Captains’ role key

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

How much bigger can basketball get?

It's big enough now, and the role that the captains of the 14 B Grade teams play is critical.

They have done a superb job in getting players back into the game and introducing newcomers to it. Sport Gisborne-Tairawhiti chief executive Stefan Pishief leads top-tier outfit Massive Marauders, who are set to play Carlos Pedraza's Big Baller Brand.

The 6ft 7in Pishief said: “We're thrilled, as there's no better way to test yourself than to play under the pressure conditions that a final creates. This was Massive Marauders' first season, and a win would help springboard us into having a crack at A Grade.”

The Marauders include Kahn Grayson, who scored 30 points in the semifinal win against the Bumbles.

Tomorrow night, the top-tier B Grade final will unfold at the YMCA, and the Marauders have to be careful that Pedraza's teammate Olly Tilley doesn't light them up for 24 points — as he did against Campion last week — bearing in mind too that of the GBA's athletes, only Green Up whippet Zade Donner and the Filthy Dozen's lightning-quick Wi Brown, both A Graders, could live with Pedraza on the run.

Tonight, unbeaten SE Systems take on Manu Toa in what will be a thriller: the women's B Grade final. The unassuming Lily Sparks's leadership of SES could be key against a Manu Toa outfit whose skipper, Gisborne Intermediate Year 8 student Taimarie Matahiki, scored 19 points in Manu Toa's 39-29 semifinal win against Riverina and 16 points in their first clash with Systems, a 43-38 win to SES two weeks ago.

If Manu Toa win tonight, Taimarie, at 13, will be the youngest captain in GBA history to win a club title.

Sparks said the B Grade environment/level had been conducive to player development, her team gelling, and “to see plays coming together — our girls making shots — that's been awesome”.

Jasmine Sparks, who scored 15 points for the victors that night, will again be a key player, this time in the absence of lively university student Anna Spring.

The second-tier B Grade men's final tomorrow, Old Surfers versus Gisborne Boys' High School Juniors, is not a changing of the guard or passing of the baton.

Surfers will be competitive for as long as their knees can take the strain. They got to this point — perhaps, for some, their last chance to win club ball gold — by beating Gizzy Gilas 33-31. The Juniors, in contrast, hammered Lytton by 37 points — a great talent in left-handed Safin Tuwairua-Brown scored 27 points for GBHS.

Boys' High will field more jump shooters at the YMCA tomorrow night than the Gilas did at the Sports Centre last Tuesday — they have more firepower — but Surfers' guru Frank Russell and captain Peter Varey will have something up their sleeves. Zorik Peneha is a proven double-figures scorer for them. If the older team can slow the Seth Miller-led Juniors down, they could claim their first silverware in 22 years . . . and even consider returning for another bite at the cherry.