ON ATTACK: Old School captain Reg Namana (left) scored 10 points in the close game against City Lights who won 65-57. Lights captain Scott Muncaster (right) had an exceptional game scoring 21 points. 2017 file picture
They’re going off like a cracker.
Teams kept up a quick tempo in Week 5 of the 2018 Gisborne Basketball Association men’s club league. The closeness of the scores reflected that.
For the first time in GBA club competition, five games in one night were all decided by seven points or less.
In the split competition on Monday night at the YMCA, the Young and the Useless (B grade) withstood a huge rally from Lytton High School to win 47-40, Uawa (A grade) beat the Dragons 50-45 and East Coast (B division) beat Campion 60-53.
At the John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre, High Flyers beat Gisborne Boys’ High School Red 56-49 and giant-killers GBHS Black beat the Filthy Dozen 48-45. City Lights beat SE Systems by default.
East Coast were confronted by them last week; the Young and the Useless know it now. The Lytton boys’ team will push the league’s older crews for fitness.
The Coast won 49-43 in Week 4, the Young and the Useless prevailed 47-40 on Monday, yet the splitting of the 12-team league into A and B grades has made the schools more competitive.
The Young and the Useless led Lytton 10-9 at the end of the first period and 23-20 at halftime. But Lytton were up by a point, 33-32, entering the fourth quarter. Stefan Pishief, at 6ft 7in the league’s tallest player, scored the first nine points for YAU and finished with 15. His right-handed jump-hook shot for 4-2 off a Ray Noble feed was one of the plays of the game.
Pishief’s teammate Quentin Harvey (11pts) gave YAU a much-needed second scorer in double figures, while veteran Anton Riri’s eight points included an ad-lib three-point shot to open the scoring in the first period.
Lytton hustled YAU in defence, risking more than the whistle, as they almost impeded the progress of the ball up the floor.
Lytton’s Darius Waititi-Leach led their scorers with 13 points. It was a great showing, as his captain, Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea (12pts), has carried the offensive burden almost single-handedly at times during the past three years.
“Uawa meet the Dragons” was an old-school bump-fest.
Uawa’s fortunes were steered by Rising Suns legend Reg Namana, whose 27-point haul included two three-pointers to close the first period and a three-point play to end the game.
Cairo Rule-Reihana (8pts) was just one of the young players to show great athleticism for Uawa, while Dragons’ Bronson Te Hau (12pts) showed speed and aggressiveness — both valuable assets in club basketball.
Uawa were up 19-17 at quartertime, 33-31 at the break and 45-41 heading into the fourth period of a physical game.
Te Angi Te Hau (10pts) hit two long jump shots but also picked up a technical foul in the second period, as both teams competed hard for every advantage.
“Angi is always a threat shooting from the outside and Te Ahi Te Hau-Otene had a good game inside, using his size and finishing some tough shots for 10 points,” said Dragons’ Keenan Ruru-Poharama.
“We were out-rebounded. The young guys on Reg’s team fought, wanted it more than us.”
Pedraza v Pedraza.
Campion captain Orlando Pedraza and his elder brother Carlos of East Coast made for a popular sub-plot in Game 3.
Carlos scorched the floor with 22 points but it was Drae Calles, captain of the Coast, who led all scorers in his team’s 60-53 win. Calles’s 25-point tally included four three-pointers against a Campion team unable to repeat their jump-shooting heroics of Week 3.
Still, Orlando made a three-point play at Carlos’s expense to draw Campion within a point of East Coast (score 15-14) on the quartertime buzzer, and the Coast were only 27-25 ahead at the split.
Four field goals from Carlos in the third period helped the Coast edge away 45-38, but Campion grew in stature as the game went on.
Campion forward Nelson Brown (9pts) took big knocks but finished an unselfish play in the fourth period, the assist given by Orlando.
Old boy Cooper Heikell gives the College a broad rebounding presence and junior guard Allen Arnaldo has good hands and plays with unusual composure. He never turned the ball over and found his teammates with on-the-mark passes while being closely guarded.
This two-team thing is working out.
Though the High Flyers beat GBHS Red 56-49, GBHS Black beat the Filthy Dozen 48-45 — and the closeness of the scores suggests strongly that at least one of the Dwayne Tamatea-coached Boys’ High teams will be a real semifinal contender in five weeks.
Guard Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown top-scored (13pts) but Black teammate Ofa Tauatavalu (12pts) was superb all-round value at both ends of the court. He plays with more confidence now than he did on opening night.
Boys’ High School’s Sam Veitch produced eight points, including two three-pointers.
The Dozen led 16-10 at quartertime. The score was 22-all at half-time but the Filthy Dozen took an 11-point advantage, 41-30, into the fourth period.
The Dozen’s Wi Brown made two three-point plays in the second half and scored the older team’s only field goal of the fourth quarter.
Gisborne Boys’ High’s defence was incredible. Rihara Houia (7pts) was the Filthy Dozen’s second-leading scorer, even grand-final-winning shooter Jimmy Wilson being restricted to five points by Boys’ High School’s coverage with zest.
The Flyers deserved it.
In their debut season, the Flyers’ 56-49 win against GBHS Red was one to savour.
They eschew structure for speed, and that up-tempo style is best seen in the hard running of Zade Donner (17pts) and Robert Christy (13pts). Isaiah Lemaua (13pts), Adam Nepe (10pts) and Caleb Mokomoko (8pts) led the GBHS scorers.