Nov 07 2019
Leave a comment
Breakers by Numbers

Abercrombie one shot away from significant milestone

Tom Abbo

Tom Abercrombie is just 2 points shy of becoming the first Breakers player to break the 3,500 points mark to further extend his all-time leading scorer record for the club.

In addition Abercrombie will play his 69thconsecutive NBL game passing his personal previous best unbroken run of 68 games. Abbo last missed a game in January 2017 when he was forced to miss seven games with a broken hand.

He sits 15thon the Breakers all-time list of consecutive games played, a list headed by Mika Vukona’s unbroken161 game run (2010-15).

Other Sky Sport Breakers numbers:

v Cairns Taipans at Spark Arena last Thursday.

Brandon Ashley produced the second Breakers double-double of the season pulling down 11 rebounds to go with 14 points.

RJ Hampton, playing in just his fifth professional game, scored a season high 18 points.

Corey Webster moved up to 6th on the Breakers all-time assists list with a career high 8 assists followed by 6 dimes in the game against Perth Wildcats on Sunday.

All-Time Breakers Assists

901 Paul Henare

834 Cedric Jackson

655 Mika Vukona

635 Dillon Boucher

466 CJ Bruton

385 Corey Webster

374 Kirk Penney

374 Tom Abercrombie

v Perth Wildcats in Invercargill last Sunday.

Brandon Ashley scored 21 points, his best points haul to date in his short Breakers career.

Corey Webster became the first Breakers player to score 100 points this season – 113 points at 18.8ppg.

Upcoming

Glen Rice Jnr, an injury replacement for Scotty Hopson, will become Breaker #115 if as expected he debuts against Melbourne United.

Nov 05 2019
2 Comments
College Hoops

Kiwi Men and Women at Junior College in the States

Sharne P-R

Sharne Pupuke-Robati 

Below is the list of Kiwis playing Junior College basketball in the States in the 2019/20 collegiate season.

Women

Kaitlin Burgess (College of Southern Idaho) ex Rangitoto College and Riverton High, USA.

Grace Hunter (South Plains College, Texas) ex Queen Mary’s College, Wellington.

Awatea Leach (Collin Community College) ex Rotorua Girls High

Leah Mafua (Otero Junior College) ex Hutt Valley High

Lauryn Mapusua (Hutchinson Community College) ex Brisbane State High

Jada Menasa (Mineral Area College) ex Mt Albert Grammar.

Rionne Papa (Mineral Area College) ex Auckland Grammar.

Kyra Paniora (Hutchinson Community College)

Kay-Hauata Phillips (?)

Sharne Pupuke-Robati (Utah State Eastern) ex Mt Albert Grammar.

Riana Rangi-Brown (Mineral Area College) ex Mt Albert Grammar.

Connie Taylor (Cowlie College) ex Rangi Ruru Girls

Men

Daniel Christensen (Barstow College) ex Taradale College

Mattson Darrah (Herkimer College) ex Wellington College

Nico Hill (Missouri State – West Plains) ex Opunake High.

Vincent Keremete-Davies (West Valley College) ex Impact Academy

Thabo Manyere (Barstow College) ex Westlake Boys – redshirt 2019/20 due to injury

Jake McKinlay (Mineral Area College) ex Palmerston North Boys High

Dylan Ryburn (Nebraska) ex Hamilton Boys High.

Josh Tawhiao (Barstow College) ex Rangitoto College

Nov 04 2019
Leave a comment
Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam

Mexicali Fresh Round 1 wrap

 

2020 Summer Jam Poster V2

The opening round of the 2019 Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam, held at HoopQuarters in New Lynn, saw wins for Gauchos and Rail Splitters.

Gauchos, with Junior internationals Jaga Mete (21 points), Sam Mennenga (39 points) and Sean Murphy (19 points) to the fore, always headed an under-strength Birdmen eventually winning 106-95.

