Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare has named swingman Tony Tolovae in a New Zealand Select Team to travel to China to play in an invitational tournament next month.
It's the first national call up for the Taylor Corporation Hawks basketballer who is in his debut season with the struggling Hawke's Bay franchise team in the National Basketball League (NBL).
"He's put a lot a lot of hard work and he's developed as a player in this league for the past couple of years," said Hawks caretaker coach Benny Hill of Tolovae whose athleticism and scoring prowess takes the heat off Hawks co-skippers Jarrod Kenny and Everard Bartlett after the swingman typically scored an equal game-high 21 points with Nelson Giants' Finn Delany (also in the select team) on May 6 at the PG Arena in Napier.
"It's a good opportunity for him to show what he has and try to get that elusive Australian contract," said Hill of the 24-year-old Auckland-born, Sydney-based player.
Tolovae, a 2016-17 Sydney Kings player who had a stint with Illawarra Hawks the season before, is in his fourth NBL season here after a year each with the defunct Otago Nuggets and the Canterbury Rams.
Hawke's Bay shooting guard Alonzo Burton, a former Hawk but playing with Taranaki MountainAirs this season, is also in Henare's mix.