FULL STEAM AHEAD: Herewaka Katipa of Dragons takes the ball past Gisborne Boys’ High School’s Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown in club basketball at the YMCA last night. Picture by Paul Rickard
They survived . . . Brandon Paul kept the ball out of SE Systems’ reach for six seconds last night and ran the clock down to give his East Coast team their first win, 46-44, in men’s club basketball this season.
“We were pleased with our defence but we were lethargic on offence; we didn’t control the pace of the game,” Paul said.
“The boys can play much better than that but I thought Whetu (Haworth) did well tonight, with high energy, scoring and offensive rebounding.”
Haworth led all scorers in Game 4 of Week 5, with 18 points, while Drae Calles (15pts) hit five three-point shots for a Coast team who matched up well against Systems.
It was a scrappy game, SES leading 10-8 early on before the Coast seized control 27-15 at the break and came out of three-quartertime 34-26 ahead.
SES found a brilliant sixth man in 16-year-old Kahn Grayson (11pts), whose stunning all-round offensive effort compared favourably with that of his uncle Adam Tapsell (4pts) in terms of significance.
Tapsell took a 25-foot jump shot with Systems 46-41 down and 10 seconds left, made that, and drew Systems within striking distance of the Coast before Paul’s gutsy crew broke the pressure-defence to claim three competition points and fourth-equal spot on the 10-team table.
As of last night’s four games, the Dragons and City Lights sit atop the heap on 12 points. Old School — who play the 9ers tonight — have nine points. Pure Sound’s 54-32 victory against Campion College puts them in third position on seven points. Campion, SES and the Coast have six points, Gisborne Boys’ High School have four, and Lytton High School and the 9ers both have two.
Unless the 9ers don’t play this evening, they will take at least one point from the 8.30pm clash with Reggie Namana’s Old School to bypass Lytton in the rankings.
The Dragons beat Gisborne Boys’ High School 51-43 in and City Lights became the first team in 2017 to bring up three figures with their 102-35 win against Lytton High School. The 67-point margin is also the largest to date.
The gritty Coast/Systems clash contained some excellent plays: Systems’ Adrian Sparks spun right-side to score in the first period, his teammate Anton Riri held the Coast’s Drae Calles at bay 10 feet from the hoop before hooking a great assist to Grayson under the basket in the second quarter and Riri later finding Sparks on the run, the captain making a reverse lay-up.
Jackson Leach (11pts) played a crucial part in getting Systems close with his willingness to take the ball to the hoop. He forced the Coast’s fifth team foul in the fourth period.
“We had our chances,” Sparks said.
“Young Kahn (Grayson) was the best of us. It was a tough game — we were only one shot away.”
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It took a rocket, but they got the message.
Gisborne Boys’ High School coach Dwayne Tamatea’s call to arms during the first quarter of Game 1 yesterday left his team in no doubt that they had to lift. They trailed the Dragons 18-3 during the period and had lacked energy. Having received new orders, they became a different team and picked up the pace to go into quartertime 20-11 down.
At half-time, the Dragons advantage was 31-20 which, going into the fourth period, had been slashed to five points (38-33). It was the biggest turnaround in terms of attitude and form on the floor that the league has seen so far.
“We’re athletic; we’ve got to run, we’ve got to trap and go,” Tamatea said.
“The boys just have to understand the concept of a team game in that you can run the floor, move on offence for other people and not necessarily score or even touch the ball at times, and you’re playing team basketball.
“Get back on defence, play hard defence.”
The former Rising Suns point guard put some of the in-game lift down to improved decision-making — a work in progress. Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown (15pts), Psalm Taylor (12pts) and captain Joseph Te Maari (8pts) were Boys’ High’s leading scorers, while Jasper Wills (11pts), Herewaka Katipa (9pts), Te Ahi Te Hau-Otere (8pts), Levi Hohipa-Henry (8pts) all benefited from the Dragons’ improved structure.
Old head Ray Noble had a strong influence on their play from the sideline while their captain, Keenan Ruru-Poharama, provided strong on-court leadership.
“We got our inside men — Jasper and Te Ahi — working tonight,” Ruru-Poharama said.
“In the last quarter, we were fatigued but still able to break their press (defence).”
Te Hau-Otere was superb, his strong play and soft shooting touch close to the basket was a feature of the Dragons’ effort. He and Taylor for Boys’ High both took the ball to the ring skilfully. Taylor’s footwork was excellent — and he made a three-point play at Te Hau-Otere’s expense to close his team’s scoring.
But the quickness of the GBHS guards, Tuwairua-Brown and Holden Wilson, was striking. They regularly beat experienced defenders off the dribble and though Boys’ High missed Sam Veitch’s height last night, this team must play up-tempo if they are to push the league’s big men.
That Ruru-Poharama, a powerful guard, was able to reverse-pivot and spin back to score 15 feet from the hoop for 51-40 with 40 seconds to play speaks to his stamina and skill.
