US import to arrive just in time for struggling Hawks

Taylor Hawks coach Everard Bartlett, with two decades of NBL experience, lays it down for his team against Canterbury Rams last month, the second of three consecutive home losses. Photo / Paul Taylor

The Taylor Hawks will get some relief in an arduous start to the new season Sal’s National Basketball League with the arrival this week of sole 2023 import Ira Lee.

The American forward arrives on Tuesday night, with the Hawks smarting from a third successive home loss when beaten 97-89 by the Southland Sharks at the Pettigrew.Green Arena in Taradale after leading at the end of each of the first three quarters last Sunday night.

Straight off a flight from playing in a third-fourth playoff off for Finnish league side Salon Vilpas on Sunday (NZ time), the 25-year-old American forward will go to meet the Hawks teammates for the first time at a training session at Hastings Girls High School on Tuesday night.

Confirming the imminent arrival, Hawks coach Everard Bartlett said he wasn’t expecting Lee to practise, but he will be on the roster for the next challenge, against Manawatū Jets in Palmerston North on Thursday.

After the highs of two away wins when the competition started at Easter — beating Franklin Bulls 84-79 in overtime in Pukekohe on April 6 and the Saints 88-74 two nights later in Wellington — results back at home in the Pettigrew.Green Arena in Taradale have seen the form line turn, dramatically, to custard, drifting from the top of the table to sixth on the ladder and needing points to regain momentum in the race for a place in the top six for the playoffs in July.

Favourites at home against Taranaki Airs, who were reeling from two losses in their two games, the Hawks suffered a buzzer-beating 95-93 loss just as the first match of the season at the PGA seemed destined also for overtime, and were then beaten 110-103 by Canterbury Rams in a triple-overtime match that was locked 63-63 at the end of the third quarter, 81-81 at fulltime, 87-87 at the end of the first five minutes of overtime, and 95-95 at the end of the second.

Last Sunday they led the Sharks 23-17 at the end of the first quarter, 46-37 at halftime, and 67-59 at the end of the third quarter, before the Sharks came with 38 points in the final 10.

Up by a game-high 19pts at 58-39 just over four minutes into the third quarter, the Hawks relinquished the lead three minutes into the last quarter, at 72-73, and Southland American import Jeremy Kendle landed a three-pointer to make it 78-76 to the visitors with 5min 59sec remaining.

Kendle had been kept in check with significant defensive work by Hawks acquisition Jordan Ngatai.

But, having scored just five points in the first three quarters, the 35-year-old Kendle charged up big time in the twilight, with 25 points in the last eight minutes, including five three-pointers, two-times 2pts from in the keyhole, and three free-throw doubles in the last minute.

While disappointed with the turnaround — both after the first two wins and in the last quarter of the latest match — Bartlett said with his side’s stack of Tall Blacks national representatives and two wins away ,he had expected teams coming to Napier ready to play their best games of the season, but the Hawks had to weather the pressure.

He said the Hawks became too casual when 19 points up, and the Sharks, having about that time seen four successive field shots fail to sink in a single offensive, regained confidence as their own shots started to fall into the basket.

Ethan Rusbatch scored 22pts for the Hawks, including three three-pointers, Derone Raukawa scored 18pts, and Hyrum Harris 16pts while Kendle, with 30, and Grant Anticevich, with 27pts, carried most of the weight for the visitors, who ended the night fourth on the ladder, with a 3-2 record.

The Hawks now face three matches on the road, with the Manawatū game to be followed by the return match against the Airs in New Plymouth on May 11, and a match two nights later against the third-placed Tuatara in Auckland.

The Rams lead the table with four wins and a loss, but the Otago Nuggets, who the Hawks play in Dunedin on May 26, are unbeaten with a 4-0 record.