Basketball New Zealand

Tall Blacks forward Mika Vukona

Tall Blacks Mika Vukona and Nick Horvath saw their South Dragons draw first blood in the 2009 Australian National Basketball League Finals with a 93-81 win in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Vukona scored four points (2/7 FG) with five rebounds, two steals and an assist in 27 minutes, while Horvath did not play, as the regular season champion Dragons rallied from three points down after three quarters to win the fourth period 33-18.

Game two in the all-Melbourne best-of-five series is Friday night at the Tigers home court, The Cage, with game three back on the Dragons home hardwood on Sunday.

On Saturday, Vukona had nine points (4/6 FG, 1/4 FT), five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 26 minutes while Horvath had a point (0/3 FG, 0/1 3pt, 1/2 FT) in eight minutes as the Dragons advanced to the ANBL Finals with a 101-78 blow-out of Townsville in game three of their semifinal series.

In the NBA, former Tall Blacks centre Sean Marks was involved in four wins as his New Orleans Hornets extended their winning streak to five games earlier this week.

Marks had six points (3/3 FG) and three rebounds in 11:14 in his best performance in the Hornets’ 95-94 home win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, while he also saw court-time in a 90-87 home win over the Detroit Pistons and road wins, 99-96 at the New Jersey Nets and 98-91 over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.

New Orleans improved to 37-22, good for fifth in the Western Conference and third in the Southwest division.

Sticking Stateside, Junior Tall Blacks prospect Richie Edwards scored 19 points as his Lakeland High varsity team fell 72-48 to Orlando’s Olympia High in the Florida high school 6A regional finals on Saturday, ending the Dreadnaughts season at 24-4.

Meanwhile, JTB Dion Prewster averaged 5.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals in 20.0 minutes per game in two games last week, an 88-80 road win over Angelina and a 98-69 home loss to Blinn on Saturday for San Jacinto junior college, leaving the Ravens 19-11.

In Kentucky, Canterbury’s James Holland dropped 33 points (12/25 FG, 6/14 3pt, 3/5 FT) and added eight rebounds, six assists and a steal in Bethel Christian Academy’s 77-53 win over Heritage Christian in the KCAA high school first region tournament title game on Friday.

Holland, who averaged 23.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.1 steals through 34 games, was named MVP of the first region tournament, which booked the Blue Flames a place in the KCAA State Tournament, starting Friday against MICAH Christian in the quarters.

Going unbeaten in KCAA play, Bethel reached number two in the KCAA Power Pool and have earned the top seeding for the state tournament.

At NCAA-D1 level, Harbour’s Rory Fannon went scoreless with a rebound and assist in seven minutes in Utah Valley’s 89-39 home win over New Jersey Tech on Saturday, upping the Wolverines to 16-11.

Former Tall Black Jeremiah Trueman will be farewelled on Saturday as he plays his final home game for NCAA-D2 Alaska-Anchorage.

Trueman, who has scored 23-plus points in his last three outings and double-figures in his last 10 games, has averaged 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists, while shooting 59.9 percent from the field and 88.1 percent from the foul line this season for the Seawolves.

The senior, who has 10 20-point games this season, scored 23 points (11/19 FG, 1/2 FT), three assists, two rebounds and a block in 35 minutes in a 76-71 road loss to Northwest Nazarene in Idaho on Saturday, following on from 27 points (9/10 FG, 1/1 3pt, 8/8 FT), six boards, two assists and a block in 32 minutes of a 76-65 road loss to Central Washington on Thursday.

Tall Blacks centre Alex Pledger posted three double-digit scoring games for NCAA-D2 Belmont Abbey last week.

Pledger had 14 points (4/10 FG, 6/8 FT), seven rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes of a 79-70 home loss to Barton on Tuesday; 13 points (4/7 FG, 5/7 FT), nine boards and two blocks in 13 minutes in 70-65 road win over Limestone on Thursday; and 18 points (7/10 FG, 4/5 FT), six rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 17 minutes in the Crusaders’ 89-80 home win over Coker in the Carolinas-Virginia tournament quarters on Monday.

The tournament win extended Belmont to 20-8, the first time since the 2002-03 season the Crusaders posted 20 wins. They now meet Erskine on Thursday in the conference semifinals.

In NAIA play, Harbour guard Ryan Beesley celebrated a conference title with Oregon Tech on Tuesday, as the Hustlin’ Owls eye consecutive division two national titles next week.

Beesley had two points (1/2 FG, 0/1 3pt), two rebounds and an assist in eight minutes of court-time in the 82-72 Cascade conference championship game against The Evergreen State. The Owls improved to 28-5 for the season, lifting them to number seven in the NAIA-D2 rankings.

Ranked number nine in the same rankings is Northwood University, featuring Canterbury’s Ben Constable. The Seahawks, who have gained an at-large spot into the national tournament, slid down two spots after a 68-56 upset loss to Edward Waters in the first round of The Sun conference last week, with Constable recording a DNP (Did Not Play).

Aucklander Mada Abdelhamid scored eight points (4/5 FG, 0/1 3pt, 0/1 FT) with four boards in eight minutes in Cumberland U’s 87-50 home win over Trevecca on Saturday, improving the Bulldogs to 24-4 and number 15 in the NAIA-D1 rankings.

Cumberland will meet Trevecca again on Thursday in the first round of the TranSouth conference tournament.

Also facing a re-match this week is Emerging Tall Black Zane Meehl and the Azusa Pacific Cougars. Meehl had a point (0/1 FG, 1/2 FT), two rebounds, two assists and a steal in seven minutes in an 84-62 home win on Monday over Westmont, who Azusa (21-9) will meet on Thursday in the first round of the Golden State conference tournament.