Basketball New Zealand

Tony Ronaldson (Photosport)

Tony “The Bear” Ronaldson scores 28 as the Waikato Pistons convincingly beat the Christchurch Cougars 104-74.

The Bear came to life previously only scoring a combined 13 points in his first two games.

Ronaldson also had 8 rebounds, while his Pistons team put together four strong quarters winning each of them.
Pistons came off the blocks with a roar winning the first quarter by 17, restricting the Cougars to only 10 points shooting at 26%.

In the second quarter the Pistons lead by as many as 24 thanks to Eric Devendorf (21 pts, 9 ast) who had 13 at the half. Thomas Abercrombie (19 pts, 7 reb) had 11 at the half, Pistons up 51-30 to end the half.

Not much changed in the third quarter apart from the production of Ronaldson who scored 14 points in the quarter, Cougars still had no answer being down 22 at the end of the third.

Pistons cruised in the final quarter and had the opportunity to play their bench winning the fourth by eight.

The Pistons front court was too much for the Pistons as Tall Black Alex Pledger chipped in with another double of 16 points and 16 rebounds. This is Pledger’s second consecutive double double after the Taranaki win last week. The boards were dominated by the Pistons 54-35.

Cougars had five players score in the double figures, but as a team they only shot 36% from the field compared to the Pistons who shot over 50%. Paora Winitana and Lionel Hopgood top scored for the Cougars with 15 a piece.

The Cougars have now lost all four of their contests against the Pistons and will now travel down to New Plymouth to play the Taranaki Mountainairs tomorrow, which will not be as easy as what history has shown.

Pistons now are at the top of the table with an unbeaten 3-0 record. The only other unbeaten team is the Harbour Heat, who will look to go 3-0 when they host the Exodus Saints tomorrow at the Furnace.

The two other games on Friday night will be the 0800 Easy LPG Bay Hawks playing the Zerofees Southland Sharks at Pettigrew Green Arena and the Fico Finance Nelson Giants playing host to the OceanaGold Nuggets at the Trafalgar Centre.

Thursday, March 18

At Te Awamutu Events Centre, Te Awamutu

Waikato Pistons 104 (Ronaldson 28, Devendorf 21, Pledger 16) Christchurch Cougars 74 (Hopgood 15, Winitana 15, Jeremy Kench 12) Final

Referees – Gavin Whiu, Tim Brown, Kelly McLeod
1Q: 27-10
HT: 51-30 (24-20)
3Q: 76-54 (25-24)
FT: 104-74 (28-20)
Pistons v Cougars Boxscore (24 KB html)