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Basketball was a passport out of the ghetto for new Canterbury Rams signing Mike Gardener.

Point guard Gardener and big man Ryan Prillman ? whose basketball careers in the United States have followed almost exactly opposite geographical paths ? arrived last week as the Rams' imports for 2005.

The two 23-year-olds both embarked on their second pro contracts overseas by signing for the Rams.

Gardener, from Detroit, played in Damascus, Syria, from last July to October, and Prillman played in the Belgian second division for six months in 2003.

The 2.03m Prillman then returned to Eastern Michigan University to finish his degree.

Playing for Eastern, Prillman was named in the all-conference second team.

From New Orleans, he's on the lookout for some Cajun cooking in Christchurch.

While Prillman moved from New Orleans to Eastern, near Detroit, for basketball and study, Gardener made the reverse trip.

From Detroit, he was at Texas A&M; for two years, then Southeastern Louisiana University at Hammond, near New Orleans.

Gardener, who said he didn't know much about New Zealand ("just where it is on the globe!") before coming here, has played basketball since he was a seven-year-old in the inner city.

"With the crime and stuff, mothers try and put you in all types of sport," he said.

"They want to keep you off the streets."

As a kid, Gardener cut a hole in a milk crate and tacked it up on a garage for a hoop. When he couldn't play outside, he threw balled-up socks through a bent-coathanger hoop on his bedroom door.

Rams coach Peter McAllister will see his two American recruits ? both scouted by Rams owner John Watson - in action when the Rams warm-up for the NBL with a match in Nelson this weekend.

Gardener was the Rams' first imported point guard for several years, he said.

"He'll add strength to the guard line and help bring our other Kiwi guards along," he said.

"And Ryan is our big guy. He'll add a big physical presence inside the paint and be a threat from the low post.

"We were reasonably small last season, so getting someone with his size is good."

After the Nelson match the Rams join the other NBL teams for a major pre-season tournament in Wellington a week later.

They start the championship with an away doubleheader against Auckland on March 18 and North Harbour on the 19th, and play four doubleheaders in their first 12 matches this season.