion Waikato Titans 83-72 at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre in Tauranga on Saturday, then backed it up with a 78-65 home win over Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

Canadian import Mike King had 22 points and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes against a depleted Titans line-up, missing most of the regulars from their 2007 championship squad, while Sasha Tasevski had 15 points and Whare Bidois 11. Kurtis Elliot top-scored for Jeff Green’s Titans with 21 points.

Western Bay had six players hit three-pointers as they hit 11 as a team, out-rebounded the Titans 52-29 and held a 21-3 bench scoring advantage. The Suns led by one at halftime but pulled away in the second half, out-scoring Waikato by 10 points.

Bidois fired up the Suns on Sunday, scoring 20 points, while dropping 5-of-9 threes, and adding five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Tasevski added 17 points, King 15 points and 10 rebounds in his second double-double of the weekend and Wesley Hunia had 10 points. Patrick Bolstad compiled 18 points and seven rebounds for AUT.

The Suns jumped on AUT early, with a 16-point lead after the first quarter, then cruised, winning the rebounding battle 51-33.

Five players – Rob Loe, Adam Rainbird, Brad Anderson, Sam Butler and Logan van Beek – scored in double digits as the Junior Tall Blacks/Breakers defeated the Taupo Volcanoes 86-67 in Taupo on Sunday. Loe top-scored with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Rainbird had 14 points and six boards.

Taupo centre Michael Wells had 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting, 20 rebounds and three assists in the loss, also shooting 2-of-3 from distance and 9-of-12 from the foul line.

The Volcanoes dropped both games in their opening round home double-header, going down 84-66 to AUT on Saturday, despite a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double from Wells. Houston O’Riley led the way for AUT with 20 points, while Zachariah Makavilitonga had 17 points and Bolstad 15 points.

NBL bench player Dan Ryan exploded for 37 points on 15-of-31 shooting and four others scored in double figures as the Harbour Heat Reserves had too much for Tai Tokerau 84-68 in Kamo on Saturday. Johnny Kruger led Northland with 23 points.

Burger King Northside got by Auckland in a low-scoring game at the Auckland YMCA gym. David Clarke had 23 points, eight rebounds and four steals for Northside, while Ryan Patterson had 14 points and nine boards. Former Auckland Star Simon Mesritz pulled down 19 rebounds for the home side.

In other results, the Waikato Pistons Development team took a 72-64 win from Eastern Bays and Counties/Te Wananga beat Massey 83-71.

Northern Conference

Saturday, May 3
Western Bay Suns 83 (Mike King 22) Waikato Titans 72 (Kurtis Elliot 21)
AUT 84 (Houston O’Riley 20) Taupo Volcanoes 66 (Michael Wells 16)
Harbour Heat Reserves 84 (Dan Ryan 37) Tai Tokerau 68 (Johnny Kruger 23)
Northside 68 (David Clarke 23) Auckland 54 (Nikola Lakatus 10)
Waikato Pistons Development 72 (Johnathon Kraenzlin 15) Eastern Bays 64 (Teriaki Martin 21)
Counties/Te Wananga 83 (Jared Purcell 23) Massey 71 (Mate Yukich 20)

Sunday, May 4
JTB/Breakers 86 (Rob Loe 15) Taupo Volcanoes 67 (Michael Wells 31)
Western Bay Suns 78 (Whare Bidois 20) AUT 65 (Patrick Bolstad 18)

CBL Northern Conference Results