Gisborne Boys’ High doing the hard yards

Going for the basket: Gisborne Boys’ High School skipper Sebastian Wilson (left) takes on Green Up player Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown in local basketball action. Wilson was heartened by the Boys’ High performances at the Tip-Off tournament in Rotorua. File picture by Paul Rickard

Everything they do is tied to the Super 8 competition.

And Gisborne Boys’ High School Senior A basketball team had invaluable preparation for this at the Tip-Off secondary schools tournament in Rotorua over the Anzac holiday weekend.

Second only to the national secondary school championships in importance to the school team, this year’s Super 8 tournament is scheduled for August 8 to 10 in New Plymouth.

But in the meantime, the Keenan Ruru-Poharama-coached GBHS team placed fourth in the eight-team premier grade in Rotorua, winning two of five 40-minute games.

The Sebastian Wilson-led GBHS beat Papamoa College 89-73. Four players — Te Uenuku Patea-Taylor 21 points, Wilson 19, Ngaru Grayson 15 and Cody Tarei 14 —made an excellent start to the campaign offensively.

Big forward Will Collier (16pts) led all scorers in a 75-48 win against a capable Rotorua Boys’ High School development team.

Hamilton BHS, the most powerful sporting school in the Super 8, flexed their muscles in a 102-61 win against GBHS. Wilson and Patea-Taylor were in gear for 19 and 13 points respectively while the immensely promising Ziya Swann (9pts) dropped three three-point shots.

GBHS then lost their semifinal 117-59 to Rotorua BHS seniors, with two-metre-tall Cody Tarei scoring 16 points.

The loss put GBHS into a playoff with Francis Douglas Memorial College of New Plymouth for third. FDMC won 86-58.

Gisborne Boys’ High were well served by Wilson (28pts) and first-year teammate Felix Sparks (10).

“Hamilton won the tournament but no one was too big for us,” Wilson said.

“Cody played good minutes, Nuku (Patea-Taylor) finished some difficult plays from certain spots and Ziya can knock down the open three-pointer. He’s a good listener, too.

“It was a good experience. We’re a tight group. The talk on and off the floor is there now and we want to win games at tournaments.

“Next year, I want qualifying for the nationals to be a realistic goal for us.”