PRESSURE SHOT: Kered Grant, of Old School, goes for the basket as East Coast players Drae Calles (centre) and Brandon Paul put pressure on the shot. Picture by Paul Rickard
FOUR hard-as-nails games shook the YMCA in Week 3 of Gisborne men’s club basketball last night.
Campion recorded their first win of the season, 34-27, in withstanding a fearsome late rally from newcomers the 9ers.Old School pipped East Coast 40-37 with a gut-busting second-half comeback.Te Angi Te Hau and Jasper Wills did the right things at the right time in the Dragons’ 38-24 victory over Pure Sound.Defending champions City Lights beat an SE Systems team who played with relish, irrespective of the 72-35 scoreline.They just couldn’t hang on.
East Coast led Old School 15-13 and 24-22 going into halftime but going into the fourth quarter, it was veteran Reggie Namana whose team had edged ahead 31-30.
“That was a quick game, very quick when you’ve got only five players,” Namana said.
“That was hard work.”
Namana (9 points) and Rongomai Smith dug deep to keep the heads of a depleted Old School team above water.
The skilful and combative Smith led all scorers with 25 points in the closest game of the night. He showed touches of class to score in heavy traffic against a Coast team who “bodied up” in defence against him more often — and more vigorously — than they have in past seasons.
Coast captain Brandon Paul gave himself that defensive assignment, and completed it manfully.
“It gets more physical against them every time we play — that was intense,” Paul said.
“Our man-to-man defence was important to us — with only five (players) against us. That was a big factor.”
Paul was pleased with the return to basketball of talented guard Jesse Torrey, who scored only four points on the night but is capable of scoring inside and out.
The Coast’s chief offensive threat in Week 3 was the burly Drae Calles, whose 21-point game included three three-point shots.
Referee Shay Waikawa had an excellent night with the whistle as lead official, making two sharp calls for progress on the Coast’s Ezra Paul straight after halftime and mere seconds later bagging Torrey — who had the misfortune to drive at Namana — when the Old School captain’s vice-like grip locked the ball up and stalled his dribble.
The fourth period was frenetic, with two lead changes and Old School’s TK Moeke — who had stolen the ball from Brandon Paul in the third quarter — doing exactly the same thing to Calles, the veterans 36-30 up at the time.
Soon enough, Calles, undeterred, came off the left baseline, bounced off the Old School captain, and made an unbelievable shot to close it to 36-34. Coast left-hander Sam Manuel hit a three-pointer for to get them close at 39-37 with only 19 seconds left but Namana, fittingly, had the last say at the free-throw line.
CampionFor Campion, Game 1 was plain sailing until the fourth quarter. The College led 11-6, 22-8 and, heading into the last period, 30-20.
Then things got a little bit dicey.
“It was scrappy,” Campion captain Patrick Murphy said.
“We had to be then, what we’ve had to be from the outset — tenacious.”
Campion coach Shane McClutchie was rapt for his team: “I couldn’t ask for more. These guys have worked hard. The boys played good defence, were sharp in transition. This was a really good effort all-round.”
Big man Tahran Ward led all scorers in the game with 12 points for Campion. Teammates Orlando Pedraza (8pts) and Konnor Gibson (6pts) featured in some spectacular plays.
The night was only four minutes old when the giant Gibson handed the ball off to Pedraza, who zipped past the big man, and did the cross-over dribble at speed between defenders through the lane to score.
In the second quarter, tiny guard Pedraza leapt over the right baseline to save a missed jumpshot from Tana Ward, firing from the left, back in-court to Gibson, who scored.
Gibson received three assists from Pedraza, who also made the defensive stop of the night in reading the intentions of 9ers captain Marquand Samuels in the fourth period. Samuels drove from the left baseline past the hoop and released the ball for the reverse lay-up only for Pedraza to come down from the top of the key to pin the shot to the backboard. That takes more than an ability to read the play; it takes incredible timing.
Samuels and his crew have, in one game, become fan favourites with a quality mix of flair for the game and synergy on the floor.
