Wildcats off-season wrap: Hyrum tunes up for post-season

Hyrum Harris took another step forward after an injury lay-off as Wellington tuned up for New Zealand Basketball League finals with an 88-78 home win over Southland Sharks on Sunday.

Harris fell one rebound shy of a double-double, putting up 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

It was just his third game back after missing a month due to a knee issue.

The Saints’ finals campaign kicks off with a play-in clash against Franklin at TSB Arena on Friday night.

Wildcats assistant coach Aaron Young’s Auckland Tuatara made it straight through to the Sal’s NBL semi-finals after finishing second.

Tuatara head coach Young guided his team, which includes former Wildcat Corey Webster, to an impressive 16-4 record.

Otago ended their season with a 99-83 loss to Franklin without Wildcats trio Ben Henshall, Dontae Russo-Nance and Tai Webster.

Big man Jack Andrew was the lone Wildcats representative for the Nuggets, finishing with six points, four rebounds, two steals and a block.

Andrew averaged 9.8 points and 7.1 rebounds and was among the top-five in the competition for blocks with 1.3 per game.

In the NBL1 West, David Okwera played on back-to-back nights for East Perth including yet another double-double in Saturday’s loss to Rockingham.

Okwera put up 12 points, 11 rebounds and three steals against the Flames, one night after his 12-point and five-rebound effort in Friday’s loss to Willetton.

In-form sharpshooter Michael Harris didn’t play for Warwick over the weekend due to a minor niggle, but is expected to return this week.

Next Star Almansa has made a strong start to his U20 Eurobasket campaign with Spain in Poland.

Almansa, who last month signed with the Wildcats for NBL25, scored 14 points in just 15 minutes as Spain easily accounted for North Macedonia 93-38 on Sunday.

The 19-year-old shot seven of eight from the field while also contributing four rebounds, two assists and two blocks, finishing with a team-high plus-minus of 39.

Assistant coach Keegan Crawford opened his NBA Summer League campaign in Las Vegas with Utah with a thrilling 90-89 victory over Dallas on Sunday.

Head coach John Rillie’s New Orleans Pelicans have suffered two closes losses, going down to Minnesota and Orlando respectively.