By Mike Lacey
Despite the one point loss to the Bay Hawks on Wednesday night the Auckland Tuatara remain at the top the Sal’s NBL ladder with a near-perfect 4-1 record.
After inflicting a 106-91 defeat on the defending champion Wellington Saints at TSB Arena on Monday evening we couldn’t quite make it a double, going down 75-74 to the Bay Hawks at Eventfinda Stadium on Wednesday night.
We trailed 71-58 with 5:30 to play and 73-63 with under three minutes to play before a stirring fight back that had the healthy home crowd on their feet.
New import Siler Schneider, playing his first game for the club since arriving in the country at the weekend, reduced the deficit before Chris Johnson peeled off 8 straight points to tie proceedings with 42 seconds left. Unfortunately a pair of Ethan Rusbatch free-throws bettered the one from Chris McIntosh meaning we suffered our first loss of the season, albeit by just the one point.
CJ led all scorers with 29 points, Siler scored 12 and on a night when our shooting was not at its sharpest Dontae Russo-Nance (9 points) and Nick Barrow (8 points) were the only significant points’ contributors.
CJ also pulled down 10 rebounds and effected 4 blocks while Rob Loe, despite having an off-night shooting wise tallied 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks.
In the win against the Saints the Tuatara were once again led by the front court duo of Chris and Rob – both players recorded double-doubles – Rob finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Chris totalled 25 points and 17 boards.
Taki Fahrensohn (20 points) and Chris McIntosh (16 points) were also major contributors for the Tuatara – both players posting NBL career highs.
Charlie Dalton scored his first NBL points in the win against the Saints with his Rosmini College and Harbour U19 teammate Tom Beattie dropping a season best 7 points.
Stats Corner:
CJ, with a season high 29 points against the Hawks, became the first player in the 2022 Sal’s NBL to pass 100 points. He has 116 points at 23.2ppg in addition to being the NBL’s leading rebounder averaging 14.2 boards per game.
Rob Loe is third in the rebounding category with 12 per outing and also Top-10 on the assists list with 4.8 dimes per game.
Dontae Russo-Nance has the 6th highest number of steals (2.5spg) and 11th highest number of assists averaging 4.3 per game.
Next up is the blockbuster local derby against the Franklin Bulls on Saturday May 28, 7.30pm at Eventfinda Stadium.
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