The High Flyers need to avoid all contact
Although that may not be possible, they do need to keep it to a bare minimum against The Young and the Useless, who had to fight like cat and dog to hang on 47-40 against Lytton last week while - at the same time in the Sports Centre - the High Flyers enjoyed much more freedom of movement in their 56-49 win against Gisborne Boys' High School Red.
Veterans Ray Noble and Anton Riri, along with big man Stefan Pishief, kept Lytton at bay.
Now the Flyers - Zade Donner and Robert Christy chief among them - have to run like the wind. They cannot allow Noble and company to dictate the tempo.
In Game 2, an Uawa team coming off a 50-45 win over the feisty Dragons face a City Lights team whose leading components are short of game-time. Last Monday, SE Systems defaulted to CL. As well, a rib injury to Ryan Walters and family commitments for Scott Muncaster had restricted their availability in the past month.
Reg Namana scored 27 points for Uawa in Week 5 and will always be dangerous. Uawa's Cairo Rule-Reihana is a talent, and the play of YAU youth arm Daley Riri, Ricky Noble and Carew Fearnley is of interest because they will be key players for Boys' High in years to come.
Systems, Filthy Dozen to clash
Intriguing — the Gisborne club basketball game between SE Systems and The Filthy Dozen at the YMCA tonight could be just that.
Systems’ star player this year is big man Rongomai Smith, formerly of Old School and Pirates. He has dominated grand finals and can do it all.
On the other hand, the Dozen — Jimmy Wilson, Wi Brown and co — know each other’s play inside-out.
Willie Brown and Chad Rose are just two more old heads who play hard at both ends of the court and hustle.
Gisborne Boys’ High School Black beat The Filthy Dozen 48-45 at Boys’ High last week; Wilson and his crew will want to get back on top against Systems.
Lytton lost by seven points to The Young and the Useless but when at their best, they play the game at breakneck pace. From the days of Lytton’s Ritana Bulls team in the 1990s to the present, their best ’ball is of the run-and-gun style.
Kahu Ripia knows that. He coached the Ritana Bulls. Current captain Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea and his team know what a privilege it is to have Ripia back to work with them.
For Campion, captain Orlando Pedraza and Tana Ward need to run things and Campion’s height advantage — Cooper Heikell, Nelson Brown and Tahran Ward — has to make a difference. The big men have to score and they have to out-rebound a quick Lytton crew who are all guard-size.
