It's only week 2 of the Gisborne secondary school basketball leagues, but already the young players are firing.
Just a fortnight into the secondary school leagues, 2026 is shaping up as a bumper year.
Week 1 ended with the Boys’ Junior League on the note of Gisborne Boys’ High School Onyx outgunning Lytton High School 66-34; white-hot outside shooting from both Campion College and the Boys’ High Diamonds in a 61-47 win to Campion; and a 46-39 win to Manutūkē v GBHS Emerald.
The defensive play of Game 1 saw Boys’ High’s Cyrus Tala (14) strip Levi Grant of the ball and score with a scoop-shot from the right for 12-9 in the second quarter, with talented GBHS guard Felix Tong (8) scoring left side on the next play.
In the third period, Lytton’s Shane Grace (4) and Jet Mondugan (10) stepped up with strong finishes at the rim and Otis Bradley (6) of GBHS was superb as the game wound down, with great hands and athleticism in the open court.
Otis, 13, first picked up a basketball at age 4.
“It’s an amazing sport, it means everything to me. My teammates and my coach have encouraged me a lot and now I’ve got way more confidence to take the ball to the hoop.”
The memorable moment early in Game 2 was an entertaining play, a comic foul by the Diamonds’ Pa Waihape on Campion sharpshooter Pingi Huang, called by lead official Ryland Bright.
Huang scored 35 points, Khalani Beaver of GBHS 39, in a Western Sheriff-type shoot-out. Beaver scored nine straight field goals to advance the Diamonds from 8 to 26.
Waihape and Danny Wayne Crawford, who worked hard at both ends of the YMCA throughout, took some epic defensive rebounds in the fourth quarter of a clash that closed on the note of Huang hitting two 20-foot shots.
Game 3 got off to a swashbuckling start, with Tiare Savage (6) making Manutūkē’s first two field goals in firebrand fashion, the second of which – for 4-2 – he made having almost gone past the backboard, wide right side.
Manutūkē won the up-tempo contest v the GBHS Emeralds 46-39, with Ngakeata Hollis (14) and Liam Brown (11), but twice tiny Boys’ High guard Gus Kinsella (10) found promising forward Sione Solo with rare magic.
First up, they ran a screen-roll play right of the hoop, Solo rolling to the rim to score for Boys’ High 6, Manutūkē 8, and later Kinsella found Solo on the move right side behind the defence. Solo made the basic lay-up for GBHS 31, Manutuke 39.
Kinsella put up 10 points. Manutūkē left-hander Anahi Waitai made a three-point play for 46-37 and the Emeralds’ Kaydin Hartkopf, with 17 seconds left, made a jump shot to finish Week 1.
Four of GBHS Gold’s best scored in double figures to see their team home 80-70 v the Campion College Cougars. Gold’s triumph at the YMCA in Game 1 of the Boys’ Senior Secondary Schools League – the first game to go into overtime this season – was a thriller.
Reef West-Hill (23), Mahaki Solomon (18), Luca Tong (16) and Quincee Chaffey (10) were great for GBHS, Campion captain Caleb Reedy (20), Casey-James Laurente (19) and Kristian Carlo Atlas (11) excelled for the Cougars. Both teams regularly completed remarkable plays: in the second period, West-Hill made a spectacular lay-up up and under the basket for 37-28 and a scoop shot for 45-30, the halftime score.
He then got up to block Cougar Manjot Singh’s shot on the left baseline at 47-38, but Tong made the third quarter his own. He finished five real pressure-plays with composure and hit a trey seven seconds before three-quartertime for 68-56.
The game was destined for a big finish.
And with 0.01 seconds remaining in regulation playing time, it got that. Trail official Ryland Bright called a foul on the Cougars’ Atlas for West-Hill, with the score GBHS 69, Campion 70. He made the first free-throw for 70-70.
During the two-minute overtime period, Gold scored 10 unanswered points to win 80-70.
Boys’ High White beat Lytton High School 59-32 in Game 2, which opened with a Ryland Bright dunk. Bright (13) brought the YMCA crowd to its feet more than once with athletic plays, to which Lytton responded with jumpshots.
Te Hata Wanoa (10), Tom Paul (10) and Ahi Waiariki (4) all helped Lytton to stay competitive, and at times they were sensational, as when Wanoa found Paul with a lob-pass, and Paul landed left-side, spun and made the classy lay-up at the bucket for Lytton 25, White 41.
Pishief, of the Boys’ High Under-16s, scored 17 points in their 77-66 win v Tolaga Bay Area School in Game 3.
Giant Chase Heke (26), Keiha Blackman (15), Uawa captain River Hooper (11) and K’el Reedy (10) were all influential for the visitors, from the moment Heke opened the scoring and later Blackman soared to the cup left-side for 14-3. Mokena Ihimaera-Wikotu dropped a nice jumpshot for GBHS 15, TBAS 24 to beat the quartertime buzzer.
Heke’s height and reach forced the U16s to innovate. Ricco Walker’s bounce pass to Cruz Walker for a backdoor lay-up and GBHS 35, Uawa 42 in the second period, was a true example of necessity being the mother of invention.
Pishief, who like Luca Tong of GBHS Gold makes the simple plays without fuss and nice touch, also gave the YMCA audience – who love an out-of-body experience – one such moment when he bounced off Heke, right baseline, in the fourth quarter.
That’s what Game 4 was, a fast-paced 93-76 win to GBHS Black v GBHS Red – the highest scoring game of all three leagues to date.
Neither team had a defensive focus, Black’s six scorers in double figures simply firing shots from more points on the floor than Red.
Shae Abbott-Raggett for Black put up 26, Red titan Kelly Paenga-Rangihuna sank 31 points.
Both older teams played with freedom and skill.