Basketball New Zealand

Tall Blacks centre Nick Horvath has helped the South Dragons to the ANBL regular season title

A round 21 triple-header sweep helped push Tall Blacks Nick Horvath and Mika Vukona and the South Dragons to the Australian National Basketball League regular season title last week.

The Drags, guided by Boomers coach Brian Goorjian, locked up the best record and number one seeding for the playoffs with a 93-83 home win over the second-placed Melbourne Tigers on Sunday.

Horvath fell one rebound shy of a double-double against the Tigers, finishing with 11 points (5/14 FG, 1/5 3pt), nine boards and an assist in 33 minutes, while Vukona had two points (1/2 FG) and a rebound in 12 minutes as the Dragons improved to 21-8.

Earlier in the week, Vukona produced 12 points (6/7 FG), eight rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes and Horvath six points (2/4 FG, 2/2 FT), six boards, three blocks and a steal in 18 minutes in a 97-77 home win over the playoff-bound Adelaide 36ers on Wednesday.

Both were relatively quiet, with Vukona having three points (1/2 FG, 1/1 FT), seven rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes and Horvath two points (1/2 FG) in 10 minutes in a 101-98 road win over the Townsville Crocodiles on Friday.

Tall Blacks guard Paora Winitana scored a season-high 14 points (6/9 FG, 2/3 3pt), with three assists and a rebound in 22 minutes in the loss to the Dragons, but the Sixers still secured a playoff berth.

Former Tall Black Casey Frank contributed nine points (4/6 FG, 1/1 3pt), with four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 21 minutes and Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron had a single point (0/2 FG, 0/2 3pt, 1/2 FT), with four dimes and three rebounds in 25 minutes in the Gold Coast Blaze’s 93-88 road win over the Cairns Taipans on Saturday.

Former TBs big man Tony Rampton scored four points (1/2 FG, 2/4 FT), five rebounds, an assist and steal in 18 minutes in the Sydney Spirit’s 106-88 road loss to the Perth Wildcats on Saturday. Rampton had a point (0/2 FG, 0/1 3pt, 1/2 FT) and two boards in 16 minutes in Sydney’s 89-81 home loss to Cairns on Wednesday, which eliminated the Spirit from the postseason.

In Europe, Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic has seen his Estonian club, BC Kalev/Cramo, improve to 10-5 and move within a win of reaching the Baltic Basketball League Final Four.

Kalev defeated Lithuania’s BC Zalgiris 84-57 at home last week, following on from an 89-82 win over Latvia’s Valmiera on January 31, leaving them second behind Lithuanian power Lietuvos Rytas, who they face on Saturday on the road, with three regular season games remaining.

Vucinic and Kalev also posted a pair of domestic wins last week, defeating Valga Velg 78-55 on Friday and Tallinna Kalev 106-80 on Sunday in the Estonian KML, moving to 10-3, but still two games behind unbeaten TU/Rock.

Former Tall Blacks point guard Mark Dickel has surfaced in Greece, signing with AS Trikalla in the A1 league during the Christmas break, with six games for the struggling central Greece club.

Dickel had seven points (2/4 FG, 1/4 3pt), three steals and an assist in 27 minutes in Trikalla’s 69-67 road loss to AEK Athens on Saturday. Dickel has already produced two double-digit scoring games, helping Trikalla to just its second win of the season in his third game, while averaging 8.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

Former national teamer Brendon Polyblank scored 27 points (11/21 FG, 4/7 3pt, 1/3 FT), five rebounds and two steals in 42 minutes in a 92-88 overtime road loss to Lugano Tigers in round 18 of the Swiss LNA on Saturday, leaving Lausanne Basket seventh at 8-9.

Tall Blacks centre Craig Bradshaw put up 10 points (3/6 FG, 4/7 FT), six rebounds, a steal and block in 22 minutes in Grupo Begar Leon’s 82-65 road win over CB Illescas Urban Clm in round 19 of the LEB Gold in Spain on Saturday. Leon improved to 10-9 but still remain outside the top-eight.

