The game, won by Canterbury 88-78, was up against many other events in Otago this weekend. Keep Basketball In Otago spokeswoman Angela Ruske said the challenges of attracting fans to the game with so much else on meant crowd numbers were lighter than they had hoped.
The group had hoped up to 1000 might attend the game and the curtain raiser between the Otago Gold Rush and Canterbury Wildcats women's team - also won by Canterbury, 54 49 - but ''we certainly didn't get close to that,'' Ruske said.
She didn't have a final crowd figure yesterday, but said the original best case target of raising $20,000 from the match had been revised to $10,000 after the organisers realised the competition from other events.
''But we knew we were going to struggle to get that,'' she said.
Nuggets great Mark Dickel did not make it on court for the Otago team after picking up a calf strain in the warm up.
While the final figures were not as high as the group was looking for, Ruske said it did provide basketball fans with some quality basketball.
''There was great support from those who were there, and with the bidding on the silent auction,'' she said.
''It was a good opportunity for the loyal supporters to see some basketball here in Otago this year.''
