Franklin suffered another rout, this time at the hands of Canterbury as it endured a brutal 73-110 loss in the 2021 Sal’s NZ-NBL season, Friday afternoon at Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre.
The loss is the Bulls’ fourth straight defeat. They last experienced a win back on May 14 — an 83-73 win over Southland.
Another slow start doomed the Bulls, as they went just 4-of-19 from the field at the start, falling behind 10-33 early.
The Rams continued to bombard the Bulls in the next three quarters to the tune of 16 triples. They also shot 16-of-22 from the charity stripe.
Ethan Rusbatch was on point all game long, dropping 27 points built on a whopping eight threes. Jonathan Janssen had 18 points and eight boards, while Rhys Vague and Jordan Hunt had 15 markers each.
Devondrick Walker glued things together with his impressive line of nine points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and two steals.
Canterbury rose to 4-3 to for solo seventh in the 10 team field.
Franklin, who fell to eighth place with a 3-6 slate, was led by Denhym Brooke’s 17 points. Jett Thompson added 12 markers.
Joseph Nunag, who was averaging 11 points a game, shot just 2-of-8 from the field in the game for nine markers.
Franklin did not have its 1-2 punch of Zane Waterman and Josh Selby in the game.
The Bulls will next face Manawatu on Sunday.