In Germany, Harbour Heat forward BJ Anthony produced 18 points (7/15 FG, 4/6 FT), seven boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 29 minutes in Herzoge Wolfenbuttel’s 102-97 road win over TSV Troster Breitengussbach on Saturday in round 19 of the Bundesliga division two-pro B league. Wolfenbuttel sit fourth at 14-5 but just one game back of the top spot.

Emerging Tall Black Leon Henry sat out the latest game for former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin’s U Mobitelco Cluj-Napoca in Romania, with the Red Caps managing a 109-102 home win over CSU Atlassib Sibiu on Saturday, improving to fifth at 12-5.

Onto the US college system, New Zealand’s only NCAA-D1 student-athlete, Harbour product Rory Fannon, saw just four minutes of action, corralling one rebound in Utah Valley’s 71-55 home win over Lamar University on Monday, leaving the Wolverines at 12-9.

Former Tall Black Jeremiah Trueman blew up for 20 points (7/11 FG, 6/7 FT), four rebounds, a block and assist in 35 minutes as his Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves edged Seattle Pacific 66-62 at home on Saturday in NCAA-D2 play. UAA sit at 11-11 overall and 5-4 in the Great North conference.

Current Tall Blacks backup big Alex Pledger managed 10 points (5/8 FG), seven rebounds and two steals in 13 minutes in an 82-65 road win over North Greenville U on Monday, following on from a seven points (2/5 FG, 3/3 FT) and four rebounds effort on Saturday in a 73-69 road win over Coker College, elevating the Crusaders to 14-7 on the season and 10-4 in the Carolinas-Virginia conference.

Assistant coaches Tim Bennetts and James Lissaman saw their Rose-Hulman Tech NCAA-D3 squad fall at home to Transylvania U 60-47 on Saturday, dropping the Engineers to 9-13.

At NAIA level, Harbour guard Ryan Beesley scored seven points (2/4 FG, 1/3 3pt, 2/2 FT), three rebounds and a steal in 14 minutes in Oregon Tech’s 84-66 home win over Cascade U on Saturday.

The defending champion Hustlin’ Owls sit at 22-4 for the year and 12-4 in the Cascade conference, moving up to number two in the NAIA-D2 coaches poll.

Behind them in the polls is Northwood University, featuring Canterbury’s Ben Constable, at number 10. Constable did not play in the Seahawks 69-64 road loss to St Thomas’ on Saturday, falling four places in the polls in the process, now at 21-4 overall and 7-3 in the Sunshine conference.

Emerging Tall Black Mada Abdelhamid had two points (1/3 FG) and three rebounds in 10 minutes for Cumberland University in their 89-68 home win over Mid-Continent University on Saturday. The Bulldogs sit number 15 in the latest NAIA-D1 polls with a 20-3 record, 10-2 in the Trans South conference.

Another Emerging Tall Black, Zane Meehl, also moved into the same rankings with his Azusa Pacific Cougars leaping to number 19 after an 86-83 overtime road win against California Baptist on Saturday. Meehl went scoreless (0/1 FG) with a rebound in eight minutes in the win, which lifted APU to 16-7, 9-4 and second in the Golden State conference.

Junior Tall Blacks forward Ritchie Edwards went off for a season-high 32 points (12/22 FG, 7/12 3pt, 1/3 FT), 12 rebounds and two assists in a 67-54 win for Lakeland High over Jenkins High in Florida high school basketball.

Edwards averaged 18.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals as the Dreadnaughts completed their regular season at 20-3, riding a 15-game win streak into the postseason.

In Texas, another JTB Dion Prewster saw his San Jacinto College lift to 15-9 after an 86-82 overtime road win over Jacksonville College on Saturday in junior college play. Prewster is sixth in scoring, second in rebounds, first in blocks and third in assists for the Ravens.