Basketball New Zealand

Jeremy Kench and Sam To'omata (Photosport)

Geoff Longley, The Press
The Christchurch Cougars are not looking at their final regular season national league basketball match against OceanaGold Nuggets at Cowles Stadium tonight as their last at home this year.

So strongly have the Cougars finished the season, winning five of the last six games, they are confident if they make the top six play-offs, which is still in the balance, they could knock out higher-ranked teams in the quarter and semi-finals to earn a home final match in the best-of-three home and away series.

Cougars coach Andrew Gardiner said there was a steely resolve within the side of late and their self-belief had been strengthened by recent wins against Harbour (twice), Nelson, and Taranaki.

“The guys now genuinely believe they can roll anybody on a given night and have no fear of striking the likes of Nelson, the Hawks or Harbour in the play-offs.”

First things first though and for the Cougars dream to become reality they must show no sentiment to southern neighbour Otago and rack another victory which would leave the Cougars sitting at nine wins and nine losses for the season.

That will place pressure on the likes of Southland, Harbour and Taranaki who are all jostling for quarter-final positions but still have more games to play.

Gardiner was heartened by how Paora Winitana came off the bench against Harbour last week following an ankle sprain which forced him to sit on the sideline for more than a month.

Winitana returned with 16 points and while a little slow to start added much-needed depth to the Cougars line-up.

Otago sits at the foot of the table with 16 losses and will be desperate to break their duck with just two games remaining or else they will join Northland (1998) and Manawatu (2007) with the dubious distinction of going through the season without a victory.

Otago showed last weekend against play-off team Saints in Wellington that if they are taken lightly they can surprise by losing narrowly by just four points, 103-99.

Otago relies heavily on import Tyler Amaya who is averaging 22 points a game and sits seventh on the league scoring standings while fellow John Barber has come in for the injured Antoine Tisby but is better known for his rebounding prowess.

The squad is fleshed out by many promising young Kiwi players who have had a tough return to the league after Otago did not field a side last season for financial reasons.

Thursday, June 10

At Cowles Stadium, Christchurch

Chrischurch Cougars 101 (Jeremy Kench 29, Dan Peck 13, Trent Wurtz 12) OceanaGold Nuggets 80 (Tyler Amaya 27, Sam To’omata 18, John Barber 14), Final

Referees – Raewyn Willocks, Gavin Zimmerman, Raelene Forde
1Q: 21-18
HT: 46-30 (25-12)
3Q: 69-52 (23-22)
FT: 101-81 (32-29)
Cougars v Nuggets Boxscore (24 KB html)