Powerhouse Tamanui Hill (11pts) scored their first two field goals and will doubtless go from strength to strength. Guard Jordan Matenga gave a superb bounce-pass to left-hander Baven Kemp (6pts) to close it to 11-6, and the 9ers have — in Matenga, Kemp, Matekairoa McGuire and Jesse Fleming — players who, though new to club basketball, can handle the ball.
“We’ve always loved ball, coming from rugby, so we thought, ‘We’ll enter a team’,” said Samuels of the Gisborne Basketball Association’s newest force.
“That was fast — the Campion boys are quick — and a great experience. This, playing in the league, is going to be good.”
SE Systems When you play SE Systems, you get a good workout.
Although City Lights won by 37 points, they had to weather some pretty solid defence on the ground.
Adrian Sparks and Anton Riri, the old heads in the SES outfit, allowed no easy lay-ups and drove a very young line-up to compete hard.
Sixteen-year-old guards Thomas Kepa and Max Scott, for two years members of the Rotorua Boys’ High School Senior A team, and 14-year-old Daley Riri, never stopped running for Systems.
“It was energetic out there,” said City Lights captain Scott Muncaster, the game’s leading scorer with 28 points.
“As for the knocks, you just have to take those.
“That was up-tempo, despite the fact that we had only six players, and they had only five.”
Anton Riri (8pts) opened the scoring with a long jump shot, to which City Lights’ Dom Wilson responded with a sizzling, driving lay-up.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first period, and both moved quickly to attacking the basket.
Systems were still in the hunt, down 16-9 at the first break, but by halftime City Lights were 34-16 up and by three-quartertime were dictating terms at 52-20.
Wilson hit the night’s most memorable jump shot, a classic three-pointer for 41-18 midway through the third period on his way to 17 points, while teammates Carl Riini (10pts) and Zade Donner (7pts) also made some athletic finishes.
Donner was the recipient of a brilliant lead-pass from experienced guard David Glendenning to score in the fourth quarter. Glendenning’s play highlighted his ability to find the open man and carry the ball.
Systems captain Sparks scored his team’s only points in the third period. His enthusiasm rubs off on those around him.
“These days, we’re about giving the young guys opportunities,” he said.
Scott (13pts) said it was “always cool coming back”. He connected with two jump shots early on and made a three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
“The start this place gave me — the memories I have of the game here are pretty special. This is where it started for me.”
All three of Systems’ juniors played with heart, but if one play spoke to the unwillingness of more seasoned players to step aside just yet, it was Muncaster’s recovery and defensive stop on Kepa in the first period, his evading Scott back up the floor and then his look-away pass to an unguarded Riini on the left for the backdoor lay-up.
History It was one minute 55 seconds of history.
Fifteen-year-old Jaylen Rose, 13-year-old Silas Brown and 12-year-old Wiremu Maxwell of Pure Sound all handled the ball in the fourth period of the “Pound’s” clash with the Dragons and became the first second-generation trio to take the floor at club basketball in the same game as their fathers (Chad Rose, Willie Brown and Billy Maxwell).
Game 3 went the way of the Dragons 38-24. Te Angi Te Hau (11pts), Mercy Bristowe (8pts) and Jasper Wills (6pts) played steadily in a low-scoring game, one the Dragons led 13-6, 19-12, 24-18 throughout.
Wi Brown of Pure Sound led all scorers in Game 3 with 12 points, powerful forward Jason Tuapawa (8pts) also shouldering the offensive burden.
Tuapawa, a real talent while at Gisborne Boys’ High School, has lost none of his leaping ability, while these days being able to mix it up with the opposition at close quarters. His release on jump shots is extraordinary, and it is no coincidence that two of the league’s best pure athletes — Tuapawa and City Lights’ Pila Lolohea — play for the teams that they do. Both the Pound and the defending champions favour an up-tempo, athletic style of play.
“JT (Tuapawa) had a good game, especially with his rebounding,” Pound captain Billy Maxwell said.
“We’re a little bit unfit but we’ll get there. It’s good to have him, though.”
“They made us play hard,” said Dragons captain Mercy Bristowe, who four times finished on breakaway lay-ups in the open court.
“It was a tough game defensively and a big part of that was being able to have three guys on the bench. It was good to come up with a win, our second for the season.”