NBL Abroad: Waardenburg Hits New Heights in Germany

Just because the NBL is in its off-season, it doesn't mean the best players in the league are resting on their laurels and taking a break.

Stars of the Australian domestic competition are now competing all over the globe and getting important reps in ahead of NBL24.

RELATED: Hawks Provide Import Update

Cairns young gun Sam Waardenburg has put a spell of indifferent form behind him at Riesen Ludwigsburg in the German Basketball Bundesliga, and posted season highs in each of minutes, points and rebounds.

Despite adding 19 points and five boards in 27 minutes, Waardenburg was unable to prevent his side from falling to fifth place Goettingen by seven points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="de" dir="ltr">?Man of the Match?<a href="https://twitter.com/SamWaardenburg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SamWaardenburg</a> legte 19 Punkte, 5 Rebounds und 1 Assists auf. Er erreichte eine Effektivität von +19 und ist damit unser MOTM. <br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/EibnerPresse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EibnerPresse</a> <br>_______________<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ihrundwir?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ihrundwir</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/allesf%C3%BCrgelb?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#allesfürgelb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/motm?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#motm</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/schwabenderby?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#schwabenderby</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/manofthematch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#manofthematch</a> <a href="https://t.co/v2fLKuM4ul">pic.twitter.com/v2fLKuM4ul</a></p>&mdash; MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg (@MHP_RIESEN) <a href="https://twitter.com/MHP_RIESEN/status/1647581508025081856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

South East Melbourne’s Mitch Creek continued to staff the stat sheet with Mets de Guaynabo in Puerto Rico.

Former NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins has committed to playing alongside Creek and his NBL23 teammate Gary Browne at Mets for the remainder of the season, while Sydney Kings championship winning centre Tim Soares has also joined the team.

Soares had 30 points, while Creek had 16, in a one-point win over Santurce.

Creek then added 17 points and 11 boards in a low-scoring win over Bayamon.

Adelaide’s Antonius Cleveland’s 17 points weren’t enough to see his BC Eilat side to victory over Haifa in Israel.

He’s playing alongside former Illawarra centre Mangok Mathiang, who added 17 points and 17 rebounds of his own in the same game.

Sam Froling endured a mixed week in Japan. He averaged just 7.6 points per game across three contests, but added a strong 13-point, 11-rebound performance against Vic Law’s Chiba Jets.

A trio of currently unsigned NBL23 imports did battle in Turkey, as Xavier Rathan-Mayes' Merkezefindi fell to Milton Doyle and Brady Manek's Tofas by seven points.

'XRM' registered 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Doyle added 23 points and 11 assists.

Manek also finished with 23 points.

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Antonius Cleveland (Hapoel BC Eilat – Israeli Basketball Premier League, Israel)
vs H. Haifa – 17 points, 6 rebounds

Robert Franks (Hapoel Gilboa Galil (Isreali Basketball Premier League, Israel)
vs E Kiryat Ata – 21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks

DJ Mitchell (Slask Wroclaw – Polish Basketball League/EuroCup – Poland)
vs MKS DG - 1 rebounds, 2 assists

Sam Waardenburg (Riesen Ludwigsburg – Basketball Bundesliga, Germany)
vs Goettingen – 19 points, 5 rebounds

Sam Froling (Lavanga Hokkaido – B. League, Japan)
vs Alvark Tokyo – 5 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
vs Chiba Jets – 5 points, 6 rebounds
vs Chiba Jets – 13 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists

Chris Goulding (Paris Basketball – LNB Pro A, France)
vs Nancy – 6 points, 1 rebounds

Keanu Pinder (Baloncesto Fuenlabrada – Liga ACB, Spain)
vs Bilbao – 10 points, 4 rebounds

Alan Williams (Nagoya Dolphins – B. League, Japan)
vs Hiroshima D. – 13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals
vs Hiroshima D. – 12 points, 6 rebounds

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ja" dir="ltr">?????????<a href="https://twitter.com/alantwilliams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alantwilliams</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/1taito8?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@1taito8</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DORED?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DORED</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#??????</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E8%B5%A4%E3%82%92%E6%81%90%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8D?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#?????</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/B%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#B???</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#???</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#???</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E6%BF%80%E3%82%A2%E3%83%84?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#???</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%83%E3%83%88?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#????</a>? <a href="https://t.co/KeUQyIbv0k">pic.twitter.com/KeUQyIbv0k</a></p>&mdash; ????????????????? (@nagoyadolphins) <a href="https://twitter.com/nagoyadolphins/status/1647552735020212224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mitch Creek (Mets de Guaynabo – Baloncesto Superior Nacional, Puerto Rico)
vs Santurce – 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
vs Bayamon – 17 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists

Jack McVeigh (Heidelberg – Basketball Bundesliga/FIBA Euro Cup, Germany)
vs Rostock – 7 points, 7 rebounds

Will Magnay (Obradoiro CAB (Liga ACB, Spain)
vs Unicaja – 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist