Boyd’s heroics not enough to save day for Nuggets

Otago Nuggets point guard Tray Boyd (left) heads past Taranaki Airs guard Haize Walker in their NBL clash at Dunedin’s Edgar Centre yesterday. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON

Tray Boyd did his best to put the Otago Nuggets on his back.

The point guard had 21 first-half points and largely kept the team in yesterday’s game until halftime.

But relying on one player to hit shots is tough for a full game.

The Nuggets’ offence faltered in the third quarter, while the Taranaki Airs piled on 35 points to lead 84-59 by the final break.

That finished at 98-73, as the Airs effectively clinched an NBL playoff spot at the Edgar Centre.

The Nuggets were once again without duo Sam Timmins and Nikau McCullough.

But the Airs were similarly down their own duo in Tai Wynyard and Richie Rodger — both are at the Commonwealth Games.

The Airs’ depth shone through.

Boyd finished with 29 points, while Keith Williams came alive in the second half to finish with 27.

But there was not enough scoring from elsewhere and their six-of-36 from the three-point line was never going to be enough.

On the other side, the Airs quartet of Anthony Hilliard, Javonte Douglas, Shaun Willett and Marcel Jones torched the Nuggets — each having 18 points or more, Hilliard top-scoring with 25.

Their athleticism was too much to handle, as they got to the hoop with ease and finished efficiently.

The win leaves the Nuggets still in a scrap for playoff spots with two matches to play.

Brent Matehaere.

"We’re still in control of our own destiny," Nuggets coach Brent Matehaere said.

"We’ve got opportunities coming up. We just didn’t get it done tonight.

"The Airs played a hell of a game. Our effort was there and the guys, one through 12, they put it out there. This afternoon wasn’t our game, we’ve got two more chances to get it right."

Matehaere felt the team had the personnel to have won.

However, he said the team’s execution let it down.

"We had the firepower. We just didn’t execute.

"They took us out of our game, we didn’t take advantage of the switches.

"That’s obviously disappointing from our perspective that we couldn’t execute out of that."

The Nuggets went behind 17-7, before lifting their intensity and pulling back to 25-17 at quarter-time.

Boyd stepped up in the second quarter, getting to the hoop and hitting several shots from deep to pull the Nuggets back to 34-34.

They were doing well to stick around, as they did against Hawke’s Bay two weeks ago, and went to halftime down 49-43.

However, unlike two weeks ago, they could not keep that up.

They managed just 14 points in the third quarter, as Boyd quietened and the Airs pounced.

Their star quartet piled on the points, both at the hoop and from beyond the arc, to take the game away from the Nuggets with a quarter left to play.

In other games, the Wellington Saints thrashed the Manawatu Jets 109-70, while the Nelson Giants beat the Canterbury Rams 85-74.