Rest assured, it is correct. The Otago Nuggets really did beat perennial powerhouse the Nelson Giants 92-59.
How does a side, which two years ago was struggling to snap a 33-game losing-streak, manage to thrash a quality side by 33 points?We are at a loss but Nuggets captain Mark Dickel had a one-word answer: defence.
The former Tall Black was a key contributor on that front with six steals and eight rebounds. He also made five assists and chipped in with six points at the other end.
A fine performance but it is what he does off the ball which has got this team tracking towards its first playoff appearance in 16 years.
He sets the tone with his work ethic and professionalism and no-one works harder on defence than the little general.
''All of our players committed to defence during the week at practice,'' Dickel said.
''We know if you want to win every game at home you have to give yourself a chance at the defensive end.
''You can't just come out and play offence.
''They missed a lot of shots they could have made, so sometimes you need a bit of luck, too. But I just felt our energy was there on defence.
''If we want to be a good team, we have to make our home court a fortress.''
To hold the Giants to 59 points was quite an achievement. The Giants contributed with a woeful shooting display. They landed just two of their 16 three-point attempts and were a pitiful 19 from 75 from the floor.
You get bad shooting nights in basketball but they were also out-passioned. The Nuggets just seemed that much more hungry and emerged with the ball more often than not during the many melees.
Nuggets forward BJ Anthony was a colossus once again with 21 points and 14 rebounds. United States imports Antoine Tisby (13 points) and Akeem Wright (14 points) were solid, and Hayden Allen and Brendon Polyblank banked 11 points apiece.
Impressive small forward Josh Pace top-scored for the visitors with 17 points. Wright did a good job keeping the southpaw to under 20 points.
While the Nuggets defensive effort was huge, the home side also dominated the exchanges on the inside, scoring 44 points in the paint compared with the Giants' 28 points.
Even the presence of Mika Vukona could not stop Anthony and his cohorts forcing their way to the rim.
The Nuggets opened the scoring from the free throw line, through Wright, and were never headed.
Tisby got the crowd of just under 1700 cheering when he stuffed the ball through the hoop after pummelling his way through the big bodies.
Pace closed the gap with some nice drives to the basket but Allen and Anthony landed three-pointers to give the Nuggets a 25-18 lead at the first break.
That lead ballooned to 13 points by halftime but the telling run came at the beginning of the fourth period, when the Nuggets put on 10 unanswered points to get into an unassailable position.
The bench closed the game out with everybody getting some court time.
To be fair, the most even battle took place at halftime when about 50 children entered the ''shoe scramble''. They raced, in their socks, from one end of the court to the other where their shoes had been scattered.
As far as we could tell only one child came unstuck but many more socks were liberated.
In other games this weekend, the Southland Sharks had their first win against the Nelson Giants since entering the league in 2010.
Import Kevin Braswell top-scored with 20 points and Leon Henry added 18 points in the 89-82 win in Invercargill.
The Taranaki Mountainairs upset the Tab Baldwin-ledHawkes Bay Hawks 101-86 in New Plymouth and saw off the Super City Rangers 104-86 in Auckland.
The highly-rated Wellington Saints thrashed the Manawatu Jets 107-77 in Palmerston North, where guard Corey Webster amassed 27 points.
NBL
The scores
Otago Nuggets 92
BJ Antony 21, Akeem Wright 14
Nelson Giants 59
Josh Pace 17, Erron Maxey 10
Quarter scores: 1st, 25-18; 2nd, 44-31; 3rd, 64-47.