To their credit the Birdmen, despite being down 54-42 at half-time, stayed in the contest until the closing couple of minutes.

When Ryan Laumatia knocked down a three Birdmen were only seven points down (95-88) with five minutes to play.

Nate Wilson added further points but Tall Black alumnus Dillon Boucher orchestrated proceedings down the stretch as Gauchos continually went inside to the dominant Mennenga who scored 16 of his game high 39 points in the final period.

Birdmen guard Zach Riley lit up the opening frame draining four consecutive treys, with Jaylen Gerrand the aggressor in the second making a dozen points to keep his team’s score ticking over.

An even third quarter preceded Birdmen’s push for victory in the fourth which was stymied by Mennenga’s dominance.

Gauchos 106– S Mennenga 39, J Mete 21, S Murphy 19, O Hayward 9

Birdmen 95– J Gerrand 28, Z Riley 23, N Wilson 13, T Murray 11, F McClure 11

 

In the earlier game Rail Splitters earned a 90-87 win against Blue Chips.

That result appeared highly unlikely in the early stages as the perimeter shooting of Kevin Braswell and the inside presence of Dom Kelman-Poto and Zack Te Puni carried Blue Chips to a 33-14 opening quarter advantage.

The Chips lead was still 51-38 at half-time but with Nick Barrow and Shalom Broughton achieving parity on the boards and Tinashe Matambanadzo and Dru Leo Leusage-Ape getting some outside shots to drop the Rail Splitters led 66-61 at three-quarter time.

Kelman-Poto and Joel Vaiagina got busy at the beginning of the fourth to give Blue Chips an 80-79 lead with under four minutes to play.

An eye-catching reverse dunk from Broughton restored Rail Splitters lead and although Braswell and Vaiagina made threes Matambanadzo, and Leusage-Ape made critical plays in the closing two minutes to clinch a meritourious win for the Splitters.

Rail Splitters 90– T Matambanadzo 25, N Barrow 17, S Broughton 14, D Leusage-Ape 14, M Williams-Dunn 11

Blue Chips 87– D Kelman-Poto 26, K Braswell 26, Z Te Puni 11, J Vaiagina 11

The Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam is supported by HoopQuarters, SAS and ABSL.

Nov 01 2019
1 Comment
Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam

Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam Preview

2020 Summer Jam Poster V2

It’s at a new location but the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam is back.

The 2019 edition will be held at HoopQuarters in New Lynn with the first round of games played on November 2nd.

Once again the four participating teams will showcase some of the best high school talent in Auckland with a sprinkling of Tall Blacks and NBL players out to keep the youngsters in line.

Four members of the St Kentigern College Schick National Championship winning team – Levick Kerr, Shalom Broughton Kazlo Evans Jnr and Alex McNaught will be suiting up.

Former Tall Blacks Casey Frank and Dillon Boucher will provide veteran leadership whilst Tinashe Matamabnadzo, Dominique Kelman-Poto, (both Southland Sharks) along with Nick Barrow and Jaylen Gerrand (both Super City Rangers) played in the NBL in 2019.

The opening game at 1.00pm will feature Railsplitters against Blue Chips followed by Birdmen taking on Gauchos at 2.30pm.

Railsplitters will be led by Frank, Barrow and Matamabnadzo with the young backcourt of Marvin Williams-Dunn (Rosmini College) and Kazlo Evans Jnr sure to push the pace. Tautoko Wynyard (Rangitoto College) will be the youngest forward on show.

If Wynyard is the youngest forward then 2019 U17 Nationals MVP Dante Nance is the youngest guard. Playing for Gauchos he will have the Boucher’s (Jayden and Dillon) plus Junior Tall Blacks Jaga Mete (Auckland Grammar) and Sam Mennenga (Westlake) amongst his teammates.

Blue Chips will have player/coach Kevin Braswell pulling the strings alongside Kelman-Poto, Reihana Maxwell-Topia (Rosmini) and the Rangitoto College pair Harry Payne and Ethan Skelton.

