Basketball: Canterbury Rams down Hawke’s Bay Hawks

Hawke's Bay tonight slumped to their third National Basketball League (NBL) loss on the trot, going down 89-84 at home to the Canterbury Rams at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Taradale.

Led by outstanding American import Ryan Prillman, who scored 22 and collected 16 rebounds, six of them offensive , Canterbury choked the life out of the Hawke's Bay attack.

Canterbury scored 18 points off turnovers to leave Hawke's Bay coach Shawn Dennis tearing his hair out at fulltime.

Aside from Prillman, fellow import Michael Gardener was extremely impressive at point guard for Canterbury, along with forward Clifton Bush and guard Nat Connell.

After a poor road trip last weekend when they were soundly beaten by the Harbour Heat and the Auckland Stars, Dennis had put the onus on his team to compete better defensively this week.

That appeared to fall on deaf ears as his team surrendered their slender 66-65 three-quarter time lead, conceding 24 points in a ragged final quarter.

For Hawke's Bay, American Dusty Rychart had a game-high 24 points, while former Australian Boomers centre Derek Moore scored 22.

The win leaves Canterbury near the top of the table with three wins from their opening four matches, while Hawke's Bay now have one win and three losses.

Scorers: Canterbury Rams 89 (Ryan Prillman 22, Clifton Bush 20, Michael Gardener 18) bt Hawke's Bay 84 (Dusty Rychart 24, Derek Moore 22, Paul Henare 15)

Halftime: 54-51 (Hawke's Bay)

- NZPA