Basketball: Hawks down for 10th count

Hawks captain Aidan Daly leaves Taranaki Airs guard Jackson Stubbins in no-man's land in their match in Napier today. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

The winter of despair continued for the hapless Indigo Hawks today as they slumped to another defeat -- their 10th consecutive one in the National Basketball League.

Coach Kirsten Daly-Taylor made all the right noises in their match against Taranaki Augusta Airs in Napier but came away without a win in the 74-67 loss at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Napier.

With 1:08 left on the clock, Hawks guard Matt Te Huna gave the hosts some hope with a bucket from downtown to narrow the margin to 62-68 and reloaded again to make it 65-75 but it just wasn't to be.

The last quarter went 21-17 in favour of the Ross McMains-coached Taranaki as the Hawks had a sniffing chance in the dying seconds but desperately needed two miracuclous three-pointers to level terms.

Players from both sides picked themselves up from the floor in the third quarter as the visitors regained the lead, 53-50 (19-12), they had lost at halftime.

The hosts, in search of their first victory this season in their 10th outing, set the pace 38-34 at halftime and Taranaki duly replied in the enxt 15 minutes.

The Aidan Daly-captained Hawks were caught shy in the points-in-the-paint department (55 per cent to 40 per cent) but weren't too far off Taranaki in points off the bench (17-19).

The NBL encounter started with nine unanswered points from the Hawks for five minutes in the first quarter before the visitors found some love from the rim.

Like many previous encounters at the PG Arena, the opposition didn't panic, gnawing back the advantage to take pass as Airs skipper Aaron Bailey-Nowell asked his players to slow down the pace of the game before employing a full-court press style defence.

However, it didn't take Taranaki long to level the scores, 11-11, approaching the 12th-minute mark before sealing the spell, 19-16.

Hawks US import Kareem Johnson kept his good habit with 14 points and a dozen rebounds (nine defensively) while fellow forward Darryl Jones claimed 10 points and five off the glass.

Guards Matt Te Huna and Alonzo Burton contributed 14 points and 10, respectively, while forward Arthur Trousdell scored nine points and collected seven rebounds.

For the Airs, US imports Marcus Johnson and Daniel Miller both graduated with double-double honours of 17/11 and 16/11, respectively.

Jordan Ngatai scored 14 points and five rebounds while Brad Anderson added 11 to the collective.

Conspicuous in his absence was Taranaki guard Houston O'Riley after his cheap punch between the eyes of Hawks newcomer William Stinnett, of Guam, in the sides' previous encounter here.

It is understood the franchise has given him a two-match ban and the NBL board is on cue to add a consecutive suspension to that next week.