“The grand final is where you want to be at the end of the year: one game to go,” said Muncaster, whose team won back-to-back titles in 2016 and ’17.
“What happened during the regular season doesn’t matter. We know what we can do and the next game is the only one that matters.
“I love it. There’s nothing better.”
With the red-hot form of the white-hot favourite to be the MVP (most valuable player) of the men’s premier league — Raiders guard Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson — his skipper Willie Brown has been able to pick moments in which to inject himself.
Last Tuesday, Brown siphoned off 17 points and Ngarangione-Pearson hit 43 in the Raiders’ 97-38 win against the Coastieez.
“This Saturday will be good for our boys; they’re amped up, having had a great year,” Brown said.
“Ethan’s one of the best players in the league. We’re lucky to have him.”
Ngarangione-Pearson, the best young referee in the history of Gisborne Basketball, ranks with Rangi Kowhai, Leityn Swann, Rikki-Lee Crawford, Hosea Gear, Jared Le Geyt, Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown and Sebastian Wilson as one of the best young players to hoop here in the past quarter of a century.
Ngarangione-Pearson and Brown with the outside jumpshot, Ngarangione-Pearson and Luka Russell in the open court, and veterans such as David Glendenning and Jackson Leach can together win the big one. Enough scoring is to be had within a wider stable that includes Chad Rose and Jason Tuapawa to make a difference if things get tight.
But both Raiders’ older and younger elements will fare better if they bite their bottom lip and refrain from whinging about foul-calls. In the local club leagues, players who constantly whine tend to be ignored.
Big Nelson Brown’s moment on the boards has arrived, and while for many of the more mature players time to train and even play becomes a factor, the Raiders can always turn to Jimmy Wilson.
It was he who, with 0.34 seconds to play in the 2011 grand final for Purp and Yellow against Ray Noble’s Blades, hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that even now sounds too good to be true. He caught the inbound pass, dribbled twice, hit that 25-footer and made history.
The leading lights of City Lights have slowed down a touch but their court vision and reading of the game are top-notch, as are their mechanics in the half-court set. In Week 2, Ryan Walters scored 30 points in Lights’ 89-43 win. He, Carl Riini, Zade Donner and Rongomai Smith regularly score in double-figures, and Smith in the right mood is devastating.
Smith rolled his right ankle last Tuesday, but he, Rising Suns great Reg Namana and the imposing Adam Nepe will be a handful. They give City Lights an edge in size in what they can make a brutal battle under the basket, if need be.
Can Matt Tong’s Setting Suns work their magic again?
Last season, the Suns beat Siaki Tui’s Raiders B team by one point in their first meeting and 45-27 in the 2022 final. A fortnight ago, the Rizzlies beat the defending champions of the men’s open grade 47-43 — a timely result, for the Jorje Tofilau-led Rizzlies.
“The boys and I have been working hard all season: to make the final is to move one step closer to achieving our goal,” former Gisborne Boys’ High School livewire Tofilau said.
“You need a certain mentality to win — you’ve got to want it.”
Tofilau’s Rizzlies began their season with a 66-40 win against Ūawa on August 4, tied 59-all with the Paikea Whalers in Week 2 and held the monsters of Ūawa AMP at bay 60-54 seven days later. They crunched the Gizzy Gilas 82-49 last Friday night and go into tomorrow night’s final unbeaten.
James Aston put up 17 points and Niue representative Israel Kerisome 16 against Horouta on September 1 on one of that pair’s most productive nights. The fact that Kerisome will miss tomorrow night’s final (he is in Auckland, preparing to play in a Polynesian tournament) is wince-inducing for Rizzlies. They must keep calm and carry the battle to the Suns.
Or, their feisty forward Wayne Bartram can get steam up on can’t-slow-down-or-stop missions end to end.
Mike King, who scored 16 in the Setting Suns’ 59-50 loss to Ūawa AMP in Week 7, proved in that showing that he can shore up against strong opposition. The 2022 champions are banking on his strength and athleticism to once more pay dividends on local basketball’s biggest night.
Matt Tong said: “We’re looking forward to the final because it’s been a great season, with some epic games and solid on-court banter.
“The whole level of competition is higher this year and in the end we sneaked into second place by the skin of our teeth (a points differential of plus-one over Ūawa) and two other teams with the same win-loss record. We’re stoked to have a shot to defend the title and get stuck in against the Rizzlies.”
It is the biggest clash in the history of the women’s game here: all-conquering Horouta versus defending champions Ngāti Porou.
Horouta beat the champs 35-29 in Game 2, Week 2, on August 7, and they have the weapons and hard-nosed veterans to get them over the line when it most matters.
First among their tough numbers is veteran Horouta captain Shinae Terekia, who learned and plied her trade while at Gisborne Girls’ High School under former Taranaki Bears and Rising Suns strongman Ray Noble.
Under him, Terekia learned how to run an offence and pick apart opposition defences — an invaluable skill, one that the Waka will need to lean on heavily, if not rise or fall by.
“We missed out on making the final last year because we lost 38-32 to Ngāti Porou in the 1 v 4 semi,” Terekia said.
“This year we have a good spread of talent and experience — we can’t wait to get on the floor.
“Experience is vital to a successful team: we’ll look to our vets to guide us, and to our youngsters to bring intensity and push the ball up the court.”
Terekia (13pts), Courtney Stubbins (13) and O’Shae Rangihaeata (17) were superb in The Waka’s last outing against the Non-ballers but aside from scoring in double-figures, their entire cast is solid.
The Gisborne Basketball Association is going all-out to run the three biggest games of the year in an ultra-professional manner.
Raiders sharpshooter Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson will serve as referee crew chief for the men’s open grade final, alongside GBA life member Clifton Blumfield and Gisborne Boys’ High School Year 13 student Will Collier. The crew chief for the women’s final — Donna Nepia — is, like Blumfield, a former National Basketball League official. She, one-time GBA president Adrian Sparks and Brendan Walsh will hold sway before Felix Sparks — at 16 the youngest finals crew chief in GBA history – Blumfield and Nepia take charge of the grand final.
GRAND FINAL TEAMS
4pm, men’s open grade —
Rizzlies: Jorje Tofilau (captain), Tamati Horua, Wayne Bartram, Allan Craig, Bear Huriwai, Ryland Bright, Izaiah Kerisome, Allan Craig, Markos Ingham.
The Setting Suns: Matt Tong (c), Ollie Tong, Quentin Solomon, Xavier Solomon, Mike King, Panapa Ehau, Tawhiti Rehutai, Kevin Pewhairangi, Brad Ross, Arana Kuru, James Alder.
5.30pm, women —
Horouta: Shinae Terekia-Peachey (c), Paare Ahuriri-Leach, Ngarita Ehau-Taumanu, Kennedy Sarich, Courtney Stubbins, Kelly Wood, Jasmine Sparks, Alyse Stewart.
Ngāti Porou: Bronya McMenamin (c), Atareta Mangu, Tiara Weir, Miriata Callaghan, Renee Stewart, Kawaiwhakaheke Winiata, Maia Rickard, Shay Waikawa, Chiarn Waikawa.
7pm, men’s premier grade —
Raiders: Willie Brown (c), Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson, Luka Russell, Darius Waititi-Leach, Nelson Brown, Jackson Leach, David Glendenning, Chad Rose, Jason Tuapawa, Te Haeora Kerekere-Puke, Wi Brown, Jimmy Wilson. Coach: Siaki Tui.
City Lights: Scott Muncaster (c), Ryan Walters, Zade Donner, Carl Rinii, Rongomai Smith, Reg Namana, Scott Walters, Adam Nepe.
