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BASKETBALL
It’s meant to make your head spin.
Game 1 of Week 9 in the Gisborne Basketball Association men’s club competition — High Flyers versus Lytton High School — will be played at breakneck pace.
Lytton captain Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea will come off a 20-point game (the 49-44 loss to Gisborne Boys’ High School Red) with teammate Darius Waititi-Leach (10pts) showing last Monday what Jack Whaitiri (12pts) proved against East Coast: that it’s not a one-man team. At least three members of their crew can score in double figures.
The High Flyers played perhaps their best game of 2018 so far in Week 8. Their 58-34 win against the Coast should serve as a warning to other teams — if they are allowed to run, they can and will, to great effect.
Flyers captain Robert Christy said: “The game will be tough; they’re a good team. We’re both fighters.”
There are similarities.
The Filthy Dozen-Uawa clash will follow High Flyers versus Lytton at the YMCA tonight — and both teams in Game 2 can bump, if need be.
The Dozen have solid veterans in the likes of Chad Rose, Jimmy Wilson, Willie Brown and Wi Brown. All four can score and rebound. Most importantly, they are noted for their passing ability, Wilson in particular.
The Dozen beat Dragons 60-44 last Monday, whereas Uawa were unlucky enough to strike Rongomai Smith in the mood to score. He scored 28 points, and his SE Systems outfit won Game 2 at Boys’ High 77-58.
Uawa have experience and a Rising Suns great — Reg Namana — still good enough to put up 19 points against Systems.
No one in either hard-nosed team expects to make it to the hoop unscathed.
And nor should they.
He knows. Dragons veteran Bronson Hedge is well aware of where his team is at, and what’s coming their way in Game 1 at the John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre: City Lights.
“City Lights are going to do their thing and if Ryan Walters gets going, they’re hard to stop,” Hedge said.
“We have to lift our game, that’s for sure.”
Walters (18pts) and his captain Scott Muncaster drove CL to victory 71-62 against Gisborne Boys’ High School Black — and the push they got from Boys’ High might have been just the spur the defending champions needed.
“They know how to play, so they’ll give it their best shot,” said Muncaster, who with 32 points led all scorers in the league last week.
“It won’t be a pushover.”
It’s a different beast.
The beast is SE Systems — a different genus entirely from City Lights.
Systems play GBHS Black at 6.45pm.
Systems’ big man Rongomai Smith was superb last week. He takes a lot of stopping, but Sam Veitch and company have the size and athletic ability to match up with him. Whoever guards Smith will need good low-post position, the correct spacing, good defensive help, and the ability to play good defence on the ground and — crucially — box out, then rebound.
Black personnel can hit three-point shots but defensive intensity is of prime importance tonight.
Adrian Sparks has punished teams on their own backboard for more than 20 years. He is undoubtedly a much better player now than ever and relishes the battle. If GBHS don’t bar the gates, Sparks is good for 16 to 20 points.