Wellington Control Fate
Tagged in: CBL, Competitions
A team approach has put Wellington in control of their own Central Conference destiny in the Conference Basketball League (CBL).
Back-to-back wins over the Wellington Saints on the back of solid team offence in round five last weekend – 86-76 on Saturday and 88-87 on Sunday – propelled Wellington over the idle Turanga Health Rising Suns for the Central lead.
Wellington (5-3) meet the Saints (2-2) in a round six double-header this weekend, with wins going a long way to booking one of the two Central Conference berths at the CBL Nationals on their home floor at Southwest Stadium in five weeks.
Wellington surged ahead in the second quarter of game one, leading by as many as 14 points against a Saints team that included NBL players Arthur Trousdell, Leon Henry, Matt Te Huna, Hugh Quinlivan and Randall Bishop.
With current NBL Saints guard Troy McLean, along with former NBL players George Le’afa, Dave Hopoi, Johnathon Southey, Corey Vessey and Jon Cartwright, Wellington were able to absorb the Saints third-quarter run and cruise in the fourth.
Wellington had six players score in double figures, with McLean leading the way with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Cartwright also produced a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Le’afa and Vessey each had 12 points, Vessey adding seven rebounds, while Hopoi and current Manawatu Jets forward James Paringatai with 11 points, with Hopoi also pulling down 11 boards.
Henry top-scored for the Saints with 17 points, including three treys, Trousdell had 14 points and Te Huna 13 points, five assists and four steals.
Trousdell’s monster 35 points and 17 rebounds game on Sunday could not prevent a second straight Saints loss.
Hopoi had 17 points and Cartwright 15 points, both corralling six rebounds, as Wellington held out a furious Saints comeback, which included two Jordan Mills threes in the final minute, and ran out the final four seconds as the Saints failed to commit a foul.
Vessey and Tom Westlake added 11 points, McLean 10 points and five assists, and Paringatai nine points and seven rebounds. Mills finished with 17 points, most coming in the fourth period, including 4-of-6 on three-point bombs.
The Turanga Health Rising Suns (4-2), currently tied with Wellington on 10 points, return to action this weekend, with a road double-header in Opunake against the Taranaki Panthers (1-5).
In the Southern Conference, the resurrected North Otago Penguins look likely to earn the sole CBL Nationals bid.
Otago were the only Southern Conference, automatically qualifying for the national tourney, but offered to give up the spot if they were defeated in the Southern Inter-Association Tournament, contested by Otago, North Otago, Central Otago and Southland.
The Penguins franchise - that won three straight CBL crowns from 1998-2000 but has been extinct since 2001 - have added Bay Hawks centre Calum MacLeod, Canterbury Rams big man Rewi Manahi, American Dalun Smith, and former NBLers Matt Gillan, Ian Cathcart, Markham Brown and Murray Clarke.
CBL Central Conference - Round 5
Saturday, July 19
Wellington 86 (Troy McLean 14, Corey Vessey 12, George Le’afa 12, James Paringatai 11, David Hopoi 11, Jon Cartwright 10) Wellington Saints 76 (Leon Henry 17, Brendon Polyblank 16, Arthur Trousdell 14, Matt Te Huna 13)
Sunday, July 20
Wellington 88 (David Hopoi 17, Jon Cartwright 15, Corey Vessey 11, Thomas Westlake 11, Troy McLean 10) Wellington Saints 87 (Arthur Trousdell 35, Jordan Mills 17)
Bye: Turanga Health Rising Suns, Taranaki Panthers
