Gisborne Basketball Association life member and coach Adrian Sparks holding court with eager minds on the opening week of GBA league competitions.
GBA put serious talent on show at the YMCA last week.
Four Gisborne Basketball Association leagues – senior secondary schoolboys on Mondays, senior secondary schoolgirls on Tuesdays, Unity Social League on Wednesdays and junior secondary schoolboys on Fridays – are running for the next nine weeks.
Opening night got off to a rip-roaring start with Ryland Bright throwing down four dunk shots for 21 points in a 75-50 win to Gisborne Boys’ High School Black v Tolaga Bay.
Much-improved forward Ezra Graham (22) employed great footwork and soft shooting touch at close quarters. Captain and guard Ollie Tong gave the first assist of the season to the hard-running Bright, and he also hit the first three-point shot of the GBA leagues.
Boys’ High led 21-8, 45-18, 59-33 through the quarter breaks.
The visitors demonstrated court sense and flair, guard Keiha Blackman finding big forward Chase Heke on the cut to the hoop right side with a slick assist for the Ūawa crew. Blackman later came out of the corner to make a tough shot v Bright.
Heke made the defensive play of the night against Bright, a tremendous athlete and the quickest player in the league in the open floor, pinning his lay-up attempt to the backboard from behind ... rarely is that done without a foul being committed.
Heke has what it takes to be a beacon of strength for Tolaga Bay in this league.
GBA’s young referees impressed in Game 1 on Monday, lead official Kelly Paenga-Rangihuna called a foul on the visitors’ Te Tuhi Marsh for Graham, right side of the hoop, a spot and a situation in which many whistle-blowers lack the confidence to make a call.
Tolaga Bay captain River Hooper sunk his unit’s most memorable long jump shot.
Hooper said: “We train three times a week. It gets the boys out of the house. We love the skills, shooting, scoring, handling the ball and the fact that we get to play in front of the crowd here”.
The GBHS Year 11’s strongman scored 20 points in his outfit’s 109-41 win v Lytton High School but his reaction was priceless – he was stunned to be given the ball out deep left side on the perimeter. He drove to the hoop to score the first points of Game 3.
He and his teammates Reef West-Hill (25), Daniel Tuisano (16) and Luca Tong (13) gave Boys’ High four scorers in double figures to Ritana’s two (Te Hata Wanoa and Jordan Barrett both put up 11).
At 6.18, the LHS defence forced GBHS to make the second shot clock violation of the night, though the likes of West-Hill, tall and with real spring, proved difficult to contain on the boards. His jack-in-the-box put-back was an example of that.
Boys’ High led 24-12, 53-16, 84-28, yet the Adrian Peachey-coached Lytton were always plucky in a high-tempo clash.
Wanoa, left side, struck gold at the end of an 25-foot rainbow. In response, Justin Hill sent a length of the court assist – virtually a spear – the way of Tong.
The second period produced a comic moment when Te Kahu, to the right of the hoop, uncharacteristically missed an open lay-up and then (in fairness, against two opposition players) four put-back attempts.
In the third period, Wanoa (elements of whose game remind longtime observers of two other Lytton shooting guards of great ability, Jared Le Geyt and Leigh Watene) hit a 20-footer to open the third period – a period which closed with GBHS’ Calais Johnson making a 30-foot trey for 84-28.
The game ended on the note of two top plays by West-Hill: left side, his man-to-man coverage v Barrett created a basket for Tuisano at the other end of the court, and, right side, he made a classy finish at the rim.
GBHS coach Matt Tong, of Setting Suns fame, said: “Our boys play with good energy on defence ... and they have far more flair than I let them show on the floor”.
They beat Shane McClutchie’s feisty Campion College Cougars 77-40 in Game 4, Logan Mason-Takoko (19), Kelly Paenga-Rangihuna (12) and Aidan Henderson (10) providing the muscle. McClutchie’s crew is a new-look team – they have only players back from 2025 – and they fought hard to counter Gisborne Boys’ every move. Gio Green-Smith (9) hit a three-pointer from the right corner for 15-2, which led to Manjot Singh going into a tall defender in Rangihuna to score for the Caleb Reedy-led Cougars.
Mason-Takoko, with position, concentration and timing, took a monster offensive rebound and scored on behalf of Rangihuna.
Rangihuna hit a three-pointer from the right corner soon after and Ollie Tong – a note to the impartiality of same-school officials – as lead official called a reach-in foul on Red’s Manu Te Puni at 2:25 before quartertime.
Tall forward Reedy soared to make a contested shot at the basket, then gave cutting Casey-James Laurente a bounce pass through the key to score.
Laurente scored three field goals in the third period, taking Oasis Maru to the bucket with the individual play of the game to complete that thrilling sequence.
McClutchie, 10 of whose Cougars are rookies, has realistic expectations of his squad and acknowledges that they have much work to do.
GBHS forward Manu Te Puni made a strong, clean move right side of the hoop to score for 55-30 and Kristian Carlo Atlas got Campion Cougars’ last three field goals.
Te Puni and Atlas were just two of a number of quiet achievers to give those present a glimpse of their wares in Game 40, even if Boys’ High’s Glaceus Hautapu – with a 25-footer – and Paenga-Rangihuna – with a mini dunk – brought the curtain down on opening night in style.
Under Rongomai Smith, a skilful, hard-nosed team drawn from Te Kura Kaupapa O Māori O Te Hawaiiki Hou kick-started their secondary schoolgirls league campaign with a 61-20 win against Gisborne Girls’ High School on Tuesday night.
Charleigh Karauria (17), Hinemaia Te Tai (12) and Mere-Kaya Te Tai all rattled up double figures.
Karauria, Mere-Kahu Matahiki, who put up eight points, were members of the GBA under 11 team coached by Daniel Beets who won five of six games at the Mel Young Easter Classic Tournament in Tauranga three years ago. That experience, and the leadership qualities Karauria showed then, were evident in Game 1.
Hawaiiki Hou were 21-0, 40-6, 45-10 up on GGHS through the breaks. Imposing forward Mere Kaya Te Tai played strongly throughout, taking an offensive rebound and then running the floor to block Azania-Marie Cooper’s shot as late as the fourth quarter, with her team 45-11 ahead.
Girls’ High played with heart. Mehi Tupouniua made a flat shot from 12 feet and Shiloh Repia-Barbarich gave Hennessy Ponga-Flood (4) an assist.
That effort under duress, the leaning jumpshot from Ponga-Flood, brought the crowd at the YMCA to its feet.
Kodie Lee Kutia was good for 37 points in the Gold and Maroons’ 83-19 win v Campion College in Game 2, while her teammates Arihia Tuhaka-Haapu (20) and Kiara Kotu (10) also excelled.
LHS played with fluency, rebounded well and turned the lion’s share of missed shots and turnovers from Campion into fast break lay-ups.
Ritana teams have always been at their best in the open court – Kutia finished first on the left and then right side to open the scoring, and twice in the first period scored three field goals in a row.
Lytton led 27-0, 53-3, 71-11. Campion, who bustled and hustled for the ball at both ends, got into gear three minutes before halftime with a free throw getting them on the scoreboard.
Cema Loma followed that up by scoring their first field goal and Jessica Steyn took an offensive rebound for a put-back.
Barleen Sahota made the resurgent Greens’ next basket, her teammate Natasha Mutyamaenza picked up a great steal and later completed Campion’s scoring with a poised, one-handed shot from the left side of the floor.
Kutia had the last word, a 20-footer from the right wing with 11 seconds to play.