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Pure Sound loved that.
“That was the highlight of the season for us — a real fathers and sons win,” said “Pound” captain Billy Maxwell of the 54-32 win against Campion.
“Just that other guys on the team gave up some of their playing minutes, to get these guys out there, that was special.”
Big man Dale Hailey led the way for his team with 23 points, enabling his team to give the club’s next generation valuable time on the floor. His captain made the play of Week 5, one minute, 41 seconds out from fulltime, leaping to give a blind tap-pass over his right shoulder, 12-year-old Wiremu Maxwell latching on to the ball. His shot dropped from just under the right corner of the backboard for 54-32.
Just before that, Pure Sound’s Stefan Pishief — in his strongest showing of the league to date — had made a three-point play, the foul on Konnor Gibson having been called by trail official Adrian Sparks.
Pure Sound controlled the game 19-8, 30-15 and 46-26 but, as anticipated, Campion guard Orlando Pedraza’s quickness did keep the older team on their toes — even if Maxwell senior and Chad Rose did combine to strip him of the ball in the first period.
Pedraza’s teammates Ollie Simpson (7pts) and Fraser Robb (5pts) were also willing and Tana Ward (5pts) continues to show, in only his second season at club level, that he can beat his man off the dribble and finish difficult plays.
Campion coach Shane McClutchie said: “I was just happy that we could back up after a big weekend in Hawke’s Bay. We played well, we moved the ball, we played good clean defence. I’ve got to give credit to Tahran Ward: he stuck with Dale (Hailey). He’s the last big man of his generation still playing, and that was a tougher game than the score suggests.”
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It was a tough game to play.
Lytton High School’s raw talent and the league’s now first-equal powerhouse City Lights panned out as was expected, with CL captain Scott Muncaster (35pts), Carl Riini (21pts), Zade Donner (20pts) and Ryan Walters (17pts) all running up double-figures for the defending champions.
Riini, Muncaster and Walters all hit three-pointers as City Lights dominated events 29-15, 51-20, 76-26 throughout, Donner and Walters both scoring off spectacular put-backs in support of Muncaster, who made only one long jump-shot in Week 5.
“It worked out the way we thought,” the CL captain said.
“For us, the best player out there was Zade. He ran the floor, he finished the break.”
Donner revelled in the freedom of the open court, latching on to magnificent outlet passes from Riini and Walters in the first half.
Raven Leach (8pts), Ben Greaves (8pts), Louie Rangihuna (7pts) and Korey Ahu (6pts) all showed promise, Leach hitting two three-pointers and captain Rangihuna hitting one jump shot from 20 feet back.
“I was proud to captain Lytton — it’s an honour,” said Rangihuna, deputising for the absent Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea.
“Raven was our player of the day — his passing was good, he shot the ball really well.”
The Lytton boys’ heads never dropped: Donner stole the ball from Leach and sent the ball downcourt to Riini for 70-26, with Riini supplying both great athleticism as well as slapstick in Game 2. He finished the fast-break effortlessly but also blew an attempted dunk-shot six and a half minutes into the third period.
Jack Whaitiri played a strong second half for Lytton, driving to the hoop and though the school team missed both their regular captain and a good ball-handler in Tane Wills-Aranga, they showed a high skill factor in the guards.
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In terms of experience, Old School and 9ers are poles apart. They meet at 8.30pm tonight.
Old School, well-led by Rising Suns legend Reggie Namana, have at least four other low-post options in Thomas Tindale, Rongomai Smith, Harley Phillips and TK Moeke.
Moeke and Phillips both finish the break more often than Smith, who with Namana shares responsibility for carrying the ball, while Tindale’s strength lies close to the basket.
Old School are, physically, far and away the biggest outfit in the league, and they use that size advantage to the full. They see space, they occupy it; they make their easy shots.
Tindale is coming off a 23-point game against Campion — the biggest of the school line-ups — although the 9ers have, in Tamanui Hill, a man who can more than hold his own with most in terms of sheer physicality. The league has four men 6ft 6in and above playing club ball this year, but his left-handedness is another factor, with Old School being a good passing team as well.
Namana proved twice last week that he has lost none of his potency from the perimeter, hitting two long jump shots, and the captain has thought hard about Old School’s focus going into Game 5.
“We want to work on our transition defence, as well as our zone and man-to-man offence.”
Though the 8.30pm or “late” game can make it difficult for players — in particular, players based on the East Coast — to get to the YMCA, Old School would be well-served by Rikki Kerhohan if he’s available. His 14-point haul in Week 4 featured a raft of athletic plays. He is tall, strong, can leap and has the hands of a point-guard; Phillips is a robust presence capable of making shots in traffic.
Opposing them, Marquand Samuels’ 9ers have learned a lot in the past fortnight by watching the best club teams on court.
“For us, a lot of it is a confidence-building exercise,” Samuels said.
“What really struck us was the better teams’ defence — especially their zone defence. We want something like that and we want to score.”