Among the game’s excellent plays were those in which Maxwell found Wi Brown on the run with a no-look pass, and Paea spun wickedly on Leach to score for 20-7. But it was Leach who made the individual play of the night, driving past three defenders from the three-point line to finish with a left-hand lay-up.
Which things pleased Leach most?
“We attacked the basket. And we never stopped playing.”
City Lights 55 Pirates 40Strong stuff — that’s the best way to describe the 55-40 victory by City Lights over defending men’s club champions Pirates. City Lights captain Scott Muncaster led all scorers in the game with 21 points, while teammate Ryan Walters made his strongest start to a Gisborne basketball season in scoring 20 points, a tally which included four three-point shots.
Class forward Rongomai Smith produced 20 points for Pirates, while 14-year-old guard, Corban Paewai (12pts), was impressive.
Muncaster summarised the performance as physical, structured, and tidy: “Everyone was active on defence and Fax (Walters) shot the ball superbly.”
Muncaster reserved special praise for guard Rob Akuhata (4pts), who in the fourth quarter stole the ball from Smith at halfway and broke away to score — the game’s key play.
City Lights led 15-8 at quartertime, 25-19 going into the third period and 41-33 at the business end of proceedings.
Though their scoring numbers were modest, Dom Wilson (6pts) and Croatian strongman Luka Kablar made their presence felt for City Lights. Wilson’s ball-handling and passing under pressure were excellent and Kablar finished expertly beneath the backboard for 25-19.
Turnovers were an issue for Pirates but captain Gary Harding was philosophical: “It’s two-fold — we’re rebuilding and we’re rusty. We’ll be OK but we’re still learning how to play together and develop a structured game.” Corban’s father Darren Paewai, Hutchings, Smith and Harding himself — in terms of experience — take a back seat to nobody, and Pirates this year will be an interesting mix. They have young players but also — in Smith — they have genuine low-post presence.
So, too, do City Lights with Kablar, SE Systems with Sean Pocock and Ray Noble, and Uawa with Reggie Namana and Harley Phillips.
Uawa 40 SE Systems 35They showed steel on debut — Uawa’s hard-fought 41-35 victory over league mainstays SE Systems was a testament to the newcomers’ determination and passion for the game.
Systems in the past five seasons have played with excellent structure yet their court-general Ray Noble committed two uncharacteristic turnovers early on as SES took nearly that entire period to grind into gear.
Uawa were 9-6 up early on but trailed Systems 16-13 before retaking the lead 29-23 at three-quartertime.
Greening (15pts) scored his team’s first three field-goals and captain Adrian Sparks (14pts) had a strong game, making three-point plays on either side of halftime for a team without substitutes. Reg Namana (14pts) made a rare four-point play in the second period while the tall Kernohan is definitely a player to watch . . . he made a scoop shot with one second left to beat the quartertime buzzer and soared to take rebounds throughout. The no-nonsense play around the hoop of Harley Phillips (6pts) complements that.
Uawa’s Wiremu Gray (7pts), Villayne Whakataka and Hoakima Harris-Marino may not yet be big names in club basketball but Harris-Marino’s remarkable finish out of the left corner for 26-21 suggests that they could be.
“It was a good running game and Systems were tough under the basket,” said Uawa captain Trey Crawford, who missed the game with a back injury. We had to make life harder for them by bumping the cutters in their half-court offence and running the floor — Rik (Kernohan) and Wiremu (Gray) do that well.”
Sparks said Uawa could not be taken lightly: “They’re athletic and they’re getting better. We kept things close and I’d also just like to say well-refereed to Cliff Blumfield and Shay Waikawa; they did a good job.”
East Coast 40 GBHS 22Brandon Paul led East Coast to a 40-22 win against Gisborne Boys’ High School with a solid 13-point performance.
“It was a sloppy game,” Paul said. “We were rushed at times, where we needed to control the tempo. Offensively, we finished well.”
It was a frustrating game for Boys’ High, who have key players — captain Ryan Nepe, Freemin Te Whare, Joe Te Maipi and Connor Mitchell — back from last year’s gutsy showing at the Super 8 tournament in Hastings.
Mitchell’s tough, committed effort was the stand-out feature of the GBHS showing on the night, as he challenged shots and forced the Coast shooters to take second and even third attempts to score while rebounding well at both ends.
The Paul-led team led 8-4, 24-12 and 34-18 against a talented unit that just couldn’t get shots to drop.
Herewaka Katipa marked his return to Boys’ High from school in Hamilton with a 10-point game despite having to carry an injured left leg from the first quarter on. That didn’t stop him driving at Drae Calles for 8-8.
Referee Rongomai Smith made perhaps the best call of the night, a blocking foul against the Coast’s Sam Manuel for the driving Katipa, three and a half minutes into the second period.
Te Maipi showed great touch in taking the East Coast captain to the left baseline to close the first-half scoring but the Coast’s new big man, Axel Campbell, also showed that he can score — with a 10-point-game — and contribute at both ends of the court. He has nice shooting touch.
“The boys played hard,” Nepe said. “Connor had a blinder and Conrad Kutia was good value too. They played with intensity and were willing to dive for the loose ball. That’s the attitude we need, and we’re looking forward to being competitive.”
