Nuggets with the elegant side of Tuatara

You must collect a consolation prize for some losses.

Otago’s nuggets were surpassed 97-94 by an elegant Auckland Tuatara team in Dunedin this afternoon.

Shameless there.

Outara’s guard Will Hickey had a game of monsters.

The talented Australian recorded a triple-double.

He knocked 31 points, took 11 rebounds and made 10 assists.

Hickey was unstoppable on the stretch. He rolled in lay-up after the transmission.

Rob Loe was almost so hard to contain. The former Black Center Tall recorded 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Somehow, the pendurized nuggets there.

The game looked like it was moving away, but they came together at the end of the third quarter and even led by five in the middle of the final period.

Don Carey Jun shook at 29 points. Jose Perez took his way to the rim for 24 points.

Jaylen Sebree had a double double of 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Jonathan Janssen was also a good value for her 14 points.

And in the dying seconds, they had a chance to win.

Carey had the ball, but she got in the way and couldn’t get clear. He played three points, but could not find the target.

Loe added a free bid to complete the victory.

Nugget coach Mike Kelly was pleased with the performance, although the result does not fall.

“It’s the first time we played on a team of this level,” he said.

“And as we made a lot of mistakes … I think there was a good fight.

“I just don’t want us to accept that we struggled a lot and lost. I think it was a winning game.

“But win or lose, we put ourselves in a position to win. And that’s all you can ask.”

Perez fought with Tom Vodanovich for most of the match.

Vodanovich won the first round when he shook his marker and opened the scoring with three points.

Loe returned to the ink for some buckets and hit a key of three -point jumps.

The nuggets were not powerless to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

Buay Tuach kept her sneakers at the top. Auckland’s guard made some good cuts in the rim.

The home team did well to stay in the contest and lost 27-25 at the end of the opening period.

Tuach made an acrobatic blow of one hand at the beginning of the second period. He took St Kilda’s flight to land that basket.

But three consecutive points for nuggets saw them reaching briefly in front.

Loe entered his way to the edge at the beginning of the third to stretch the 52-44 advantage at the interval to 10 points.

Hickey Ghosted to the Hoop for a series of buckets.

The game seemed to be going in one direction.

Nuggets needed some magic. Carey reached the top of the circle and turned three and poked on another triple of the wing.

And Perez drained three points to beat the third trimester bell.

The nuggets had returned into five points.

They had lost 16.

Sebree opened the fourth period with a three -point pointer. The nuggets had returned to steam back to the contest and led 84-79 at one point.

Type Hickey.

He made two free throws, hit a fading leap and made a tensile throw.

Loe launched a triple to position the Tuatara next to the control panel.

Carey drained three deep, with 43 seconds remaining to reduce the margin to two and mark a late chance of winning the game.

It was not supposed to be this time, however.

On Saturday, Hawke’s Bay Hawks recorded an 86-74 against Whai in MT Maunganui and Taranaki showed Nelson Giants 108-93 in Nelson.

• Nuggets continued their strong start of quick league, with a healthy 31-22 win against Auckland Tuatara yesterday. They won five of their six games and are in second place.