SHOOTING: Pure Sound’s Dale Hailey goes for the basket as East Coast’s Brandon Paul (left) and Drae Calles apply pressure in club basketball last night. Pure Sound won the game 29-27. Picture by Paul Rickard
And the big two are . . .
Last night defending champions City Lights and plus-sized powerhouse team Old School broke the three-way, top-of-the-table deadlock with the Dragons.
City Lights beat the Dragons 56-38, and Old School defeated gutsy SE Systems 66-30.
Also last night, Pure Sound beat East Coast 29-27, and 9ers beat Lytton High School 43-35 for their first win of the season.
City Lights and Old School are now joint leaders of the Gisborne men’s club basketball league with 15 points. The Dragons have 13 points; Pure Sound have 10; SE Systems, East Coast and Campion College have seven; The 9ers have six, Gisborne Boys’ High School have four; and Lytton High School have three.
Campion play Boys’ High tonight.
Game 1 of Week 6 lived up to expectations as City Lights’ Scott Muncaster (20pts), Carl Riini (14pts) and Dom Wilson (12pts) were magnificent in by far the best game played so far.
Riini hit a long jump shot to open the scoring, Te Angi Te Hau (15pts) responded with the first of his three three-point shots for the Dragons and Dragons big man Jasper Wills made his strongest start of the league to date. He scored three of his six field goals in the first period.
City Lights led 15-9 and 29-24 before pulling away 43-29 by three-quartertime.
“That’s what we were looking for — a real test,” City Lights captain Muncaster said.
“We were able to play with some purpose. Riini hit his first three shots, our defensive rebounding with Ryan Walters . . . we got a lot out of that game.”
Riini played with incredible energy and made the toughest shot of the night to beat the quartertime buzzer with a balancing act down the left baseline, bouncing off Wills and making the fall-away jump shot.
Zade Donner (5pts) gave the first of his three assists to Riini in the second period and hit a three-pointer himself before halftime. He plays the game with great enthusiasm.
Te Ahi Te Hau-Otene (5pts) was solid for the Dragons close to the basket but, for the first time in 2017, City Lights played with real urgency. Their ball-movement was crisp and their victory rested on that control of the tempo.
“The pace of the game varied,” Dragons captain Keenan Ruru-Poharama said.
It was a physical game — fitness played a part.
“Jasper was good and he’s getting better.”
He was the best young player at the YMCA last night.
SES guard Daley Riri hit a three-pointer over the head of TK Moeke, zipped past former Rising Sun player Gary Harding on the left baseline to score, and featured in the best out-of-bounds play seen in the league to date: Adam Tapsell threw the ball in from the right sideline at midcourt to begin the second half, Riri found his captain, Adrian Sparks, on the fly to the hoop. That closed it to 32-16.
Old School — in front 14-6, 32-14 and 48-20 throughout — had things entirely their own way on the scoreboard but not on the floor. Sparks and company contested shots, scored put-backs off missed shot attempts and every now and then defied the odds with effort-plays.
Rongomai Smith led Old School’s scorers with 24 points. His tally included two three-point plays on either side of quartertime. Like Harding, Smith is an excellent citizen to referee, in the sense that as an experienced player he seeks clarification on certain calls but then returns to the game with purpose. His teammate Thomas Tindale (14pts), a strong low-post player, opened up space for Old School to attack the basket by popping out from the hoop himself, and Harley Phillips (8pts) worked hard on the backboards at both ends.
Sparks (14pts) and Riri (9pts) were Systems’ major threats in Week 6 but Kahn Grayson again showed great skill and courage in the course of scoring twice for Systems.
Sparks said he was pleased with his young team’s efforts and Old School captain Reggie Namana also acknowledged their match-effort.
“We applied full-court pressure-defence for most of the game to force turnovers or force the opposition to take pressure shots,” the Rising Suns great said.
“As long as you score more than you give up while applying pressure, it’s a good thing. What really impressed me — and it’s great for basketball — is that SES pressed back.”
It was expected to be very close.
Although a higher scoreline was expected, Pure Sound’s 29-27 win against East Coast was highly competitive and scrappy, with “Pound” titan Dale Hailey’s nine-point contribution worth 20 points on any other night.
The lane was virtually a no-go zone at both ends and six of Hailey’s points were free throws.
Teammate Jimmy Wilson scored eight points that included a three-pointer. A three-point play from the athletic Jason Tuapawa proved enough to get Pure Sound home in a tough contest.
Both teams knew Game 2 was winnable, and they played harder with that in mind.
“It was a good game but we slowed it down and fed the post because of the height advantage that Dale (Hailey) and Stefan (Pishief) gave us,” Pure Sound captain Billy Maxwell said.
“JT (Tuapawa) took some great rebounds, especially at the offensive end. That always helps.”
Pishief (5pts) blocked a Drae Calles lay-up attempt out of court, with the score at 15-11 to the “Pound”, and for the second week in succession made a three-point play, this time at the expense of Coast player-coach Josh Calles at 18-13.
The Coast also made some strong plays, guard Drae Calles finding his captain Brandon Paul on the move right-side to open the scoring for the Coast, and talented guard Jesse Torrey beating a strong one-on-one defender in Pure Sound’s Chad Rose on the left side of the court with a superb crossover dribble.
Drae Calles led the Coast’s scorers with nine points.
Pure Sound led the first two quarters 13-7 and 19-15, and the scores were tied 24-all at three-quartertime.
Maxwell supplied humour five minutes into the fourth period, losing his left shoe and then having to play an entire defensive possession holding it.
“We got good looks at the rim but our shots just didn’t fall,” said Paul (7pts).
“Our team defence was solid but Dale and Stefan are big guys. It really takes a lot of energy to stop them.”
Where there’s one, there could well be more.
The 9ers claimed their first club basketball scalp when they beat Lytton 43-35 in Game 4.
Their point-guard, Hoera Mohi, top-scored with 17 points. His quickness and unorthodoxy were features of the 9ers’ win, as was a superb showing by Lytton stand-in captain Louie Rangihuna (13pts).
Rangihuna came to life in the fourth period, scoring nine points and hitting a classic three-pointer reminiscent of his father, former Lytton sharpshooter Koroua “Ducks” Rangihuna.
“That was fun,” 9ers captain Marquand Samuels said.
“We always believed we were going to get a win. Hoera was outstanding — he just never stops hustling.”
Mohi was irrepressible from the outset, beating Rangihuna with a crossover dribble down the left sideline to score the first field goal of the game, and his 9ers teammate Callan Whaitiri-White also played strongly, with five steals and a memorable block on promising Lytton guard Leon Campbell in the third period.
The 9ers led 9-4, 17-14 and 32-22, but Lytton never stopped working, Rangihuna scoring off a put-back for Malachi Tait in the fourth quarter and Kody Walker likewise following up for teammate Bernard Nepe later in the period.
The 9ers were able to play with freedom and showed a tremendous willingness to run, thoroughly deserving their victory, but Lytton played with heart.
“We were better tonight than last week,” Louie Rangihuna said.
“I actually hit some shots myself and to have Tane Wills-Aranga out there running things was really good. To have both Tane and Genesis (Bartlett-Tamatea) back next Monday, that’ll be a great thing for us.”