Presence felt on basketball court

ACTION ON COURT: Pure Sound’s Chad Rose tries to go past Lytton’s Raven Leach in local basketball action. Rose was in good form against Campion College last night. Picture by Paul Rickard

THE big man is back — with a vengeance.

Gisborne club basketball 2015 Most Valuable Player Thomas Tindale marked his comeback to the YMCA with a match-winning 13-point turn in Pirates’ 39-36 victory over East Coast last night.

The 6ft 6in Tindale swept past or through two defenders regularly and was only cut off from the basket when the Coast triple-teamed him.

Last night, for the first time in five weeks, Pirates showed the steel that made them champions in 2015.

With only one substitute player at any one time, the Gary Harding-led Pirates trailed the Coast 5-10 at quartertime, 17-22 at halftime and 26-28 at three-quartertime but the feisty Harding — who led all scorers with 17 points — was superb.

He drove to the basket, finishing tough plays, and also hit two three-point shots on either side of halftime.

Brandon Paul’s Coast team adjusted to guarding Tindale as best they could with Paul (8pts) and Drae Calles (13pts) taking the fight to Pirates underneath the basket.

Calles relished the physicality, completing two three-point plays.

Gisborne Boys’ High School, coming off a 12-point win against Pirates, encountered another of the league’s sturdier defensive units in Uawa, the older team taking the honours 54-33.

Uawa’s Harley Phillips was the leading scorer in Game 3 with 20 points, while teammates Reg Namana (10pts) and Trey Crawford (8pts) also played strongly.

A touch of classCrawford, who has been out of basketball with a back injury, showed a touch of class after quartertime with a jump-hook shot five feet from the goal.

Uawa were in front 9-6 at the end of the first quarter but had pulled away 25-12 at halftime before going into the last period 39-22 up.

Boys’ High’s shining lights offensively were guard Herewaka Katipa (15pts) and Tawhiti Rehutai, formerly of Mana College in Porirua, Wellington, who produced eight points and made two lay-ups against Namana early on.

Rehutai is a tall, athletic forward with potential and Boys’ High could well do with him at the upcoming Super 8 tournament in Palmerston North over August 7 to 10.

“I enjoy playing with these guys,” Rehutai, 16, said.

“Everyone’s made me feel welcome — and they’ve got a good sense of humour.”

Pure Sound’s 63-38 win against Campion College was marked by sublime teamwork on one hand, and hilarity on the other.

“Pound” pointguard Billy Maxwell (9pts) found Wi Brown, Siaki Tui and Chad Rose with the slickest assists of Week 5 but the game’s stranger moments saw Campion’s Tana Ward, guarded by Brown, beat that defensive player with a super ball-fake — only to then shoot the ball out of court.

A scrambled passSome time later, Pure Sound’s Jimmy Wilson tumbled down the right sideline, scrambled a pass to Maxwell at midcourt for a tap-on to Siaki Tui, who missed on the finish.

Brown led all scorers last night with 27 points, including a three-point play.

His team were comfortably ahead — 11-8, 25-16 and 49-20 — throughout, despite playing without substitutes against a 12-man Campion line-up.

Campion forward Hunter Jones scored eight points and played with commitment, diving for loose ball and taking a lot of knocks.

His captain, Patrick Murphy — in his first club ball season — hit two open jumpshots.

“We’re gaining in experience for tournament week in Rotorua, in September,” said the 16-year-old Murphy.

“We’re learning how to play against people who are bigger and stronger with greater knowledge of the game.”

City Lights took two competition points for a win by default against Lytton High School.