Former Westlake standout Jaylen Gerand will be at the point for Birdmen and will be joined in the backcourt by Sataan Tawera (MAGS), Zach Riley (Rangitoto) and Rosmini and Tall Blacks wing Taine Murray.

Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam Co-ordinator Lindsay Tait is looking forward to the seven week season.

“Summer is when real hoopers work on their individual deficiencies to improve their future standing in the game. The players recruited are a mix of the top young talent available alongside the top available men. From our targeted pool of athletes we have selected the four most competitive teams possible in order to get better as a collective in an enjoyable, competitive environment.

“Our youngsters need to learn off our veterans. Our veterans need good quality competition during the summer period,” Tait added.

The Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam is supported by HoopQuarters, SAS and ABSL.

Oct 31 2019
Leave a comment
College Hoops, Kiwi's Abroad

Kiwi Men in College – NCAA Div III and NAIA

Joe Cook-Green

Joe Cook-Green

Below is a list of Kiwi Men playing NCAA Division III College basketball plus those playing National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

NAIA 

Seniors

Joe Cook-Green (Texas Wesleyan University after attending Otago Boys High)

Jordan Hunt (Southern Oregon University out of Hutt Valley High)

Kane Keil (University of Antelope Valley after attending Auckland Grammar School)

Sophomores

Carl Isitt (Central Methodist University after attending Papanui High)

Corey La’aupepe (Menio College after attending St Pat’s Town)

Freshmen

Maxim Stephens (Rocky Mountain College, Montana after attending Hamilton Boys High)

Travis Wright (Florida National University after attending Napier Boys High)

 

NCAA Division III

Seniors

Sam Lees (Whitworth University after attending Middleton Grange School

Liam Wilby (Allegheny College out of Wellington College)

Junior

Harrison Williams (Castleton University, formerly at St Kentigern College)

Sophomores

Will Harrison (St Lawrence University after attending Christ’s College)

Trent Smith (Blackburn College after attending Palmerston North Boys High)

Aidan Phizackerley (Linfield College after attending St Kentigern College)

Harry Wall (Shenandoah University after attending Scots College)

Noah Watson (Muhlenberg College after attending Archbishop Walsh School)

Freshmen

Fletcher Arnold (Knox College after attending Ashburton College)

Ben Reeves (St Joseph’s College after attending Otago Boys High School)

Oct 29 2019
Leave a comment
Breakers by Numbers

RJ edges LaMelo and Abercrombie nearing another milestone

RJ Hampton

The official attendancefor the Sky Sport Breakers opening home game against Illawarra Hawks last week at Spark Arena on Sunday was 8,338 – the 6thhighest crowd all-time for the Breakers and the third largest ever for a regular season fixture.

The reaction of the crowd during the game showed that many were there to see future NBA players LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton in action.

So who won the first round of that matchup between the two? Being biased I give Hampton the verdict but only just.

I had both players in my fantasy team with Ball scoring 32 points and RJ 37 points emphasizing how close the contest was.

Fortunately we get to see them go head to head on three more occasions this season with the next round back at Spark Arena on November 30th.

The largest crowd the Breakers have ever attracted was 9,238 for Game 3 of the 2012 Grand Final series against Perth Wildcats. The biggest regular season crowd was 9,157 on February 1st2013, when the Breakers won a 10th straight game defeating Perth 98-81 with Corey Webster scoring 14 points to back up Cedric Jackson’s 22 points.

Largest Regular season crowds:

9,157 v Perth Wildcats, 1.2.2013

8,500 v Adelaide 36’ers, 28.2.2013

8,338 v Illawarra Hawks, 24.10.19

7,979 v Sydney Kings, 27.1.2012

7,947 v Cairns Taipans, 21.3.2014

7,597 v Perth Wildcats, 13.12.2013

7,494 v Sydney Kings, 20.10.2019

 

v Illawarra Hawks at Spark Arena

Scotty Hopson produced the first Breakers double-double of the season pulling down 10 rebounds to go with 17 points.

