The Perth Wildcats withstood a second-half shooting barrage from the Wollongong Hawks to win a 80-68 thriller on Friday night at Perth Arena and move into equal-second place with the Hawks.
The Wildcats' 12-point win was their 13th straight home victory over Wollongong, coming after the Hawks recorded their biggest ever win over the Cats in Wollongong earlier this season to the tune of 33 points.
All eyes were on new import Michael Dunigan (208-C-89, agency: N.E.T., college: Oregon), an injury-replacement for big man Matt Knight, and he set the 11,239 strong crowd inside Perth Arena alight with his dunking, blocking and overall energy.
He finished with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, four rebounds and a block from the field to give the Cats a strong inside presence offensively and help change the shots of Wollongong's driving guards.
Jesse Wagstaff was the game-winner for the Wildcats, though, with 20 points and seven rebounds in one of the best performances of his career.
Kevin Lisch (14 points), Shawn Redhage (9 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists) and Damian Martin (4 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals) were also valuable contributors.
Lance Hurdle and Oscar Forman top-scored with 17 points for Wollongong, both hitting four three-pointers each for the night.
Rhys Martin also had a big impact for the Hawks to finish with 13 points and six assists while Adris Deleon had 11 points but shot 5-of-17 from the field.
Wollongong only scored seven points in the first period and were 16 points down in the second, but then Hurdle and Forman caught fire from beyond the three-point arc, often set up by Martin.
On the back of their heroics, the Hawks hit the lead late in the third quarter and again early in the last on the back of two straight Hurdle triples.
But the Dunigan-led Wildcats finished the strongest, riding a key steal and block from Damian Martin to come away with the 12-point victory.
NZ Breakers' coach Paul Henare slams team's performance in 39-point loss - 6 hours ago
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NZ Breakers coach Paul Henare would like to make a public apology to the people of Taranaki for his side's performance against Melbourne United on Tuesday night. New Plymouth's TSB Stadium hosted an Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) pre-season game between the two sides, with Melbourne cruising to a 101-62 win. While he said earlier in the week that the result wasn't their top priority, after the match Henare said the way the team played was a huge concern. "That was unacceptab... [read more]
NZ Breakers coach Paul Henare would like to make a public apology to the people of Taranaki for his side's performance against Melbourne United on Tuesday night. New Plymouth's TSB Stadium hosted an Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) pre-season game between the two sides, with Melbourne cruising to a 101-62 win. While he said earlier in the week that the result wasn't their top priority, after the match Henare said the way the team played was a huge concern. "That was unacceptable, and hopefully this team never puts anything close to that on the floor again," he said. The Breakers came into the game after beating Melbourne in Napier on Sunday, but were no match for the league favourites this time around. "Melbourne played well tonight, they came out and made some change defensively and they got after it. But in terms of us turning up, not one of us did and that's a real shame considering the good support we've had here." Led by import guard Casper Ware (178-PG-90, college: Long Beach St.) and big man Josh Boone (208-F/C-84, college: Connecticut), the visitors were a step ahead of the Breakers for much of the game to take a convincing, and rare, victory on New Zealand soil. Boone opened the scoring going 1-2 from the charity stripe after Vukona's first foul, however a hot start from Breakers import guards Edgar Sosa (190-PG-88, college: Louisville) and D.J. Newbill (193-G-92, college: Penn St.) putting the home side ahead. It didn't last long though, as Melbourne were able to claim a number of second chance points on largely uncontested offensive rebounds - much to Henare's dismay. From there, it was one-way traffic as the Breakers slumped to a 39-point thrashing. "We got schooled, and hopefully these guys remember that." The Kiwi side were only able to convert on 29 per cent of their shots, had twice as many turnovers as Melbourne, with the visitors also posting 20 more assists than their hosts. Henare said there was not a single positive to take out of Tuesday's game, aside from being able to take the team to a different part of the country. "Maybe the one good thing is that we got our a*** kicked and it is the pre-season. We've got an opportunity to turn a few things around, but they'll be hurting." The Breakers will now look to sort themselves out before their final pre-season game in Tauranga against the Brisbane Bullets on September 27. Their first game of the ANBL season is against the Cairns Taipans in Auckland on October 8. Courtesy of: stuff.co.nz
