City Lights back on track

TOP SHOT: Stefan Pishief (centre) scored 23 points against Campion College for The Young and the Useless on Monday night. He is pictured shooting against Gisborne Boys’ High School Red’s Kiwa Johnstone (left) and Tamati Horua. Picture by Paul Rickard

Sport grounds us all.

And in Week 8 of men’s club basketball at the YMCA — following the High Flyers’ 58-34 win against East Coast — two much-improved Gisborne Boys’ High School teams did it hard. Defending champions City Lights avenged their July 23 loss to GBHS Red with a 71-62 win against Boys’ High Black, and GBHS Red won a first-to-flinch slugfest with Lytton High School 49-44.

Under Ritana Bulls coach Kahu Ripia, the Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea-led Lytton team have competed hard in the past three weeks. Bartlett-Tamatea (20 points) and Darius Waititi-Leach (10pts) have gone from strength to strength for Lytton, but on Monday the skilful urgency of the Boys’ High senior players was of a different order.

Adam Nepe showed that he could be the power forward that Boys’ High have lacked since the days of Chris Andersen and Leighton Mihaere in the late 1990s. His physical presence and intelligence produced 16pts and four assists. Teammates Isaiah Lemaua (10pts) and Jake Noble (8pts) also hustled at both ends of the court.

Lytton led 13-8 and 19-13 early on; Boys’ High sneaked ahead 36-32 at three-quartertime. From the first period, during which Nepe spun left — away from Lytton’s Tim Dagger — to hit a baseline jump shot, Game 3 featured high-quality plays.

City Lights played harder and with more purpose as Game 2 unfolded: the champions like to be challenged.

Their captain, Scott Muncaster, amassed 32pts — a league-high total in Week 8 — and CL big man Ryan Walters (18pts) played strongly at both ends of the court.

GBHS Black led 22-14 at quartertime with the older team 45-36 in front at the break and 61-52 up as the fourth period opened.

Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown and Holden Wilson both scored 11pts for a Boys’ High team who got a game-long boost from the remarkable energy and persistence of forward Jorje Tofilau. He pestered City Lights on their own boards, but Boys’ High’s jump shooters were quiet.

The 24-point margin was unexpected. The High Flyers’ 58-34 win against East Coast was classic club ball — little structure, great ad-lib, pure athleticism.

Joe Kiri scored 12pts for the Coast and played soundly but Zade Donner (30pts) and Robert Christy (20pts) roamed free for High Flyers. They play their basketball with relish.

The Flyers led 11-9, 25-19, 39-27 in a game that was well controlled by the referees. David Glendenning, as trail official, called East Coast guard Tondra Gerrard for progress on the right baseline. Gerrard, a right-handed shooter, had established his left foot as the pivot foot and then tucked it back making a move to the hoop.

Simply put, they wore them down.

The Young and the Useless took two quarters to get on top of Campion College, but get on top of them they did, 60-52. Campion led Game 1 at the John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre 16-13 and 28-26 before YAU seized the upper hand 48-39 at three-quartertime.

Stefan Pishief (23pts) and the indomitable Ray Noble (19pts) were central figures for the YAU, with Anton Riri and young blood Daley Riri and Oscar Ruston all scoring six points apiece. Anton Riri scored YAU’s first field goal after halftime but then Pishief took command, making five straight shots.

Campion point guard Orlando Pedraza was consistently superb, led all scorers in both teams with 26 points, made a three-point play and sank four three-point shots. Tahran Ward (10pts) gave the younger team an inside scoring presence, while younger brother Tana Ward and feisty Olly Simpson closed the first two periods with three-pointers.

SE Systems’ Rongomai Smith is the proverbial shot in the arm.

The athletic big man poured in 28 points, including a three-point play and three-pointer in a 77-58 win for SES against Uawa.

Kahn Grayson (17pts) and Jackson Leach (15pts) also made three-point plays for Systems, who trailed Uawa at the end of the first period.

Uawa led 19-16 at that stage but SES went to the break 33-29 up and were in the driver’s seat, 55-44, by the fourth quarter.

Reg Namana led Uawa’s scorers with 19pts and made a three-point play in both of the last two periods: he never flagged. His teammates Rikki Crawford (22pts) and Amorysia McLean (10pts) also dug deep for an Uawa team unlucky to strike Smith on “one of those nights”.

Some days, Wi Brown and Dom Wilson are a force of nature.

Both Filthy Dozen flyers were in sensational form against Dragons. Brown (17pts) and Wilson (15pts) were to the fore as the Dozen won the late game at GBHS 60-44.

They led 17-10, 30-18, 39-22 with Dragons fighting back in the third quarter. The Dragons fight hard every Monday: SES beat them 53-45 in Week 7. But the effort from Te Angi Te Hau (12pts) and Keenan Ruru-Poharama (10pts) was testament to their stickability.

Te Hau hit four three-pointers, while Ruru-Poharama hit two of the same heading into halftime and made a three-point play on the other side of the break.

Dragons are hard-nosed veterans, and have the personnel to put pressure on more fancied teams.