Basketball City Lights v Campion - Ollie Simpson (Campion), Scott Muncaster
BASKETBALL fans, brace yourselves.
Week 3 of the 2017 Gisborne men’s club basketball league has four intriguing match-ups.
Campion College — a young team, admittedly, but now one with a sense of itself — take on an unknown in the 9ers at 5.45pm.
Old School will look to overwhelm East Coast at 6.45pm, then the Dragons lie in wait for Pure Sound at 7.45pm.
Finally, high-flying City Lights meet the hardy SE Systems at 8.45pm.
With the Term 3 holidays, both Gisborne Boys’ High School and Lytton High School will take a two-week break, but the fact that it is now a 10-team league, for the first time since 1998, speaks to heightened interest in the code.
“Survival” — in a word, that’s the sole aim of SE Systems captain Adrian Sparks for his team in Game 4 tonight.
City Lights have yet to really hit their offensive straps, but they did claim their first competition points of 2017 last week in the 96-49 cruise against Campion.
City Lights skipper Scott Muncaster said his team needed to keep getting better, because SES would be a step up from the school teams.
“It’ll be good to know where we are, going forward,” said Muncaster, who rattled up 13 points on opening night against Boys’ High and 29 last Monday.
City Lights can go through all the gears, and in Dom Wilson they have a superb talent who at any time can up the ante. He can carry the ball, he is a natural scorer and — unsurprisingly, as the son, nephew and cousin of great Rising Suns players — he reads the game as well as anyone in the league.
City Lights will be without Ryan Walters, the spine of the team, whose dominance of the defensive backboard (not to mention his three-point shooting) will be missed. Over the years, Walters has had to tangle with Sparks inside at least twice a year in the past decade . . . and it never gets any easier.
SE Systems’ main man is coming off a 15-point game himself. Moreover, with Sparks having made 10 out of 10 from the free-throw line last week, City Lights big man Luka Kablar will have to get good position close to the basket. Nothing will ward off a cutting Adrian Sparks, but Kablar might deter talented 14-year-old Daley Riri from taking the ball to the basket and dissuade 16-year-old Thomas Kepa from venturing too close.
Kablar and company must also deny Systems second-shot opportunities. Daley’s father, Anton Riri, is a tough competitor who plays hard low-post defence and can still hit long jumpshots.
City Lights will have to be disciplined and make a conscious effort to keep their structure should their lead go into double-digits. Two years after the departure of brilliant guard Kit Maile, City Lights in 2017 have taken fewer three-point shots and returned lower scorelines, but exercised greater control in the half-court. The slack will need to be picked up in the absence of Walters.
Pure Sound are transitioning.
The “Pound” of old were entertainment-plus — flyers such as Ainsley Paea finishing the fast break and stellar athletes like Jason Tichborne hammering dunk-shots home.
Pure Sound in 2017, as in 2016, are still about competing hard, but the transition focus is two-fold: nurturing young players — such as Jaylen Rose, 15, Year 11 at Gisborne Boys’ High School; Silas Brown, 13, Year 9 at Boys’ High; and Wiremu Maxwell, 12, Year 8 at Ilminster Intermediate School — into club basketball, as well as playing “smart”.
“Economy of effort, for the best result — going from being a V8 to an electric-powered car,” Pure Sound captain Billy Maxwell said.
“Tomorrow we’re looking to start Jimmy Wilson, Willie Brown, Wi Brown, Jason Tuapawa and Dale Hailey. We want to start solid, and those guys are experienced.”
Hailey, Tuapawa and Wi Brown should be to the fore in the Pound’s rebounding effort at both ends, all three being 6ft 3in and over, with towering forward Stefan Pishief coming off the bench to give the Maxwell-led crew yet another option in the pivot. Tomorrow night could see the unprecedented occur in club basketball: if Chad Rose takes the court with son Jaylen, Billy Maxwell with Wiremu, and Willie Brown with Silas, it will be the first time in Gisborne Basketball Association history that three father-and-son combinations have been on the floor on the same night for one team in club basketball.
Rarely in GBA history have two father-and-son pairs taken the floor for the same team on the same night — and then, only at the social level. It will be fascinating to see how Pure Sound get those young players — if it happens — on to the court against the Dragons, particularly if the scores are close.
