EYES ON THE PRIZE: Jasper Wills of the Rising Suns goes for the basket against the Tauranga City Mariners at the YMCA last month. The Suns lost to Tauranga 124-42 in the Bay of Plenty yesterday. Picture by Paul Rickard
It’s done. The Turanga Health Rising Suns have finished their 2015 SAS Sports Conference Basketball League season in Round 7.
They lost 130-62 to the Waikato Pistons and 83-70 to St John’s College in Hamilton on Saturday, and 124-42 to the Tauranga City Mariners in Tauranga yesterday.
There was effort and pride in the GBA shirt but no fireworks to match those lit in last year’s 98-92 semifinal loss as the Suns again bowed out to the Tauranga City Mariners — the defending champions — at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre.
The Mariners beat the Suns 124-51 in Gisborne on July 26. This time around it was the hugely talented Ashton McQueen — as teammate Matt Fullerton had done at the YMCA in Round 4 — who led all scorers with 33 points.
Seventeen-year-old Carl Clark and veteran Jonny Dishroon both scored 17 points, Fullerton and Tauranga captain Eru Wills scored 14, and Stacey Adams and Jack Neale scored 10.
For the Suns, skilful guard Kitione Maile lost nothing by comparison in skills or inventiveness: his 15-point bag contained four three-point shots and a three-point play.
Brandon Paul (7pts) hit a three-pointer early on for the visitors but the loss of 6ft 8in Jasper Wills in the first quarter — he sprained his right ankle contesting an offensive rebound — was a crushing blow to the eight-strong Suns. Their tallest player, he had improved considerably in the last fortnight, playing an all-round role and scoring 12 points in the 87-62 win against Rotorua here the previous Sunday.
The Mariners led 24-14, 51-27 and 88-37 before the 20-year-old McQueen — having already emulated Dishroon’s first period-effort in making a three-point play just before halftime — then struck gold with five outside shots. “There was good ball-movement today: Ashton and Eru were very good,” coach Brett Bezzant said.
“Carl made good decisions, and Rhys Hamilton is one of the best young referees to come out of the area (Tauranga) in a long time: he and Ken Phillips did a good job.”
Wills took a similar line.
“We played a good team game. The young boys in the Suns just have to keep playing all these second-division games,” said the Mariners’ most influential player.
“It’s been a good season for us — now we get ready for the semifinal.”
Yesterday the Pistons, following on from their 130-62 win against the Suns in Game 1 of this weekend’s triple-header for the Dwayne Tamatea-led Gisborne team, took revenge for their 70-73 first-round overtime loss to Hawke’s Bay to upset the second-placed Hawks 107-92 at St Peter’s School, Cambridge. The Hawks lost dynamo Aiden Daly to injury early in the game and so both teams had only five players from that point on.
Eru McCullough led all scorers against the Suns with 37 points, Phil Borota (28pts), forwards Hamish Sheridan (18pts) and Tim Easthope (14pts) and Delroi Heu (12pts) formed a strong supporting cast while the visitors’ Kit Maile (21pts), Jasper Wills (14pts) and Freemin Te Whare (12pts) began one of the most demanding road trips in Suns history in good touch.
Even without strong guard and captain Daniel Green due to family commitments, the Pistons — who had beaten Gisborne 98-51 in Gisborne on July 25 — held sway at St John’s College throughout.
“Kit shot the ball well and veteran Siaki Tui just dug deep, playing more minutes than he ever has before,” Tamatea said.
“We’re a young team in a rebuilding phase. It’s just about player availability, a lack of pre-season games and match-fitness. There are lots of people playing the game back home, so the future is bright.”
Backing up against Waikato St John’s College Marist late on Saturday afternoon was a big ask but the Suns fought hard before losing 80-70.
Seventeen-year-old Fraser High School student Halasiale Maile —younger brother of Suns sharphooter Kit — played the best cameo of the CBL season for 32 points.
His elder brother then spurred on to score 22 points himself with Wills (10pts) making a strong start to the game.
But St John’s captain Connor Doherty’s opening shot — for three points — gave his team the ideal start. St John’s 74-59 loss to the Suns in Hamilton last year cast the Gisborne team a lifeline which seven days after that saw them beat the Pistons 76-67 to qualify for the semis. This time, Doherty and co did not let it slip: he scored all 12 of his points in the first period with Ezra Simmons the match-winner. His 36-point haul included six three-pointers.
St John’s coach Bevan Sutton — who, like his opposite, played in the Round 2 clash in Gisborne (St John’s winning that encounter 76-64) — paid tribute to his entire squad, acknowledged a gutsy effort by a hard-working opposition forward and reserved special praise for a young player.
“These guys have come a long way. Your man Siaki played a lot of minutes — never stopped — and our Taylor Hamlin (9pts) was really good today. He brought the ball up the court for us, under pressure at times.”
At the end of round-robin play, the CBL table has the Mariners in first place with 28 points, Hawke’s Bay second on 26, the Pistons on 24 and Rotorua on 18 heading towards the 1 v 4, 2 v 3 semifinals with the higher-placed teams hosting games this weekend.
The St John’s season is over. They finished in fifth spot with two wins for 14 points.
The Suns left the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre in Tauranga yesterday with 12 points.