LA Lakers add Bogut to their roster - 17 hours ago
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Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) added to their roster 33-year old Australian international center Andrew Bogut (213-118kg-84, college: Utah). He played last season at Cleveland Cavaliers. Bogut also played for the Mavericks. In 26 NBA games he recorded 3.0ppg, 8.3rpg and 1.9apg. In 2005 Bogut was drafted by Milwaukee Bucks as #1 pick overall. The former University of Utah standoutis in his 13th (hopefully lucky) season in pro basketball. The list of the past achievements is quite long as among o... [read more]
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) added to their roster 33-year old Australian international center Andrew Bogut (213-118kg-84, college: Utah). He played last season at Cleveland Cavaliers. Bogut also played for the Mavericks. In 26 NBA games he recorded 3.0ppg, 8.3rpg and 1.9apg. In 2005 Bogut was drafted by Milwaukee Bucks as #1 pick overall. The former University of Utah standoutis in his 13th (hopefully lucky) season in pro basketball. The list of the past achievements is quite long as among others Bogut was voted Eurobasket.com All-Olympic Games 2nd Team in 2016. He has been also a member of Australian international program for some years. Bogut has regularly played for Australian senior team since 2004 and previously for U21 National Team between 2004 and 2005. He also represented Australia at the World Championships U18 in Greece fourteen years ago. Bogut has played previously professionally in other NBA team (Golden State Warriors) and Australia (Australian Institute Sport). On Bogut:
A hard worker with a strong commitment to improving his skills. An excellent passer, Andrew will focus on developing his body.
World Championships U18 '03 comments (by Yarone Arbel):
The MVP of the championship. His parents are from Croatia, which is some sort of explanation to how such talent grew up down under. If for some reason something will go wrong on his route to the NBA, the Croatian passport will surely help him find a good spot in one of the top European teams. Next season he will go to Utah University, in the championship itself he was simply unstoppable, posting double-double already after one half in both Semi Finals and Finals game.
He knows how to use his size in the PF. Very tall and athletic, and although there's no doubt he's the best player in the team, on court he fights like a bull, work with his teammates and make them look much much better. There's no doubt that Bogut was the difference between a nice Australian NT and a gold winning team that routed everyone on the way to the top. All teams focused and tried to stop Bogut. All failed and paid even more because of Bogut's unselfishness.
He got a great mobility in the low post, box him out and he can go out to the high post and the Swish will arrive in less than a second. His shot selection is very good, can hit the three pointer when there's a chance, but he doesn't force it. If you try to stop his outside shot, he can penetrate, on both sides, and mostly finish with 2 points. His rebounding skill is bigger than life, on both ends of the floor, and it's not only a matter of good position. His leap and struggle helps him a lot.
Let's try to impress with titles: 3rd best scorer, best rebounder with 3.7 more rebounds than the runner up, drawn more fouls and made free throws more than anyone else, 10th in blocks, 2nd in 2FG% and first, again by a big margin, in the TENDEX ranking. 22 pts, 18 rbs and 5 assists vs. the USA in the Semi Finals qualifying match, 39 pts & 25 (!!!) rbs in the Semi Finals vs. Croatia and 35 pts & 14 rbs in the finals. What do you say about that?.
Joel Spear (ex Albury W.B.) joins Nidaros Jets - 3 days ago
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Nidaros Jets Trondheim (BLNO) agreed terms with 23-year old Australian point guard Joel Spear (190-84kg-94, college: S.Oregon). He played last summer at Albury Wodonga Bandits in Australian SEABL-East. In 24 games he had 4.3ppg, 2.9rpg and 1.8apg. The list of the past achievements is quite long as among others Spear's team was regular season runner-up in Cascade in 2014 and 2016. He was also voted All-NAIA D2 2nd Team in 2016 at his college time. Spear was a member of Australian U18 Natio... [read more]
Nidaros Jets Trondheim (BLNO) agreed terms with 23-year old Australian point guard Joel Spear (190-84kg-94, college: S.Oregon). He played last summer at Albury Wodonga Bandits in Australian SEABL-East. In 24 games he had 4.3ppg, 2.9rpg and 1.8apg. The list of the past achievements is quite long as among others Spear's team was regular season runner-up in Cascade in 2014 and 2016. He was also voted All-NAIA D2 2nd Team in 2016 at his college time. Spear was a member of Australian U18 National Team back in 2012. He has played also professionally in Australia for West Adelaide Bearcats. Spear attended Southern Oregon University until 2016 and it will be his second season as a professional player.
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