Plenty of physicality in club competition

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The Raiders won a hugely important game on Tuesday night.

Willie Brown's crew beat Gisborne Basketball Association men's premier grade club titans City Lights 53-52 in Game 3 of Week 1 in Round 2.

The Raiders beat the Scott Muncaster-led CL 69-65 on May 11. This most recent encounter was nowhere near as quick a game as that end-to-end affair on opening night. June 22 was all rugged physicality.

Gisborne Boys' High School under Daley Riri began their season with a 64-40 towelling of new club the Massive Marauders, but on Tuesday night they were beaten 76-59 by Green Up, whose captain Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown never let GBHS make a fourth-quarter run similar to the one Boys' High made in their first meeting with his outfit.

Green Up had been 21 points ahead of GBHS at three-quartertime in what ended as a 73-70 win on May 18. In the rematch, Tuwairua-Brown (22 points) and his teammate Holden Wilson (19pts) were joined at the pointy end by Darius Waititi-Leach. His strong footwork and ability to finish at the rim produced 16 points.

Defending champions SE Systems beat the Marauders 61-42 in Game 3 on Tuesday. The contest was three parts sweat, one part class, one part rough-house.

Multi-talented left-hander Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson took some of the rough edge off Game 2 in scoring 16 points for Adrian Sparks's SES. He is quick and not afraid to take knocks.

It has taken Marauders skipper Adam Harford (14pts) a year or so to get his head around the bump and grind of Gisborne club basketball.

“It can get pretty rough but you see the respect between players, even when it gets aggressive,” he said.

“You can't draw fouls from the defensive player — the offensive player rarely gets the call here — so I've abandoned that aspect of the game and try to protect the ball more.”

Harford's teammate Stefan Pishief has likewise taken time to find his feet but he worked hard for each and every one of his 13 points on Tuesday night. Pishief is a gentleman and plays the game that way.

Systems' Rongomai Smith (14pts) and William Hocquard (12) are just as effective in the half-court set as they are playing wide-open basketball and SES were always one step ahead throughout.