Vukona, Drags Surge On
Tagged in: Kiwis Abroad, Tall Blacks
Make it six straight for Tall Blacks forward Mika Vukona and the South Dragons.
Vukona had 11 points and helped the Dragons bench out-score the Sydney Spirit’s reserves 46-29 in a 96-87 win in Melbourne on Saturday, the club’s sixth straight in the Australian National Basketball League, which saw them solidify their place at number one ahead of the New Zealand Breakers.
Without New Zealand team-mate Nick Horvath, out with a wrist injury, Vukona’s offensive contribution was critical for the Brian Goorjian-coached Dragons, who struggled early against the upstart Spirit and needed a late fourth quarter comeback – down six points with 2:15 to play - to get the win.
Vukona shot 5-of-7 from the floor and 1-of-2 freebies, pulling down four rebounds along with an assist, block and steal in 19 minutes as the Dragons improved to 8-2, a half-game ahead of the Breakers.
Retired Tall Blacks centre Tony Rampton played two minutes, pulling down one board, for the Spirit, who without Rampton also fell to the Adelaide 36ers, with Tall Blacks guard Paora Winitana sitting out, on Sunday.
Tall Blacks point guard Lindsay Tait and the Wollongong Hawks enjoyed a perfect round seven of the ANBL, with home-and-away wins over the Breakers nemesis Cairns Taipans, 101-93 at home on Wednesday and 89-87 in Cairns on Saturday.
Tait had six points (1/4 FG, 0/1 3pt, 4/4 FT), three rebounds, five assists and a steal in 29 minutes on Wednesday and five points (1/2 FG, 1/1 3pt, 2/2 FT), four assists and a rebound in 19 minutes in the rare win in the tropical north, as the Hawks improved to 6-5 and fourth in the League.
Former Tall Black Casey Frank had four points (2/4 FG, 0/1 3pt) and six rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes while Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron played just six minutes, with no points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal as the Gold Coast Blaze’s season-opening losing streak reached 10 games with a 123-111 road loss to the defending champion Melbourne Tigers on Saturday.
Enjoying success in Europe was Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic, with his BC Kalev/Cramo obliterating KK Parnu 115-52 in the Estonian KML on Wednesday, then ending a three-game losing streak in the Baltic Basketball League with an 86-63 road win over Valmiera in Latvia on Saturday.
Former NBL MVP Josh Pace had 17 points as Kalev/Cramo improved to 4-0 in their domestic league with a seven straight win over Parnu dating back to last season, then had 11 points in the Baltic League win.
A lack of Ws punctuated the week for the remaining Kiwi men in Europe.
In Europe, Tall Blacks forward Craig Bradshaw dropped 12 points (3/8 FG, 0/1 3pt, 6/6 FT) and grabbed eight rebounds, three blocks and delivered an assist in 36 minutes of game time but his Grupo Begar Leon side fell 82-71 on the road to Plus Pujol Lleida in round seven of the LEB Gold in Spain. Leon dropped back to 4-3 with the loss.
Former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin, with Wellington Saint Leon Henry and Auckland Star Adrian Majstrovich on his U Mobitelco Cluj-Napoca roster, was eliminated from the Romanian Cup competition with an 81-74 second leg home loss to CSU Asesoft Ploiesti on Wednesday in a repeat of last season’s league championship series.
Henry had five points (2/2 FG, 1/1 3pt, 0/2 FT) and two rebounds in 12 minutes while Majstrovich went scoreless with two boards in five minutes.
With Henry and Majstrovich not getting on the scoresheet in four minutes of action each, Cluj-Napoca saw their unbeaten record in the Romanian Divizia A disappear with an 80-70 loss to CSU Atlassib Sibiu in round four on Friday.
Tall Blacks forward Ben Hill’s club Hottur suffered their third loss in four games with a 113-71 home defeat to unbeaten Hamar in round four of Iceland’s Division One on Saturday, while former Tall Black Brendon Polyblank had two points as his current club, Lausanne, lost to his former club, BBC Monthey, 69-65 at home in round five of the Swiss Ligue Nationale de Basket on Saturday.
Stateside, Canterbury product James Holland, a high school senior, led Bethel Christian Academy with 21 points (8/16 FG, 3/8 3pt, 2/2 FT), four rebounds, three blocks, two steals and an assist in a season-opening 54-36 win over Fraize High School in Kentucky.
In the Pacific Northwest, college senior Ryan Beesley had seven points (3/7 FG, 1/4 3pt) and a rebound in 12 minutes as the Oregon Tech Hustlin’ Owls unveiled their 2007-08 NAIA D-II championship banner in style with a 92-46 win over William Jessup University on Saturday.
Emerging Tall Black Mada Abdelhamid played sparingly and Rangitoto College product Cam Stuart sat out as their Cumberland University NAIA squad won the Berry College Classic with back-to-back wins over the weekend.
The Lambuth Eagles, with former Canterbury coach Caleb Harrison as an assistant, tipped-off their season with an 85-77 home win over St Catharine College in Jackson, Tennessee.
Other Kiwi student-athletes scheduled to get their college seasons started soon include Tall Blacks centre Alex Pledger at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina and former Tall Black Jeremiah Trueman with the University of Alaska-Anchorage, both in NCAA-D2; Rory Fannon at Utah Valley University in NCAA-D1; Canterbury’s Ben Constable at NAIA school Northwood University in Florida; Dion Prewster at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas, and Sam Dobbs at Jackston State Community College in Tennessee, both junior colleges; and Junior Tall Black Richie Edwards in his senior season at Lakeland High School in Florida.