Development Player Terry Li, afforded a couple of minutes of action, became Breaker #114 and the first Chinese national to play for the club.

Ethan Rusbatch played his first game for the Breakers since January 2017 – he made three brief appearances in the 2016-17 season (when a Development player). Nice to see the Tall Black guard knock down a pair of threes.

Corey Webste moved up to 7th on the Breakers all-time assists list with a dozen dimes over the two games against Illawarra and Melbourne. He replaces Tom Abercrombie at No 7 and has 6thplaced Kirk Penney in his sights.

All-Time Breakers Assists List

901 Paul Henare

834 Cedric Jackson

655 Mika Vukona

635 Dillon Boucher

466 CJ Bruton

374 Kirk Penney

371 Corey Webster

369 Tom Abercrombie

 

Upcoming

Tom Abercrombie is 17 points shy of becoming the first Breakers player to break the 3,500 points mark. The club’s all-time leading scorer could well pass that milestone during the upcoming round with games against Cairns and Perth set down for Thursday and Sunday.

Oct 28 2019
Leave a comment
Kiwi's Abroad, Tall Ferns, WNBL

Toni Farnworth makes 250th WNBL appearance in Melbourne Boomers win

Toni Farnworth boomers

All five Kiwis playing in the Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) this season appeared in the same game on Sunday in Townsville.

All but one of the five are playing for Melbourne Boomers and it will be the quartet of Penina Davidson, Stella Beck, Toni Farnworth and Kalani Purcell who will be the happiest having inflicted an 80-71 defeat on Micaela Cocks and the Townsville Fire.

The match was a big occasion for veteran wing Toni Farnworth. The Cantabrian, having transferred from Perth Lynx in the off-season was playing her 250th WNBL game and didn’t miss a shot in making seven points as well as adding a pair of assists and rebounds.

Beck and Davidson are also in their inaugural seasons with the Boomers having transferred from Townsville and Adelaide Lightning respectively. Beck had 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and a block with Davidson adding 4 points and 2 rebounds.

Purcell, in her third season with the Boomers, didn’t post any points but did claim 4 rebounds, and a brace of steals in the win.

Cocks, the Townsville captain and in her ninth season with the club, had a quiet outing scoring just two points.

Melbourne boast a 4-0 start to the season to head the WNBL table with the Fire languishing last with an 0-4 record.

Oct 23 2019
Leave a comment
Breakers by Numbers, NZ Breakers

Sky Sport Breakers record crowd plus more

 

Breakers Crowd

The official attendance for the Sky Sport Breakers opening home game against Sydney Kings at Spark Arena on Sunday was 7,497 – the 12thhighest crowd all-time for the Breakers and the largest ever for an opening game of the season.

The crowd for the Illawarra Hawks clash on Thursday is forecast to be even bigger. If it passes the 8,000 mark, which is looking likely, it will be only the eighth occasion a Breakers home crowd has exceeded that number and just the third time during the regular season.

The largest crowd the Breakers have ever attracted was 9,238 for Game 3 of the 2012 Grand Final series against Perth Wildcats. The biggest regular season crowd was 9,157 on February 1st 2013, when the Breakers won a 10thstraight game defeating Perth 98-81 with Corey Webster scoring 14 points to back up Cedric Jackson’s 22 points.

Breakers largest regular season crowds:

9,157 v Perth Wildcats, 1.2.2013

8,500 v Adelaide 36’ers, 28.2.2013

7,979 v Sydney Kings, 27.1.2012

7,947 v Cairns Taipans, 21.3.2014

7,597 v Perth Wildcats, 13.12.2013

7,494 v Sydney Kings, 20.10.2019

 

Opening Games of the season.

