KEEN CONTEST: East Coast’s Sam Manuel takes the ball past Old School’s Kered Grant in Gisborne club basketball. East Coast and Old School meet again in the competition semifinals at the YMCA tonight. Picture by Paul Rickard
THE Gisborne men’s club basketball semifinals have arrived.
At 7.30pm tonight, competition leaders Old School face fourth-placed East Coast, and at 8.30pm defending champions City Lights play team No.3 the Dragons.
Lytton High School go toe to toe with Campion College at 5.30pm, Gisborne Boys’ High School and Auto Go Pure Sound take the floor at 6.30pm.
Tomorrow, SE Systems meet the 9ers at 5.30pm tomorrow and, in women’s basketball, Paikea play a combined secondary school girls’ team at 6.30pm, and 2014-to-2016 champions Ngati Porou play Hearty at 7.30pm.
~
Bar the 53-all Week 7 draw between Old School and City Lights, the closest any team have come to beating Old School was the Coast’s 40-37 loss to them in Week 3.
After 10 weeks, both Old School and City Lights remain undefeated and despite their remarkable showing two months ago, the Coast go into their semifinal with Old School as underdogs.
“For us, it’s the same game plan,” Coast captain Brandon Paul said.
“We’ll just go out and play.”
Go out and play means run and gun on offence and break the game wide open.
To unsettle Old School, the younger Coast team will have to break pressure-defence of the most fearsome kind.
Reg Namana, Rongomai Smith, Thomas Tindale, Rikki Kernohan, TK Moeke, Harley Phillips, Hayden Pardoe, Gary Harding and Harley Phillips are all big men.
Jordan John and Kered Grant have turned out for Old School in 2017, and they are the only players of normal guard-size to have taken the floor for them. Every player listed from Namana to Harding is 6ft 3in or taller. Tindale is 6ft 6in.
Namana intends to squeeze East Coast with pressure-defence. He knows that only a very good ball-handler or team structure can cross halfway in eight seconds through a network with Old School’s height and reach.
Paul and Drae Calles have to make what outside shots they take tonight. Their teammates Sam Manuel and Jesse Torrey must turn breakaway opportunities into lay-ups.
In the Week 3 clash, the Coast led 15-13 and 24-22 before Old School went into the fourth period 31-30 ahead. The psychological effect on the Coast of Old School being even one point up at the business end, the Coast having held the advantage throughout, cannot be known.
Smith scored 25 points that night and although Axel Campbell has a back strain and family commitments, the Coast forward said yesterday evening that he would play if required. All hands are required if the Coast is to be competitive.
~
Scott Muncaster is unfazed.
The City Lights captain scored 24 points in the game against Old School and, in Week 6, 20 points against the Dragons. He’s delivered on the score-sheet against the league’s best. He and his team are ready to do the same thing again.
“We expect a closer contest than last time and a lot of it will be down to playing good help-defence on Jasper Wills — force him to take tough shots,” Muncaster said.
“Fax (Ryan Walters) and Luka Kablar did a great job handling him in the round robin, and we’ll have both Dom Wilson and Carl Riini back, too.”
City Lights strongman Walters will miss the semifinal with work commitments in Napier. Kablar’s size and skill will aid in the contest against Wills, who scored 12 points in the Dragons’ 56-38 loss to City Lights.
Wilson can hit jump shots, as he did in Week 8 with four three-pointers to help bury the Coast. When he shoots the ball well, scoring opportunities for the likes of Kablar and Francis Reid increase as the defence is forced to chase outside shooters.
Wills made a strong start in that game, scoring three of his six field goals in the first period, but that will not be enough tonight. The Dragons need him to score consistently throughout and, to be honest, produce at least 20 points because Muncaster, Wilson and Riini all scored in double-figures.
Dragons guard Angi Te Hau’s 15-point effort in Week 6 included three three-point shots and he is prepared — as he showed last Monday — to keep taking good open shots from the perimeter, even if he misses on his first six attempts. That type of self-belief is necessary against a classy unit like City Lights, who have the ability to drop three-pointers from the corners, the wing and head-on.
Keenan Ruru-Poharama, a thoughtful captain, understands the task ahead.
“We’ll play to our strengths inside and contest every shot they put up. We’ll look to rebound. Our focus is on our defence — our offence follows that.”
