LACEY LOWDOWN

Le Mura Lucca are in danger of relinquishing top spot on the Italian League table after suffering a 74-61 defeat at the hands of defending champions Famila Schio on Wednesday night. Lucca lost to Schio in the Italian Cup final last month and a win against their arch rivals would have secured the regular season title for Lucca. However they trailed at every interval in the game falling to just their third league defeat of the season.

Jillian Harmon was forced to spend time on the bench in the second half after picking up a fourth foul but still mustered 20 points, 8 points and a brace of assists in 31 minutes.

The Tall Ferns forward was one of just two Lucca players in double figures on the night.

The top four teams will play each other at the weekend in the final regular season fixtures. Lucca (18-3) will travel to fourth placed San Martino (15-6) whilst Schio (17-4) entertain Venezia who have the same (17-4) win/loss record.

The top three spots are still up for grabs ahead of the play-offs. By my reckoning Lucca hold the head to head over Venezia but not Schio. Therefore they need to topple San Martino at the weekend and hope Venezia can overturn Schio in order to take the number one ranking into the play-offs.

A day after arriving in Turkey Thomas Abercrombie took the court for his new club Demir IBB – which is a lot quicker to write than Demir Insaat Buyukcekmece Basketball club. The Tall Blacks and Breakers swingman shook off some of his jet lag by coming off the bench to score 7 points (3/4FG) in 13 minutes of action but Demir, 13^th on the Turkish League ladder, were comfortably beaten by 4^th placed Banvit BK 89-65.

Also beaten at home by higher placed opposition was Zaragoza in the Spanish League. Isaac Fotu produced his third double double of the season and his highest rebound tally – 17 points / 12 rebounds – but it wasn’t enough to prevent Zaragoza going down 99-88 to Baskonia. Zaragoza with a 7-14 record is slipping towards a relegation battle after this latest defeat.

In the Spanish third division Sammic ISB jumped back to the top of the table with a 72-67 victory against Zamorano. Canterbury Rams forward Mike Karena continued his good form with 12 points and 9 rebounds for Sammic that now boast a 16-6 record.

In Italy Le Mura Lucca was defeated by rivals Famila Schio 88-60 in the Italian Women’s Cup Final played in Venice at the weekend.

Lucca trailed by just a point at half-time 31-30 and the same margin at the end of the third (53-52) but with free scoring Tall Ferns forward Jillian Harmon held to just 6 points it was blitzed 35-8 in the last quarter.

The two teams meet again in a fortnight in league action.

Erin Rooney has averaged 20 minutes a game across her first 7 appearances for Artego Bydgoszcz in the Polish League. Artego are 6-1 since the Cantabrian’s arrival in early January and now sit 5^th on the league table with a 13-7 record after their latest victory, a nail biting 85-83 win against close rivals Gorzow Wielkopoiski. Artego dished an impressive 22 assists in the encounter with Rooney contributing 4 of those as well as 4 points.

As most are aware the World Masters Games is being held in Auckland in the second week of the April school holidays.

Already over 150 teams have entered from all around the globe – close to 100 of these teams are from overseas.

We are still keen to engage more table officials and referees BUT tomorrow – Friday January 20th is the last day for volunteers to register – your help would be very much appreciated.

Last day for volunteer registrations tomorrow – jump on board and join the team

http://www.worldmastersgames2017.co.nz/get-involved/volunteers/apply/

regards

Mike Lacey

Jack Salt and Tai Webster headlined the performances by Tall Blacks overseas this week.

Salt, having appeared to cement a spot in the Cavaliers starting frame, scored a career high 10 points as Virginia pasted Robert Morris 79-39. Reportedly eight of Jack’s family is heading to LA this week to see the 13^th ranked Cavaliers take on University of California, Berkley.

Webster breezed to a team high 17 points but it was not enough as Nebraska Huskers fell 70-62 to Gardner Webb. The Tall Blacks point guard also posted 5 rebounds and 4 assists but will be disappointed with 7 turnovers.

In the ANBL Reuben Te Rangi put in a strong shift for Brisbane Bullets as they headed Melbourne United 100-90 on Saturday. Te Rangi scored 7 points and impressed with his 18 minutes of endeavor at the defensive end matching up on the likes of Chris Goulding and Casper Ware.

In Spain Isaac Fotu converted all four scoring attempts on his way to 8 points and 5 rebounds as Zaragoza improved to 5-7 with a convincing 90-74 victory against Andorra. The win moves Zaragoza up to 10^th on the Liga Endesa table.

Sammic ISB slipped to 4^th on the lower tier LEB Silver table after a 78-56 thumping by Granada. Mike Karena returned 9 points (4/10FG) to compliment 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Other News

Sam Waardenburg has played his last game in New Zealand for a while. One of the standout performers for the Junior Tall Blacks last week in Fiji at the FIBA U18 Oceania Champs Waardenburg had 13 points and 7 rebounds as Breakers Development went down 114-91 in the final of the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam on Saturday. The Rangitoto College forward is University of Miami bound on December 28^th, we wish him well.

SUVA – With the FIBA U18 Oceania Championships 2016 right around the corner, FIBA is pleased to announce that it will be streaming the event on the FIBA YouTube channel.

All games played on court one of the championships will be available live at youtube.com/fiba. Also, FijiTV will be covering the finals phase of the event (December 8-10) live and delayed on FijiTV’s television networks (Fiji One).

People from all over the world, especially the seven nations outside of host nation, Fiji, will be tuning to FIBA’s YouTube channel to see the best talent from the region go head to head for Oceania gold and a spot in the FIBA U19 World Championships 2017.

There is an enormous amount of talent in the Oceania region. These championships give the participating athletes a chance at rising to the occasion and grabbing the spotlight. They will be able to show people all over the region and world what they can do.

FIBA’s new senior competition calendar comes into effect in November 2017 and creates new opportunities for Oceania countries to compete in  regular  international competition. This new system will see Oceania and Asia combine for competition and qualification purposes, teams from both regions will compete in a home and away style qualification process.

Many of the players at this tournament are going to be the leaders of their respective nations during this new era of basketball.

The eight (8) nations competing in the FIBA U18 Oceania Championships 2016 are host nation Fiji, Australia, Guam, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tahiti. 

The championships take place from the 5th to 10th of December. Check out fiba.com/U18Oceania for the latest news and stats from the tournament, plus, stay tuned to youtube.com/fiba for the live stream.