Scottie Hopson’s 27 points in the opening game in Sydney ranks fourth equal with the most points scored by a Breaker in their debut game for the club.

Most points scored on debut for the Breakers:

34 Carlos Powell, September ‘06

31 Brian Wethers, September ‘06

29 Ben Melmeth, October ‘03

27 Shawn Redhage, September ‘04

27 Scottie Hopson, October ‘19

25 Marcus Timmins, December ‘05

23 Kirk Penney, October ‘07

Most points scored in opening two games for the Breakers:

56 Brian Wethers, September ‘06

54 Carlos Powel, September ‘06

46 Kirk Penney, October ‘07

45 Ben Melmeth, October ‘03

40 Scottie Hopson, October ‘19

 

Corey Websterplayed game number 200 for the Breakers in the home encounter with Sydney on Sunday.

He became just the sixth player to reach the double century mark for the club after Mika Vukona (354), Tom Abercrombie (304), Paul Henare (250), Alex Pledger (238) and Dillon Boucher (220).

Oct 22 2019
Leave a comment
College Hoops

Kiwis at Canadian colleges – men and women

Dionne Martin (Canada)

Dionne Martin

At least five New Zealand players, three women and two men, have basketball scholarships at Canadian Universities.

Senior

Dionne Martin (Algoma University)

Season 18/19 Games 23, Starts 20, Points 279 (12.1ppg), Rebounds 124 (5.4rpg), Assists 44 (1.9)

From Hamilton Girls High School Martin attended Southeast Community College before Algoma.

The Taupo native was the leading scorer (12.1ppg) and rebounder (5.4rpg) last season. Martin scored double-digit points in nine games for the Thunderbirds.

Juniors

Hayden Collier - Canada

Hayden Collier

Hayden Collier (University of Regina)

Attended Rangiora High School before spending two years at Laramie County Community College.

Isaac Miller-Jose (University of Manitoba)

Season 18/19 Games 16, Points 75 (4.7ppg), Rebounds 56 (3.5rpg)

Scored a season best 20 points against Trinity Western in January, 2019.

Attended Wellington College.

 

Sophomore

Maia Watling (Cape Breton University)

Season 18/19 Games 9, Points 23, Rebounds 15

Attended Palmerston North Girls High School.

Played for North Canterbury Spirit in 2019 WBC season.

Sofia Kennedy

Sofia Kennedy

Freshman

 Sofia Kennedy (University of Windsor)

 From Middleton Grange School, Christchurch.

Played for Alloyfold Canterbury Wildcats in 2019 WBC season.

Oct 20 2019
1 Comment
College Hoops

Kiwis in college preview – NCAA Division II Men

Jayden_Bezzant_feature_cover

Jayden Bezzant

Continuing our preview of the 2019-20 US college basketball season we take a look at the New Zealand men playing NCAA Division II hoops.

In 2018-19 there were 21 Kiwi men at NCAA Division II colleges – for the 2019-20 season that number has dropped to 18 but still well above the 11 that were playing in 2017-18.

Combined Division I and II there are 38 Kiwi men at US colleges this season.

Seniors

 Jayden Bezzant (Northwest Nazarine University)

Season 18/19 Games 26, Starts 8, Points 341 (13.1ppg), Rebounds 54 (2.1rpg), Assists 55 (2.1)

Has scored 944 career points for the Nighthawks in 77 games played.

From Tauranga attended St John’s College, Hamilton.

Isaac Davidson (Sonoma State University)

Season 18/19 Games 27, Starts 23, Points 375 (13.9ppg), Rebounds 121 (4.5rpg)

Last season led Sonoma in 3-point shooting percentage making 39 from 86 at 45.4%.

Like sister, Tall Fern Penina Davidson, Isaac attended Rangitoto College.