Te Ahi Te Hau-Otene, like Wills, scored eight points in the Dragons’ loss to Old School last week, Old School winning that game 45-38 on pressure-defence.
City Lights rarely pressure the opposition but their confidence is high and they have excellent scoring ability.
Experienced veterans such as Bronson Te Hau-Hedge and Ray Noble can only help an emerging team like the Dragons so much. Tonight is the night that individuals have to step up, perform and compete hard in the knockout phase for the Dragons to take the next step.
~
They have to win convincingly.
That’s the attitude of Auto Go Pure Sound captain Billy Maxwell going into the game against Gisborne Boys’ High School.
“The plan every week is to give our young guys as many playing minutes as we can but we also need to win this game,” said Maxwell, whose veteran team lost 46-15 to Old School last Monday.
While the “Pound” have been well-served by big man Dale Hailey this season — they missed him in 2016 — even he found it hard to score against Namana and company.
Boys’ High centre Sam Veitch (like Hailey) is 6ft 5in and Tawhiti Rehutai matches up height-wise with Pure Sound springheels Wi Brown.
Brown is lightning quick, ideally suited to shooting guard or small forward, whereas Rehutai is a strong player close to the rim.
Stefan Pishief, at 6ft 7in, was sorely missed last week and, although the cavalry might arrive one week too late, any reinforcement Maxwell’s hard-working crew can get would be appreciated.
Boys’ High proved in their 43-all tie with Pure Sound that they could match a good older team for scoring early on (15-all at the end of the first period), lead that team (23-22 at halftime) and later dominate (36-22 at three-quartertime). But although 14 points should have been enough, Boys’ High couldn’t hang on.
“We want to be consistent; to play like we did last week,” Boys’ High coach Dwayne Tamatea said in reference to their match-effort against City Lights.
“Other than those two playing each other, we’re among the few teams to have really tested City Lights or Old School. Tonight we want to trap, get steals, play up-tempo and attack the basket.”
Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown and Psalm Taylor scored in double-figures last week.
Tuwairua-Brown scored 23 and 15 points heading into that game.
Taylor played his most aggressive basketball of the season last Monday. He is a solid forward with the ability to score against the league’s bigger men. He and Rehutai fought hard to give their young team inside scoring last week.
The Pound are coming off a 31-point loss and want to win well . . . with one complicating factor. They require a buffer if they are going to give their next generation of talent — Jaylen Rose, Silas Brown and Wiremu Maxwell — time on the floor.
~
Pride is the only thing on the line.
The 9ers beat Lytton High School 43-35 in Week 6. That night, point guard Hoera Mohi scored 17 points for the 9ers in a match-winning performance.
Since then, they’ve played with spirit against Pure Sound (63-47 to the Pound) and City Lights (67-44 to the 2016 champions). The 9ers’ big man Williamson Maraki scored 10 points against City Lights and, despite years out of the game, has big potential as a scorer, passer and defensive presence. Teammate Jesse Fleming hit four three-point shots in Week 8 against the Dragons.
Lytton have one win — 36-30 against Campion College in Week 8. Lytton captain Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea scored 11 points to get the monkey off their backs. His athleticism, skill and heart have not faltered in a trying season.
Tane Wills-Aranga and Darius Waititi-Leach have played hard in support, while Louie Rangihuna is, aside from the captain, their best scoring option. He scored 13 points in a tough loss to the 9ers. That evening, Rangihuna would have known the game was winnable.
Yet in the past three weeks, something has happened that could tip the balance in favour of the 9ers: the improvement of Callan Whaitiri-White.
He, like Maraki, is 6ft 4in. A fortnight ago against Boys’ High, he offered the best glimpse yet of his scoring touch around the rim, and ability to make the opposition miss shots or at least have to adjust on release. If he and Maraki decide to not just block Lytton’s path to the hoop, but to step out and actively look to stop shots being put up, then life could become harder for the school team.
Ben Greaves, a good strong forward, has been prepared to take the ball to the basket for Lytton. Bartlett-Tamatea drives to the goal strongly. Lytton will need to find more than one way to score, with Mohi, Fleming and either of the big men now having more of a sense of what they can do.
Marquand Samuels, 9ers captain, said: “It would be nice to get another win but whatever happens, playing in this league has been a great experience.”