A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Any questions about the new Gisborne Basketball Association Draft League were asked and answered last night.
Week 1 of five in the post-club basketball league at the YMCA was a roaring success. TEAM REG beat TEAM TOM 74-68 in Game 1, and TEAM KEENAN were victorious 77-72 against TEAM SPARKS.
The air of uncertainty as to how well players would combine has gone. Some of them — older and younger — responded positively to coaches, who gave them a role and assignment.
Old-school fans shouldn't fear for club ball's return in 2022. The legacy of such great teams as Green Up, their mateship, will not suffer: it will be enhanced. Draft League participants have already spoken of now having experienced basketball in a semi-elite, demi-professional environment.
That said, it was no surprise that Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown and Holden Wilson of men's Premier Grade champions Green Up led their new franchises' scoring with a league-high 31 and 30 points for TEAM TOM and TEAM REG respectively.
TEAM REG captain Wilson hit five three-point shots, Kahn Grayson (18 pts) and vice-captain Adam Harford came to the fore for the first GBA Draft League team ever to taste victory — though Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown put up a Week 1, league-high 31 points for TEAM TOM, making three of his four three-pointers over a defender's outstretched hand.
There was as much to amuse as to amaze last night, TEAM TOM captain Carl Riini's first-quarter lay-up attempt that saw the ball hit the backboard support cable and later, Jerome Tamatea (at 13, is the DL's youngest player) circumnavigate TEAM TOM centre Stefan Pishief to score his first field goal of the season.
Perhaps the individual play of the game came three minutes before half-time, when Wilson escaped from an old head in TEAM TOM's Scott Muncaster, to shoot a three-pointer as he hopped back into the left corner for TEAM REG 46, TEAM TOM 55.
Wilson later squeezed off a tough shot under Pishief before Harford returned life on the floor to its full-contact glory, belly-butting Riini almost through the stadium doors en route to laying the ball up for 65-60. His blind jump-hook for 67-62 over the towering Cody Tarei and later soft-touch finish in traffic for 69-62, were amazing.
TEAM REG coach Reggie Namana said: “We played the good defence we wanted to play, created opportunities to steal the ball while Holden and Kahn shot the ball well.
“Basketball IQs will go up playing with the introduction of new players and being coached, people will learn.
“In our game, the top three players all came from the team that won the championship. That shows you the quality of the individual players and how good their team is.”
TEAM TOM'S Thomas Tindale was enamoured of the new league: “I think the new competition's amazing. There was some excellent basketball played all-round.”
TEAM KEENAN'S win in a nail-biter against TEAM SPARKS owed much to big forward William Collier. His 26-point tally included a one-hand floater eight feet from the basket, a spin-move and three-point play, power-move, scoop-shot and a perimeter shot.
Collier's teammate Paora Dewes ran the floor hard for 11 points. Four TEAM SPARKS players (Ngaru Grayson, Caleb Poole, Ryan Walters and Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson) scored in double-figures, the teams having been neck and neck — 17-17, 34-33 to the break.
Lytton High School forward Caleb Poole impressed with his athleticism and work ethic. The Draft League has given keen players from the Senior B competition the opportunity to test themselves against the local game's leading lights.
At three-quartertime, up 51-44, TEAM SPARKS appeared to have the game under control.
But their coach Adrian Sparks has few regrets, asking instead a rhetorical question: “Was that amazing or what?”
GBA DRAFT LEAGUE
Week 1, Game 1
TEAM REG 74 (Holden Wilson 30, Kahn Grayson 18) beat TEAM TOM 68 (Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown 31, Scott Muncaster 12). Q1 TEAM TOM 21-12, HT 36-28, Q3 57-54.
Game 2
TEAM KEENAN 77 (William Collier 26, Paora Dewes 11) beat TEAM SPARKS 72 (Ngaru Grayson 23, Caleb Poole 13, Ryan Walters 10, Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson 10). Q1 17-17, HT TEAM KEENAN 34-33, Q3 TEAM SPARKS 51-44.