The 22-year-old forward drained a game-high 31 points to help the Otago Nuggets beat the Franklin Bulls 89-83 in Auckland on Saturday night.
He had a lot of help from two senior pros. Jordan Ngatai threw nine assists, and a lot of them found Hunt under the rim.
Jarrod Kenny sent some passes his way as a well on his way to seven assists.
Kenny also grabbed 12 boards and 13 points in a productive night for the Tall Blacks point guard.
Ngatai finished with 18 points and fellow starter Josh Aitcheson, with 14 points, is another player who is seemingly improving with each outing.
The Nuggets managed to out-rebound the Bulls 41-37.
Other than the last quarter when the Bulls went on a scoring blitz, the Nuggets’ defensive effort was tight.
"We kept them to around that 80-point mark which I’m pretty happy about," coach Brent Matehaere said.
"[Hunt] is a real talent. Any time we could get [Sam] Timmins away from the rim, Jordan was really effective. He also did a great job of boxing Sammy out.
"He kept him off the boards really, really well. Sam only had three offensive rebounds, and at 6-11 he is the biggest guy in the league, so that is a super effort from Jordan."
Everard Bartlett top-scored for the Bulls with 19 points and Dominique Kelman-Poto had a good match with 16 points and eight rebounds.
The win lifted the Nuggets to 7-4, and they are well-placed to chase a top two spot for the playoffs.
The Bulls made a rapid start and the Nuggets were down 7-0 after about a minute.
But Hunt banged in a shot off the glass and Aitcheson drilled a couple of three-pointers to help his side edge ahead in what was a back-and-forth quarter.
Ngatai was kept quiet until the final play of the period. He drove to hoop to give his side a 20-19 lead at the break. It was a class play by a quality finisher.
He showed off with a steal and a one-handed dunk midway through the next period to help extend the lead.
Ngatai enjoyed it as much as anyone no doubt, but his second effort at a similar slam was blocked by Timmins in a highlight reel moment.
The Nuggets nursed a slim 35-31 advantage at halftime, but Ngatai dropped in a three-pointer upon the resumption, and Kenny got one to go as well.
The Bulls stayed close but in a nice finish to the quarter, the Nuggets stretched out again.
Aitcheson hit a damaging three to help his side lead 61-52 with 10 minutes remaining.
There was a flurry of scoring late in the match, but the Nuggets always had a buffer.
In the other games, the Nelson Giants ended a four-game losing streak with an 80-64 win against the Canterbury Rams on Saturday, but went down to the Auckland Huskies yesterday 96-67, while in yesterday’s second match, the Manawatu Jets finished strongly to defeat the Taranaki Mountainairs by 118-93.