Logan Elers (South Dakota School of Mines)

Season 18/19 Games 30, Starts 0, Points 359 (12.0ppg), Rebounds 189 (6.3rpg), Assists 65 (3.2)

Out of Rotorua Boys High School Elers had highs of 21 points, 18 rebounds and 7 assists for South Dakota last season playing alongside fellow Kiwi Wilfred Dickson.

 

Juniors

Wilfred Dickson (South Dakota School of Mines)

Season 18/19 Games 30, Starts 1, Points 123 (4.1ppg), Rebounds 44 (1.5rpg)

From Napier Boys High School Dickson is playing alongside Logan Elers for South Dakota School of Mines Rockers.

Patrick Robertson (University of Maine at Augusta)

Season 18/19 Games 22, Starts 0, Points 55 (2.5ppg), Rebounds 44 (2.0rpg)

A shooting guard Robertson is out of Rosmini College although he spent his final year in high school at Rotorua Boys High.

 

Sophomores

 Mandela Baledrokadroka (Davis & Elkins College)

Season 18/19 Games 6, Starts 6, Points 85 (14.2ppg), Rebounds 45 (7.5rpg), Assists 28 (4.7apg)

Former Mt Albert Grammar School standout with one of the coolest names in Kiwi basketball.

 Conor Flanagan (University of West Florida)

 The former Auckland Grammar School centre will play alongside Johnny Helu for the superbly named Argonauts – sat out last year due to injury incurred at NZ U23 Nationals.

Expected to play substantial minutes this season.

T Higgins

Tom Higgins

Tom Higgins ( Texas A&M International)

Season 18/19 Games 26, Starts 12, Points 91 (3.5ppg), Rebounds 81 (3.1rpg)

Before completing his high school studies at Auckland Grammar School Higgins attended Te Awamutu College. Scored a season high 16 points against St Mary’s, Texas in his freshman year.

Played for the Junior Tall Blacks at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Greece.

Josh Lowe (Lee University)

Season 18/19 Games 23, Starts 0, Points 59 (2.6ppg), Rebounds 38 (1.7rpg)

The rangy forward spent time at Impact Academy in Florida after graduating from Ashburton College.

Oscar Oswald.jpeg

Oscar Oswald

Oscar Oswald (St Edwards University)

Season 18/19 Games 6, Starts 0

The former Palmerston North Boys High standout will unfortunately have to redshirt the 2019-20 season after undergoing ACL surgery.

Played for the Junior Tall Blacks at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Greece.

Tom Power (University of Hawaii at Hilo)

Season 18/19 Games 26, Starts 1, Points 31 (1.2ppg), Rebounds 41 (1.6rpg)

The former Hamilton Boys High forward is well regarded at Hilo where he played in all 26 games for the Vulcans last season as a freshman.

Tom Power

Tom Power

Freshmen

Matt Brien (University of Nebraska at Kearney)

Attended St Kevin’s in Oamaru before finishing high school at St Pat’s College, Wellington. Then spent a year at OnPoint Academy in El Reno, USA.

 Kurt Feneon (Christian Brothers University)

Formerly of Christchurch Boys High School and Mainland Eagles Academy.

Will Heather (Dallas Baptist University)

The former Rosmini College centre missed the 2018-19 season due to shoulder surgery.

Played for New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA U18 3×3 World Cup in China.

Sione Johnny Helu (University of West Florida)

Out of Wellington College Helu will play alongside Conor Flanagen for the West Florida Argonauts. He was MVP at 2019 U23 Nationals playing for Hutt Valley.

Tyler Marsh (St Cloud State University)

A product of Waimea College, Nelson and Mainland Eagles Academy.

Oscar Robertson (Regis University)

Out of New Plymouth Boys High School played for New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA U17 Oceania Championships in Guam.

Thomas Whyte (Assumption College)

After graduating from Auckland Grammar School attended St Thomas More Prep School in the States for a year.

Played 3×3 Basketball for New Zealand at 2018 Youth Olympics in Argentina.

← Older posts
Newer posts →