Basketball: Rams score twice

The Canterbury Rams remain the surprise package after round three of the NBL with a road double at the weekend, dropping the more-fancied Hawks 89-84 and the Jets 86-85.

Americans Ryan Prillman and Mike Gardener made the big plays in both games, Prillman shooting 23 and taking 16 rebounds against Hawkes Bay and backing up with 18, Gardener 18 on Friday and then the season-high of 33 in Palmerston North. But he left the game late with a leg injury.

Auckland scored one-from-two on the road, 88-74 over the Giants in Nelson before being pipped 83-81 in Wellington.

Reece Cassidy dropped a lay-up as last act but the buzzer had gone and it was not counted. David Hopoi scored the winning goal.

The Stars had trailed by 16 points but finished the last quarter 23-16.

Lindsay Tait was their best both nights with 19 points in Nelson and 21 against the Saints, Casey Frank and Mike Homik also energetic.

But on Saturday they were without Dillon Boucher, and it showed. Jonathan Felesio and Valance Teretona made their NBL debuts.

The Stars, now two wins/two losses and locked on the table with the Saints, Jets and Hawks, will be looking for an injection of confidence and points when shooting guard Aaron Olson returns from holiday, and they'll need him when they go to Taranaki next weekend.

The Airs demolished hapless Otago 122-84 at the weekend, exposing the Nuggets' lack of quality guards and their inability to get the ball inside to their big men.

Five players ended in double figures - Link Abrams 27, Mike Tompson 22, Willie Banks 17, Tony Rampton 19 and brother Damon 11.

The Harbour Heat dropped their first game of the season 68-84 to the Waikato Titans on Friday and get a quick chance to reverse things when they go to Hamilton next weekend.

Heat guard Prem Krishna left the game after a bad collision with American Kantrail Horton which left him stretched out on the court for some time, and that seemed to take the wind out of the home team's sails.

Import Matt Lottich scored 20 but most of those came late, the whole team cold for much of the game.

Horton scored 25 and guard Greg Lewis 24 for the Titans in their first win of the season. The Titans then backed that up yesterday with a 98-67 win over the Nuggets.