“We tried to contain Tyrese, push the ball and keep a high tempo because Green Up get out in open court quickly and, with Tyrese drawing a lot of attention, they get good shots.”
The Green Up captain led all men’s premier-grade scorers for the night with 21 points, pipping SE Systems sharpshooter-cum-super-ref Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson (20pts against the Massive Marauders).
Ngarangione-Pearson and local basketball’s longest-serving official, Clifton Blumfield, had earlier controlled another thriller for some of club ball’s biggest names as City Lights beat The Raiders 70-62.
Defending premier-grade champions SES beat the Marauders 74-50. Both teams in that clash had six players.
Tuwairua-Brown’s 21 points included a three-point shot, a three-point play and an adjustment shot over 6ft 3in Boys’ High forward Sebastian Wilson’s right arm that defied gravity.
The return of skipper Daley Riri and head prefect Rikki Noble to the Boys’ High ranks was crucial in their being able to play the game at pace, while improving big man Cody Tarei made a huge impression.
Tarei hit a three-pointer from the right corner for Boys’ High 13, Green Up 14, then made a drive move from right of the baseline for a 15-14 lead, beating the quartertime buzzer. He opened the second period with his second “trey” for 18-14.
Seth Miller (Q1), Weighn Wilson (Q2) and William Collier (Q3) also hit the perimeter shot, and Noble made an amazing put-back for Wilson to make it 24-20.
But in Tuwairua-Brown and Adam Nepe, Green Up had players who brought to bear the same skill and toughness that returned Boys’ High to the national finals of 2019 after a 28-year absence.
Nor should Green Up’s Darius Waititi-Leach’s contribution, eight points in skilful graft around the rim, be forgotten.
Quiet achiever Kahn Grayson did more than chip in for 12 points on behalf of Green Up in a game that featured Collier running the floor left-side for his captain, Wilson’s steal then score, and Noble and Tuwairua-Brown’s three-point plays in the fourth period.
Wilson’s hair-raising, body-on-the-line commitment to block shots and later attempt to score from Tarei’s missed free-throw with Boys’ High down 56-54 — on a possible three-point play — left the crowd of 200 both scratching and shaking their heads in admiration, appreciation and disbelief.
Despite all of that, Tuwairua-Brown was a man apart. He stepped by, between and at defensive players on the back-pedal until fouling out late in the sixth minute of the fourth eight-minute period.
Tuwairua-Brown said: “That wasn’t easy going with just five players but I still thought it was a pretty good game.”
SE SYSTEMS beat The Massive Marauders 74-50 in what was almost certainly their last game in cruise mode.
Systems flattened City Lights 78-54 on the back of 33 points from Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson and 29 from Rongomai Smith: in Week 12, that duo put up 20 and 13 respectively, with former Lytton High School captain Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea contributing 17.
Any of these three can be dynamic on a given night, as can Will Hocquard. Both Reg Namana and Harley Phillips, were they of a mind, could put 20-plus on teams every week but SES now fulfil a higher purpose. Adrian Sparks’s team are among the senior statesmen of club basketball. In that assessment, longevity plays a part, and competitiveness, but also a desire to see the next generation play good hoops.
They would be remiss in their duties if they didn’t shift even their most promising junior’s focus from the three-point line to the defensive end, as required.
Namana scored the first SES goal of the game, a put-back from an offensive rebound, and shortly after, Ngarangione-Pearson got into gear. The young left-hander made a breakaway lay-up to close the deficit to three, 7-4. He hit a three-pointer for 7-7, gave an assist to Bartlett-Tamatea for a 10-7 lead and then once more ran the floor himself for 12-7.
Such a flurry is unusual and a thrill to watch.
Yet the Marauders never gave the game away. Lawrence Mulligan, low-right on the baseline, had his initial shot blocked by Smith with one minute 40 seconds remaining in the second quarter but achieved a blue-collar put-back for the Marauders 25, Systems 45.
In the third period, Adam Tapsell made a tough lay-up from the left side of the ring to close it to 65-29, despite the attentions of Sparks, and in the fourth quarter Luke Bradley, acting Marauders captain for Adam Harford, hit his fourth three-pointer of the night.
Bradley hit his first three-point shot in the club league as a Year 9 student in the Frank Russell-coached, Richard Hart-led Gisborne Boys’ High School team who played Lytton High School B in Game 1 of the 1998 season.
Kaia Gate made a strong debut for the reigning champions on Tuesday — he is athletic, and fearless. His first points in the league make for a memorable account: in Systems’ back-court, right corner, Bartlett-Tamatea fired the ball down the grandstand sideline. Ngarangione-Pearson fielded the ball and lobbed it up to Gate, who — slashing in from the left wing — took the pass and scored off the backboard to complete the alley-oop play. It was great stuff.
“That was an interesting game,” said Bradley, who scored 18 points and whose team — missing players with the late game — did brilliantly to score 18 points in the last quarter.
“SES are definitely the team to beat. They’re a well-rounded team who play good, structured basketball.”
(Willie Brown 19, Zade Donner 14, Wi Brown 13) (Ryan Walters 19, Carl Riini 15, Scott Muncaster 12, Paora Dewes 12) Q1 Raiders 19-18, HT City Lights 39-33, Q3 59-50.
(Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown 21, Adam Nepe 13, Kahn Grayson 12) (Cody Tarei 13, Rikki Noble 10, William Collier 8) Q1 GBHS 15-14, HT 27-25, Q3 Green Up 42-40.
(Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson 20, Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea 17, Rongomai Smith 13) Massive Marauders 50 (Luke Bradley 18, Simon Wilson 12, Adam Tapsell 11) Q1 SE Systems 25-9, HT 45-25, Q3 65-32.
(Jesse Fowley 15, Fraser Robb 14, Edward Wood 9, Mal Furlan 9) (Raphael Heria 10, Paul Lazo 8) Q1 Hustlers 25-4, HT 30-11, Q3 43-26.
(Hamuera Hauiti 11, TK Paranihi-Wairua 11, Bailey Barbarich 10) (Will Jones 26, Jerome Tamatea 14, Mercy Bristowe 12) Q1 Old Surfers 18-13, HT 28-23, Q3 42-33.
(Shell Barbarich 14, Ahi Te Hau-Otene 13) (Tane Wills-Aranga 16, Tamati Horua 14) Q1 The Bibs 12-5, HT 34-20, Q3 50-22.
