Lay-up: Psalm Patea-Taylor, of Green Up, goes for the basket with Carew Fearnley, of Gisborne Boys’ High School, applying pressure to the shot. Green Up lost an entertaining game against City Lights this week.Picture by Paul Rickard
It was good old-fashioned Gisborne basketball.
Before and since Poverty Bay’s win against New Zealand Army in the third division tournament final of 1978 here, the YMCA has seen many a fierce contest.
SE Systems v Dialektric, Game 1 in A Grade competition on Tuesday night, was a clash in that tradition. Club stalwarts Systems beat the new team 56-25 but SES captain Adrian Sparks and his outfit earned victory the time-honoured way, substituting sweaty put-backs for fancy dribbles.
“That was darn good basketball,” Sparks said.
“I was amazed by Thomas Tindale’s and Rongomai Smith’s work under the hoop, and Harley Phillips’s offensive rebounding. We owe Reg Namana a lot for his guidance from courtside during such a tough game.”
Smith (18 points) and Phillips (11pts) were made to work hard by the smaller Dialektric crew, the majority of whom are new to organised basketball.
Systems led 18-4, 29-17 and 45-19 at the quarters, with Smith’s shooting range and his teammate Will Hocquard’s court-vision to the fore early on; Hocquard has quickness, plus the ability to give a great bounce-pass.
Christy and company excelled on either side of halftime. He and Israel Kerisome (7pts) hit jump shots from eight to 10 feet. The Minties moment came in the form of Dialektric guard Gerry Kora driving on Tindale (a play reminiscent of DOC’s Jamie Quirk against John Davies at social ball in 2001) yet SES, under Namana’s watchful eye, kept their composure.
Dialektric’s Robert Akuhata-Christy said: “We’d played pick-up ball at weekends for the last five or so years, just for fun, but now we like this league.”
City Lights and Green Up are great to watch.
Both are proponents of wide-open basketball and in Week 4, City Lights took the honours 57-48. While not a come-hell-or-high-water blow-out boilover of the SES-Dialektric type, CL made a strong impression early with memorable plays, such as Tom Kepa’s feed into Lights teammate Joseph Te Maari low-left for 4-0 and CL captain Scott Muncaster’s around-the-back dribble-drive past Psalm Patea-Taylor to score at the eight-minute mark.
Then there was Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown (a ball-handler in the Dom Wilson-mould, like the Filthy Dozen’s Wilson, a natural guard/scorer) and his 22-point game. His productivity lay at the heart of the Green Up match-effort. They were ahead of the defending champions, 14-13, at the end of the first period and 27-25 in front at halftime.
City Lights took a 39-36 lead into the fourth quarter. Muncaster hit five mid-range jump shots but only one perimeter shot for CL, while his teammate and centre Ryan Walters hit three three-point shots (treys) and made the defensive play of the game 2.3 seconds before halftime, pinning Tuwairua-Brown’s lay-up attempt to the backboard left side of the court, only for Green Up big man Khian Westrupp to score off the put-back on the other side of the hoop for 27-25.
Walters (10pts) and Carl Riini (14pts) are solid performers and are now seasoned veterans; Aubrey Yates and Pila Lolohea give City Lights additional biceps. The champions will need more from them, should they tangle with Green Up again.
In the B Grade fixture at the YMCA, Campion College beat the Backcourt Violators 44-21 and showed significant athletic ability in the process.
Jovan Potter (14pts), Fletcher Miller (8pts) and Eli Swann (6pts) attacked the basket. Their development over the next three years or so will be interesting. Although the college have lost a ball-handler in Orlando Pedraza, they have new-found height; against the Violators, it was sufficient to put them in charge 12-3, 25-7 and 31-15.
For the Violators, Monty Kora topped up with nine points and as experienced a player as Jackson Leach had to work hard to stay with Swann defensively. Swann made a superb move to score over Leach — curling from right to left — to end the first period.
The aforementioned A Graders Walters and Riini may be club ball veterans, but they are as yet saplings compared with B Grade Old Surfers’ Keith Twiddy. Although the former Celtic player failed to score and Gizzy Gilas beat the Surfers 45-35 at the John McFarlane Memorial Sports Centre, Zorik Peneha (12pts) and Jerome Tamatea (9pts) were good value against the Jack-in-the-Box Gilas.
An in-form Orlando Pedraza led the Gizzy Gilas’ scorers with 18 points in Game 1 at the Sports Centre, only for elder brother Carlos to put up 30 in Big Baller Brand’s 58-49 win against Gisborne Boys’ High School B an hour later.
Equally astounding is the fact that 15-year-old guard Paku Wilson matched Carlos’s effort with 30 for the Bs, his haul including four three-pointers.
Pedraza the Elder is a fearless guard as capable of dropping a three-pointer as he is of finishing the break but, on this performance, someone fairly sharp had better keep close tabs on Wilson. He and Carlos Pedraza led the entire Gisborne Basketball Association in Week 4.
Also rattling up big B Grade numbers on Tuesday were GBHS Juniors’ Dominique Wilson (24pts) and Te Uenuku Patea-Taylor (16pts) in their 76-52 victory over Lytton High School, Caleb Poole (17pts) being Lytton’s leading points-scorer.
The Massive Marauders beat the Bumbles 98-31 in what was the highest score of the B Grade to date. The late game is often a thriller or a fizzer but less often a blow-out: Kahn Grayson (25), Stefan Pishief (19), Adam Harford (18), Shane Luke (15) and Paul Graham (12) gave the Marauders five scorers in double figures — a rarity in either B or A Grade. Genesis Tamatea-Bartlett carried his team’s offence with 22 points: the Marauders led from start to finish: 15-5, 47-14 and 72-20.
SE Systems 56 (Rongomai Smith 18, Harley Phillips 11) Dialektric 25 (Robert Akuhata-Christy 8, Israel Kerisome 7) Q1, SES 18-4; Q2, 29-17; Q3, 45-19.
City Lights 57 (Scott Muncaster 21, Carl Riini 14, Ryan Walters 10) Green up 48 (Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown 22) GU Q1, 14-13; Q2, 27-25; CL Q3, 39-36.
B Grade fixture: Campion 44 (Jovan Potter 14, Fletcher Miller 8) Back-court Violators 21 (Monty Kora 9) CC Q1, 12-3; Q2, 25-7; Q3, 31-15.
GBHS Juniors 76 (Dominique Wilson 24, Te Uenuku Patea-Taylor 16) Lytton High School 52 (Caleb Poole 17).
Gizzy Gilas 45 (Bush Pedraza 18) Old Surfers 35 (Zorik Peneha 12, Jerome Tamatea 9).
Big Baller Brand 58 (Carlos Pedraza 30) GBHS B 49 (Paku Wilson 30).
Massive Marauders 98 (Kahn Grayson 25, Stefan Pishief 19, Adam Harford 18, Shane Luke 15, Paul Graham 12) Bumbles 31 (Genesis 22) MM Q1, 15-5; Q2, 47-14; Q3, 72-20.