THE Newcastle Hunters rejoined arch rivals Maitland in the Waratah Australian Basketball League top four after a 79-46 rout of the Canberra Nationals at Broadmeadow yesterday.
American go-to men Marcus Vanderheide (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Nick Freer (20 points, eight rebounds) led the way for Newcastle.
Role players Cameron Springall (15 points) and John Martin (11) also made valuable contributions as Hunters coach Darren Nichols shared the minutes around.
Climbing from fifth to fourth and improving their win-loss record to 11-6, the Hunters restricted the last-placed Nationals to 15 first-half points and never looked like losing.
But Nichols was far from impressed with his side's overall performance.
"We didn't want to drop our standards and play at their level and we did that a little bit, which was disappointing," he said.
"It was an ugly win, all things considered, but I was able to give all of our bench guys some time so I suppose that was pleasing."
The third-placed Mustangs (11-5) stretched their winning streak to four games, nailing the Nationals 96-63 at Maitland Federation Centre on Saturday then backing up with a 90-83 victory over Hornsby yesterday in the second leg of their home double-header.
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