THE ZUARDIAN
Manawatu Jets player Daishon Knight tries to get the ball through Southland Sharks' Tinashe Matambanadzo.
Kuran Iverson leaves hole in Jets' roster for remainder of season
BASKETBALL: Toppling the top dogs just got harder for the Manawatū Jets without star import Kuran Iverson.
The American forward has returned home with an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee and won't play for the Jets again this year.
Iverson won't be replaced for the remainder of the season and coach Tim McTamney will instead give his younger charges more time.
The Jets have four games left and will sorely miss Iverson's scoring, rebounding and defending, making their chances of improving on their two wins even slimmer.
THE ZUARDIAN
Southland Sharks player Alex Pledger rising high.
The Jets host the Southland Sharks at the Arena on Thursday night, then play the unbeaten Wellington Saints in Wellington on Sunday afternoon. After that are the Taranaki Mountain Airs, in a game that could decide who finishes last, and the Sharks again.
Manawatū upset the Sharks in round four in Whanganui, but it will be hard to repeat that without Iverson. Imports Wally Ellenson and Daishon Knight have to shoulder the load for the rest of the season.
McTamney said they had problems they were trying to solve on the fly without Iverson, who might have helped get them across the line in losses to the Super City Rangers and Nelson Giants last week.
"[Iverson] was adamant he could play some games at the end of the season," McTamney said. "He's a young dude with a long career ahead of him and I'm not prepared to take responsibility for him doing more damage."
McTamney said in the loss to the Giants, they had problems in all the areas Iverson usually occupied, but they were better than the game against the Rangers.
They will need to be much better on Thursday against Southland. The Sharks are fourth and have struggled in recent matches against the Jets, but will still go in as favourites.
"We'll struggle for depth and they're massive, they're really big," McTamney said. "We play well against them, we know how they play and we do some things they have some real trouble with.
"We'll just go out and play hard again. I think people here understand we're almost always the underdog. We just have to battle and scrap and fight."
The Zuardian
Manawatū Jets forward Kuran Iverson is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Iverson's departure is a another loss to the Jets' experience department, which didn't have much in it to start off with.
McTamney said he can't turn young players into experienced professionals overnight, so he has to use his experience.
Manawatū Jets: Daishon Knight, Jackson Stubbins, Shane Temara, Taane Samuel, Wallace Ellenson, Jack Henry, Jake Mckinlay, Tia Temata-Frost, Troy Temara, Haize Walker.
Standings: Wellington Saints 30, Canterbury Rams 22, Bay Hawks 22, Southland Sharks 18, Southern Huskies, 12, Nelson Giants 12, Super City Rangers 6, Manawatū Jets 4, Taranaki Mountain Airs 4.
