Basketball: Anthony adds heat for Suns

The Milestone Homes Northland Suns proved they don't do things by halves by recruiting Tall Black BJ Anthony ahead of their first victory in the Supercity Basketball League.

The team have come a long way in their first two competition games and showed it with a breakthrough 102-66 victory over the Auckland Kings.

After recruiting Ray Cameron for last week's match, the side went one better by adding New Zealand Breaker and Tall Black Anthony to their line-up and he came off the bench to score 17 points in the match.

Suns board member Edwin Popham said the team were elated with the win and by securing the services of Anthony for the season.

"It was a real coup for us and we did it by using the teams' connections because BJ used to play with Ray Cameron in the Waikato," he said.

The Suns need first division players if they really want to compete in the league and Popham said the other sides couldn't complain, after the Northland side were criticised during the off season for failing to be competitive in some of their 2011 matches.

"The board has decided to allow two or three first division players in the side but we are aware that we have to find the right balance between playing them and developing our young players," he said.

Coach Stanko Susnjar started the game with a young line-up, who performed some of the plays they have been working on in training. "When the more senior players came on, they overwhelmed the opposition and the Suns ran away with the game. It was an impressive showing by the entire playing 12," Popham said.

A key moment came in the second quarter when Dargaville-based Justin Friedrich stole a loose pass and raced the length of the court for a huge double-handed dunk. It sparked a run that had the Suns ahead by 20 points by half time.

Warrick Siddall top-scored for the side with 18 points, followed by Anthony and Niasi Malua on 17, with Travis Mcilroy and Atama O'Donnell also on form with 15 and 13 respectively.

"We think that by pairing the likes of BJ Anthony and Raymond Cameron with established senior players Siddall, Mcilroy and Malua, we've turned the team into a powerhouse," Popham said.

The team will be eager to make it back-to-back wins when they take on the Hornets next Saturday at the North Shore YMCA at 2pm.