OCEANIA - With the Wellington Saints being crowned New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) champions over the weekend, we check in on the NZNBL players from around the Pacific.

Curtis Washington (Guam) - Nelson Giants/Taranaki Mountain Airs
Curtis Washington started the NZNBL season with the Nelson Giants averaging 9.3 points and 4.2 rebounds in 10 games before moving onto the Taranaki Mountain Airs in April this year. Washington averaged 9.0 points and 7.2 rebounds during his 6 games for the Mountain Airs.

Before his professional career, Washington spent two years as a University of Southern California (USC) before transferring to Georgia State University where he helped lead the Panthers to an NCAA Tournament berth in his senior year.

He has also had great national team success representing Guam, playing in the 2015 Pacific Games and FIBA 3x3 Pacific Championship where Team Guam made a clean sweep taking home gold at both events.

Earnest Ross Jr (Guam) - Supercity Rangers
After a stint in 2014 with the Perth Wildcats in Australian National Basketball League (NBL) Ross Jr moved onto the Ballarat Miners in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) where he averaged 19.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

In 2017 he found his home with the Supercity Rangers in the NZNBL. During this year's NZNBL season, Ross Jr averaged 19.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game during the Rangers 2017 season. Helping lead his team to a top three finish and semi-finals appearance.

Ross Jr was raised in Chicago but born on the US Territory of Guam for whom he has declared his basketball nationality.

Joshua Fox (Fiji) - Hawkes Bay
After two years with the University of California – Davis Aggies – averaging 14.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in his senior year – Josh Fox joined Hawkes Bay for the 2017 season.

Averaging 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in his first season, Fox showed glimpses of his potential for what should be a long international pro career.

At just 21 years of age, Fox represented his home nation of Fiji, helping them bring home a silver medal from the 2015 Pacific Games. Now 23, Fox should feature heavily in Fiji’s national team line-up for years to come.

Marcus Alipate (Tonga) - Canterbury Rams
Marcus Alipate completed his second season with the Canterbury Rams in 2017. Averaging 10.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, Alipate helped lead the Rams to a 10-8 record and a semi-finals appearance before falling to eventual champions the Wellington Saints 94-73.

Alipate's path to international basketball was not always clear with a Father and cousin both having played in the NFL. But, after becoming the number 2 all-time leading scorer at Bloomington Jefferson High School, a McDonald's All-American nomination, NCAA final four appearance with the University of St. Thomas and putting up over 1,000 points for the Tommies it was hard not to choose basketball.

Alipate is of Tongan decent, his second cousin is actually the King of Tonga. Alipate is eligible to represent the Tongan National Team so it is possible that we could see him in a Tongan uniform one day.

Marques Whippy (Fiji) - Canterbury Rams
Marques Whippy comes from a Fijian family of basketball royalty. The Whippy family has represented the Fijian National Team for decades. He is also no stranger to the NZNBL, having signed with the Otago Nuggets in 2014 before moving onto the Rams for the 2015 season. Whippy has been with the Rams for the last three years – in 2017 he averaged up 6.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game on the way to a fourth placed finish.

Whippy has represented Fiji for many years but most recently in Papua New Guinea at the 2015 Pacific Games where they brought home silver after falling to Guam 61-78 in the final.

Tai Wesley (Guam) - Wellington Saints
Tai Wesley is no stranger to the NZNBL, having played for the Southland Sharks in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Wesley has also played for the New Zealand Breakers and most recently Melbourne United in the ANBL during the '15/'16 and '16/'17 seasons.

Wesley has played with the Wellington Saints for the past two seasons, averaging 19.8 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 62.2% from the field on the way to his 3^rd consecutive NZNBL Championships.

2014-2017 has been an extremely successful time for Wesley – taking home 3 NZNBL Championships, an ANBL Championship with the New Zealand Breakers and a 2015 Pacific Games gold medal with the Guam National Team.

Wesley will be an integral part of Guam’s push through Asia in FIBA’s new competitions system.

Both Fiji and Guam are preparing to enter the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 prequalifies mid-way through next year. Here they will go head-to-head with teams all over Asia to earn a spot to the FIBA Asia Cup 2021.

FIBA