Time for redemption
Tonight the Youthtown Auckland Stars will be looking for some redemtion and a chance to put the season back on track against the lowly Jets side who have yet to win a match. With the top six still an outside possibilty with a win tonight and other results falling their way coach Kenny Stone will be looking for a huge effort from his players tonight and a much improved showing from the bench to prove they can do it!
Get to the game at 7.30 !
Giants outshoot Stars
Poor shooting ,stifling defence, Phil Jones, Chris Reay take your pick but each of these contributed towards last nights loss for the Stars to the ecogise Nelson Giants. With the Youthtown Auckland Stars shooting only 9 from 41 in the first half the game and trailing by 23 points at the end of the first quarter it was always going to be an impossible comeback.
With the largest crowd of the season to support them the Stars took the lead with the first points of the game and then wilted under the pressure applied by Nelson under the basket at both ends giving up some easy steals and losing out in both offensive and defensive rebounds. Chris Reay was unstoppable with 17 points and 16 rebounds and Tony Rampton 15 points
Down by 42 to 19 at the half the Stars showed more spirit after the break but the Nelson again applied the blow torch to outscore them 29 to 13 in the third with Phil Jones (21 and top scorer) dropping two sweet 3 pointers.
With the game well and truly gone the Stars won the last quarter 25 21 but the night belonged to the Giants. For the Stars Blagoi Janev top scored with a double double of 19 points and 10 rebounds with Hayden Allen 12 and Casey Frank 10 the only other players to post double points. Dillon Boucher just missed out on another double double with 9 points and 10 rebounds.
The Stars will go back to training knowing that next weeks game against the Pistons is going to be tough and the will have to play a lot better to win that one.
Wellington overpower Stars in thriller.
The Century City saints head home with two wins from their Auckland double header road trip after beating the Youthtown Auckland Stars on the back of 42 points from Mike Efevberha.
The Saints jumped out to a 15-2 lead early in the first quarter with the Stars flat from the tip off. However the Stars sluggish start didn’t last long and on the back of three, threes from Dylan Perfect-Tait found themselves only two adrift at the end of the first, down 21-23.
The Stars found another gear in the second quarter taking it out by 33-25 and took a 54-48 lead into halftime. Blagov Janev had a big second quarter for the Stars with an impressive display of three point shooting which ended with 4/5 from beyond the arc in the first half. Hayden Allen was also strong in the second quarter, driving to the basket strongly Allen went to the line 8 times and returned a 100% free throw shooting percentage.
The third quarter went the Stars way early with the Saints making a run at the end to eventually take the quarter out 24-21 and be down by three at the end of the third. The saints suffered foul trouble with Reece Cassidy and Damon Thornton spending extended periods out of the game, and with Arthur Trousdell not available Hugh Quinlivan was called on to step up eventually playing 25 minutes in the game and fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was a real humdinger that had the crowd of 250 on the edge of their seat throughout and as Cassidy and Thornton fouled out it looked a hopeless task for the Saints. However, Luke Martin stepped up down the stretch and controlled the game superbly from the point and nailed some big threes that put the Saints in front late in the fourth. Martin ended the game with 22 points which include 4/5 from the three point line, though the 9 boards he took down were just as valuable. The Saints held their nerve in the dying stages to take the game 99-92.
Mike Efevberha was again the standout scoring weapon on the court with his 42 points and at times looks unstoppable.