The Gisborne Boys' High School junior basketball team aren't asking for anything.
Rather, they command respect, and while they remain winless going into Day 3 and the playoff for seventh at the first Super 8 Year 9-10 tournament in Hamilton, they've fought hard and twice come within five points oftop opposition (85-80 against Tauranga Boys' College in Game 1 and 61-58 against Napier in Game 4). Rotorua blew them away 120-64 in Game 2; Palmerston North had legs on them, 74-59, yesterday morning.
Against Palmerston North Boys' High, Luka Russell (12pts), Cody Tarei (11pts) and Safin Tuwairua-Brown (8pts) did their utmost against a well-drilled outfit.
Napier saw the best of the Seb Wilson-led Gisborne team yesterday afternoon. Tarei (17pts) and Tuwairua-Brown (15pts) were the GBHS scorers in double figures.
Napier Boys' High led 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, but Gisborne surged — both offensively and defensively — to take the upper hand 27-22 before Napier hit the fourth period 47-40 to the good.
Their losing margins have been smaller than those between the GBHS Seniors (who conceded 100 points five times at Tauranga last week) and their opposition. Today the Junior A team were playing off for seventh against Tauranga again.
GBHS coach Keenan Ruru-Poharama said: “I want to see the boys get a win and finish the tournament strongly. We lost to Tauranga by only five points in Game 1, and we've grown a lot since then.
“Tauranga are a good shooting team, so we'll need to close out and defend at the perimeter. We also plan to be physical when we have the ball — to get out and run.”
