Explosive display to end round

Last night, it was all the Gisborne Basketball Association's best referees could do to keep things under wraps.

Week 7, the last in round-robin play for Senior Secondary School Division 1, was all explosive energy and athleticism at the John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre.

Outstanding young official Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson, 17, and veteran Donna Brown whistle-blower, rose to the occasion in Game 1. A 74-71 win to Gisborne Boys High School Senior Diesel over the GBHS Junior Premiers.

Their goal-tending call for Jack John Maurirere (20 points) of the Junior Prems saw him credited with a buzzer-beating field goal: despite Nuku Patea-Taylor's desperate defensive effort to stop Maurirere's make, the scores were tied at 68-68 in regulation time. The superb plays in Game 1, included Prems guard Felix Sparks' step around a tall defender in Kerry Hohepa to score the last basket of the first period and Cody Tarei's crosscourt assist to an open Kapua Wharerau for 37-35.

Tarei hit the 25-foot shot for victory with 28 seconds left in overtime. Diesel's win was due in the largest part to David McClutchie leading all scorers on the night with 34 — his shooting touch and fluency was truly memorable.

Normally, Safin Tuwairua-Brown dominates Diesel's scoring list but in a nice touch, he had 7 and his teammates stepped up to the mark before next week's semifinals.

Clinton Tarei hit two three-pointers in his 16 for the Prems and the fact that they led the older, bigger Diesel at both halftime and at the end of the third quarter, speaks of their improvement over the last seven weeks.

Junior Premiers coach Adrian Sparks said wrly: “David nearly slew Goliath, but he choked at the end.”

Did Lytton almost let Game 2 slip or were GBHS B good enough to come back at them? The answer is a little bit of both.

Lytton High School did, as usual, owe an enormous amount to big man Caleb Poole (18), who with game-day captain Tasman Guirau and Ruka Leilaa was outstanding.

Weighn Wilson again racked up 26 points for the Boys' High B team and the skills-gap and confidence of all players in the Division would seem to have narrowed in the first instance, and lifted in the second.