A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A new power is rising.
On Monday, the club basketball landscape changed when The Filthy Dozen — experienced players all, but a first-year club — beat two-time defending champions City Lights 47-38 at the YMCA.
The Dozen don’t even number 12 players — nine were listed, seven played — yet Jimmy Wilson, Siaki Tui and company succeeded in doing something against CL in their second hit-out that only three teams (Gisborne Boys’ High School, Auto Court, Old School) managed to do in 2017 — keep the scores low.
No club could match City Lights shot for shot last season (or the season before, for that matter); rather, the teams who have given them the biggest headaches are those who have denied them a free run to the basket, and stuck with them on the perimeter defensively.
The Filthy Dozen did just that. They led the champions 12-8 at quartertime, 32-12 at halftime and 35-22 at three-quartertime. City Lights muscled up with a vengeance following the break — Dom Wilson’s three-point shot was the Dozen’s only field goal of the third period — as Scott Muncaster’s crew fought back.
“They wanted to win more than we did and we dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t quite get out of,” City Lights captain Muncaster said.
“They played hard. Wi Brown (14 points) was good value for them, making some timely shots, and he was active on the boards at both ends.”
Whippet guard Brown’s rebounding was a huge plus for The Filthy Dozen, while Dom Wilson hit long jump shots to lead his team’s scorers in the game with 15 points and old hand Jimmy Wilson (7pts) injected himself at key moments. His two field goals in the fourth quarter were exactly what the new entity needed at the time.
Muncaster led all scorers in the game with 18 points. His teammate Carl Riini (9pts) also served notice that he can produce the goods under pressure. Riini scored the last City Lights basket at the end of both the first quarter and the third period.
The college player who has pushed himself harder and faster than any other in the past three years — Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea — was a match-winner at the John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre.
Lytton High School captain Bartlett-Tamatea scored 28 points in the derby with Campion College.
Lytton won 60-55. Their skipper set the tone early, making a three-point play in the first quarter.
Campion captain and point-guard Orlando Pedraza (17pts) is talented, quick, athletic and unselfish, never better illustrated than by his assist to Allen Arnaldo for 32-22 to Campion. Pedraza created space off the dribble, slipping a pass low-left on the baseline to Arnaldo, who stepped inside Bartlett-Tamatea to score.
Campion were 22-19, 39-29 and 42-41 in front at the quarter breaks, Pedraza and Tana Ward (16pts) proving unstoppable in the open court and Tahran Ward (15pts) again ging the College a scoring presence around the ring.
Lytton’s Darius Leach (18pts) gave his side a second scorer in double-figures in Lytton’s best showing of the past three years. Lytton played the game at pace, with confidence, and with a sense of urgency that was missing last year. They made the extra pass on offence and the likes of Ben Greaves played with grit.
At times last season, Bartlett-Tamatea carried his team. But on Monday night, they raised the tempo.
Bartlett-Tamatea is player-coach this year, with Lytton principal Wiremu Elliott as manager and towering deputy principal Tim Dagger in the front-court.
Bartlett-Tamatea said: “I enjoy basketball 10 times more now — the support means so much because people can see what the boys are capable of doing.”
Both Gisborne Boys’ High School teams were again victorious, GBHS Black beating the Dragons 48-42 and GBHS Red beating High Fliers 72-56.
Black team captain Sam Veitch backed up his 23-point game against Lytton on opening night with a 25-point game against the Dragons. It included two three-pointers and a long jump shot from both right and left corners. Year 11 forward Adam Nepe (8pts) is a strong forward for Black, yet the older Dragons kept pace with the school team.
The Dragons had an edge at the guard position, although Keenan Ruru-Poharama (16pts) and Te Angi Te Hau (12pts) are still dusting off the cobwebs two weeks into the competition. Ruru-Poharama jockeyed for position against Veitch successfully three times, on each of those occasions finishing tough plays skilfully.
Boys’ High Black held the upper hand 14-11, 23-21 and 26-29 through an absorbing contest.
Boys’ High Red captain Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown was not to be outscored by Veitch; he, too, scored 25 points, having led all scorers in the league on opening night with 29 points.
The High Fliers are unorthodox, in the tradition of Nova, Munro Street and Hemaraz. They tease grizzled veterans with a chancy dribble and give the sorts of no-look passes that players who take the game up away from organised basketball do . . . fearlessly.
Former City Lights players Robert Christy (15pts) and the supremely fit Zade Donner (13pts) retain the same enthusiasm they had when latching on to length-of-the-court assists from former teammate Ryan Walters. Their time with the champions taught them the value of hustle, and the Fliers did hustle, although Red led throughout, 19-11, 40-26 and 53-40.
Khian Westrupp continues to improve for Boys’ High Red. The big man scored 14 points; his hands and court-sense are good enough for him to finish at close quarters, and guards such as Holden Wilson benefit from having targets to hit inside with passes.
The next step will be for the likes of Westrupp, fellow forward Ofa Tauatevalu and Veitch of Boys’ High Black to better rotate and screen in the half-court.
This is not just the first year Gisborne Boys’ High have fielded two teams in the senior club league: it is the first year in which the programme has had big men capable of staffing two teams since the days of Simon McLean, Matthew Pavarno, Adrian Torrie, Paul Gardner and Nakia Te Aho in the early 1990s.
They may not be fully functional, but the Young and the Useless did produce a 48-37 win against East Coast last Monday.
Big man Stefan Pishief scored 17 points for TYATU, his teammates Manaia McGhee (8pts) and Quentin Harvey (6pts) also proving their worth in Week 2. TYATU led 16-12, 29-19, 39-36 through the course of Game 1 at the YMCA.
Drae Calles, son of a fearsome basketball warrior in the Rising Suns’ Josh Calles, was in magnificent touch from the three-point line — he shot seven “treys” in his 27-point haul — but it was not enough.
As the Dragons have Bronson Te Hau, the Young and the Useless have veterans Ray Noble and Anton Riri to maintain order on the floor. Noble weighs up where the game is and where it needs to go, who needs to do what, and how to stop the opposition.
The proof of that?
East Coast’s Hayden Riri hit a free-throw in the fourth quarter . . . their only point of that quarter.
Systems go hard, but not hard enough on Monday night. Local stalwarts SE Systems fell to Uawa, the Tolaga Bay team victorious at the YMCA 40-29. The scores were tied 14-all at quartertime, Uawa taking a 23-16 lead at halftime. Heading into the fourth period, they were 30-24 in front.
Hard-nosed forwards Harley Phillips (8pts) and Hayden Pardoe (7pts) were outstanding for Uawa: Rongomai Smith was the game’s dominant figure with 24 points.
He did SES great good in a losing cause last Monday. He is just as capable of wreaking havoc in a win.
Men’s draw for MONDAY —
At the YMCA — 5.45pm: The Young and the Useless v Lytton High School. 6.45pm: Uawa v Dragons. 7.45pm: City Lights v High Fliers.
At John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre, Gisborne Boys’ High School — 5.45pm: Campion College v East Coast. 6.45pm: Gisborne Boys’ High School Black v The Filthy Dozen. 7.45pm: Gisborne Boys’ High School Red v SE Systems.