MELBOURNE (NBL) - Phill Jones has inspired the Cairns Taipans to their first victory in Melbourne in their 11-year history, and then hinted that he may come out of international retirement to play at next year’s FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Jones, who is now a father of two young children, put an important condition on his return to the New Zealand Tall Blacks. “You’d have to ask my wife,” he said, only half jokingly.

“I’d love to pull the (Tall Blacks) singlet on again, but my life’s changed a bit, it’s been put in a different perspective now. If I’m still able to run up and down the court and I am still hitting them pretty well, then if I have the opportunity to go I would love to go.”

Jones, who was the second leading scorer at the 2004 Olympics, has shown this year that he would still be a valuable contributor at international level at 35 years of age, averaging 15ppg at 48% from the field in Oceania’s NBL, one of the world’s toughest leagues at the perimeter positions.

Against the Tigers he scored 21 points on 9/12 shooting to go with 7 rebounds, and received excellent support from Cairns captain Aaron Grabau who had 16 points.

Most importantly, Jones broke Melbourne’s heart with a number of big plays in the second half of the 86-83 victory that leaves the once mighty Tigers routed to the bottom of the ladder.

For Melbourne, 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship centre Daniel Johnson continued his breakout year with 19 points and 6 rebounds.

The win backed up the Taipans 77-64 victory over the New Zealand Breakers three nights earlier, where Dusty Rychart led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while import Rich Melzer broke out of his form slump with 17 points.

Only CJ Bruton (10 points) scored in double figures for New Zealand, but the FIBA World Championship star was back in vintage form two nights later, nailing 24 points and leading his team to an 85-73 win over Townsville, their first road triumph of the season. 205cm shooter Oscar Forman nailed 18 points.

The game of the round was between the Gold Coast Blaze and Perth Wildcats, with the Blaze coming from 21 down on their home court to triumph 84-79 in the last minute.

Stankovic Cup MVP James Harvey was the hero with 19 points and a number of big shots, while emerging Australian Boomers point guard Adam Gibson had 14 points and 6 assists. For Perth, it was again Olympian Shawn Redhage leading the way with 24 points on 9/15 shooting.

The second placed Wollongong Hawks suffered their first home loss of the season, a 82-59 thrashing at the hands of the Adelaide 36ers, who replaced them in second position as a result.

36ers import John Gilchrist had a rare night with 30 points on 5/7 shooting from the perimeter. Prior to this performance Gilchrist had hit just 14 threes for the season. Former Michigan State forward Adam Ballinger provided strong support with 16 points.

Game of the round for week 11 sees the Gold Coast travelling to Perth for a re-match with the Wildcats, while New Zealand’s home fixture against Cairns will see the return of New Zealand superstar Kirk Penney.

Paulo Kennedy
FIBA