Dragons giant Jasper Wills — son of GBA legend and Rising Suns enforcer “Butch” Lennard Wills — was almost unstoppable last Monday. His 17-point match-effort was the key individual contribution in the Dragons’ win, but Te Angi Te Hau at the three-point line cannot be underestimated. He hit five three-pointers against SE Systems in Week 2.
Teammate Te Ahi Te Hau may only have scored five points in the clash with SES but he is a strong player, broad, with the ability to score and play strong defence. He, Te Angi Te Hau and Jasper Wills played crucial roles in that 59-44 win, and they could combine further to real effect.
Te Angi Te Hau is a fair all-round guard. It will be fascinating to see whether he and his fellow Dragons can get the ball to Wills in the post against the Pound. If they can, if he can establish himself there, then Te Angi Te Hau might be left open at the perimeter. Former Systems man Bronson Te Hau was the sole wise head (i.e. veteran) in the Dragons’ Week 2 line-up. His experience, knowledge and, beyond that, composure — will be vital to them again.
Run, Coast, run.
That’s what Brandon Paul’s East Coast will have to do in Game 2 against Old School.
Gary Harding’s Pirates, Travis McIlroy’s East Coast Mariners and Keith Lewis’s Wairoa Wizards were all big teams, but for inside game, Old School would be tough to top.
Reg Namana at 6ft 3in, TK Moeke at 6ft 3in, Rongomai Smith at 6ft 4in and Thomas Tindale at 6ft 6in give Old School four players of national second-division size.
Namana, Smith and Tindale all have experience at a good level of basketball and Moeke, though a late convert to the game, is a natural athlete whose competitive edge cuts across basketball, rugby and touch.
“We want to be faster, better, more dominant, and score more points than our opposition,” was Old School captain Namana’s mantra for Game 2.
The first phase of Namana’s basketball life here was as a dynamo, sixth man for the best Rising Suns team in history, under coach Frank Russell — that of the mid- to late-90s.
“Reg was a flat-out athlete,” said GBA chairman Dwayne Tamatea, then co-captain of the Suns with Ray Noble.
“He ran teams off the floor.”
Coast captain Brandon Paul once outscored Dream Team match-winner Kit Maile (43 points) with a 44-point effort that included three three-point plays and two three-point shots . . . in a losing cause.
Then, as now, Paul had a great foil in skilful left-hander Sam Manuel, who might have scored more than nine points himself back in 2015 had Paul not seen fit to make that night his own.
The Coast will need to run, and play the hardest defence imaginable inside the key, with Old School powerhouse Harley Phillips, Tindale and Smith all seasoned — and proven — campaigners close to the basket.
The veteran team will need to watch out for East Coast’s Whetu Grant, who was sensational on opening night despite his team’s 43-35 loss to SE Systems.
Grant scored 26 points and showed the ability to finish the fast-break, drive to score in the half-court and hit jumpshots. He was inspired.
The Coast, coming off the bye, now need him to rediscover his mojo by 6.45pm tonight.
“I want the boys to get stuck in, give them a run for their money.”
So says Campion College captain Patrick Murphy, whose young team opened a few eyes with their showing against City Lights in Week 2. Besides Murphy — who scored 17 points — point guard Orlando Pedraza and forward Ollie Simpson also stung the defending champions from time to time.
Often, young players take the ball to the basket with little conviction, only to miss even open shots badly. Simpson did the exact opposite. He drove hard to the hoop and made two lay-ups.
Konnor Gibson has shown real improvement in the past fortnight, and if he can get rebounding assistance from Tahran Ward and Nelson Brown, Campion will provide more than nuisance value on the boards: they could be a threat.
None of the three have the vertical leap of 2016 stand-out Fletcher Gedye (few in the league do), but they just have to get used to the contest for space, physical contact, and the need to ally soft hands to a wide base in the lane.
All young players have to learn to go toe to toe with big men. At some stage, Gibson may have to lock horns with Thomas Tindale of Old School, or the Dragons behemoth Jasper Wills.
The 9ers have flown under the radar in the first two weeks — no one knows much about them — but they debut tonight.
Campion are facing an unknown quantity — getting stuck in and giving them a run for their money may be the best way for the College to go.
The Week 3 draw for men’s club basketball, TONIGHT, at the YMCA is —
5.45pm: 9ers v Campion.
6.45pm: Old School v East Coast.
7.45pm: Pure Sound v Dragons.
8.45pm: City Lights v SE Systems.