Teams go bump in the night at YMCA

TOP SCORER: Gisborne Boys’ High School’s Holden Wilson led all scorers with 20 points in a game against Old School at the YMCA last night. Old School won 54-46. Picture by Paul Rickard

The strangest things happened in men’s club basketball at the YMCA last night.

It was thought that Campion College would outsize Lytton High School in the Week 8 opener, Old School were expected by many to give Gisborne Boys’ High School a 20-point towelling and SE Systems, try as they might, would not be able to live with Auto Go Pure Sound in the late game . . . but none of that happened.

Lytton High School followed their captain Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea’s athletic lead to beat Campion 36-30, Gisborne Boys’ High School redefined courage against enormous odds to get within eight points of the competition co-leaders 54-46, and Systems produced the second upset of the night. Only Game 3 went to script, with City Lights beating East Coast 65-42.

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SE Systems have turned their 2017 campaign around and now have a realistic chance of making the semifinals in September. They’ve won two games in a row and have three wins this season.

Veteran Jackson Leach jump-started Systems’ match-effort against Pure Sound, hitting the first three-point shot of Week 8 from the left wing, and he scored five of his seven first half-points before quartertime.

Kahn Grayson (15pts), Will Locquard (13pts) and Daley Riri (8pts) all provided real punch on offence.

SES cut a 16-9 deficit to 24-22 by halftime and took a 32-30 lead into the fourth period on the first of Anton Riri’s three-pointers.

His second long jumpshot — for 50-40 — was the straw that broke the Pound’s back.

Systems’ ability to contain the likes of Jason Tuapawa (8pts), Willie Brown (7pts) and Dale Hailey (7pts) goes to the heart of their win. New blood has given them more scoring capacity, greater athleticism and at least two substitute players where on occasion in recent years, they’ve had to play without subs.

“Pure Sound are one of the most solid teams in the league — we’re stoked,” Systems captain Adrian Sparks said.

“Our pressure-defence worked a treat, Kahn and Daley scored for us — they can also finish the fast-break — and Will’s an asset under the hoop.”

While disappointed with the result, Auto Go Pure Sound captain Billy Maxwell was impressed by the strong play of Rusty Rewi in only his second game.

Rewi is a tough forward with good shooting touch around the rim, similar in many respects to Old School powerhouse Harley Philips.

The Pound made some excellent plays, Chad Rose completing a three-point play in the second period and beating Adam Tapsell down the left baseline and swinging under the basket to score in the third quarter.

Not since Campion’s Damian Tilley and Carlos Pedraza turned out for Systems at club level have SES had the ability to stick with Pure Sound in the open court.

This was one of the rare occasions in the past 20 years of clashes between the two that Sparks’s men have actually set the tempo.

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Injury kept Harley Phillips off the floor last night and Old School won Game 2 the hard way.

Rongomai Smith (17pts) and Rikki Kernohan (16pts) pulled them through in terms of scoring against a Boys’ High team who consistently put the league’s biggest team under the hammer at both ends of the court.

In the past 20 years, no school team had returned from a tournament as tough as the one Boys’ High contested last week and played as well against the league’s very best.

Far more often, college teams have come back from those trips, played “flat” and been thrashed by 40 points.

Old School captain Reg Namana said his side didn’t play their brand of basketball last night, because they couldn’t.

“Our style of ’ball is to rebound and off we go, but they pressured us,” he said.

“And when we turned the ball over, they ran at us.”

Old School were ahead 12-8, 19-15, 37-31 throughout but Boys’ High School’s Holden Wilson led all scorers with 20 points and teammate Tyrese Tuwairua-Brown (15pts) also shone.

Both Wilson and Tuwairua-Brown made three-point plays, Wilson hit three three-pointers and Tuwairua-Brown hit two shots from the perimeter.

Boys’ High forwards Sam Veitch and Tawhiti Rehutai made a strong start to the game. Both had to cope with big Thomas Tindale at close quarters, Veitch challenging his shot and also giving an assist to Rehutai on a backdoor play left-side of the court for 18-12.

Rehutai’s next play drew a Rising Suns home crowd roar. With 6ft 6in Tindale in pursuit, he cut to the right away from the hoop and made the reverse lay-up a full stride past the backboard. It was incredible.

Old School’s Kernohan hustles hard, and Smith’s ability to find him on the run was evident last night. But even Kernohan’s outstretched arm couldn’t stop Tuwairua-Brown from hitting his jump-shot in the right corner for 25-24.

The greatest upset in club ball history was on the cards when Wilson sank his last three-pointer for 49-46 before Old School got the ball inside to Tindale, who scored twice to extricate the veterans.

“That was a great effort against those monsters,” Boys’ High coach Dwayne Tamatea said.

“We played smart, shot the ball well, muscled up down low. We showed character. We showed up.”

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The Lytton High School boys can now hold their heads up.

August 29, 2016, was a dark day: Lytton were knocked out of last year’s competition by Campion College 37-34 in a winless season, and were the first of nine clubs to be eliminated.

Patrick Murphy’s team were the first from Campion ever to knock Lytton out of the league.

But last night, to a man, Lytton played with total commitment and their 36-30 win is proof that this generation wears that shirt with the same pride that Tim Beattie, Leityn Swann and Ethan Lankshear did.

“It was a must-win situation for us,” Lytton captain Genesis Bartlett-Tamatea said.

“Jack (Whaitiri) and Tane (Wills-Aranga) rebounded well, we all hustled. We played a faster and smarter game.”

The quartertime score was 8-8. Lytton led 16-14 at halftime and Campion led 24-19 going into the fourth period.

Bartlett-Tamatea led all scorers with 11 points. His nine points in the fourth quarter included a three-point play. His was a match-winning performance.

Wills-Aranga (9pts) and Whaitiri (8pts) gave him more than scoring support. Whaitiri played hard defence with a passion, not allowing Campion to dominate the backboards.

Brothers Tahran and Tana Ward both scored seven points, with Tahran and Nelson Brown inside giving Campion the height advantage, but it was torrid stuff. Lytton contested every shot.

Brown has taken the ball to the basket more in the past fortnight, and did so successfully in the first period.

But while Campion made some good individual plays — such as Tana Ward’s three-pointer for 19-all four minutes into the third quarter — Lytton played with real desperation last night.

As the competition nears its gritty conclusion, so the chances of a win for those teams in the league’s bottom five diminish.

Campion captain Patrick Murphy acknowledged Lytton’s effort, adding: “We were steady, we tried — but yes, it could have gone better.”

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Scott Muncaster and company had a point to prove — point taken.

Muncaster’s City Lights, who drew 53-all with Old School last Monday night, missed Luka Kablar for the Week 8 clash with East Coast but did have Pila Lolohea and Carl Riini back on deck for the win.

“Carl’s shoulder is still not 100 percent but he played well,” said Muncaster, who made his feelings about last week apparent with a 28-point game against the Coast.

“We started off slowly. The third period was better for us — it was quicker — and we played better defence.”

Zade Donner (14pts) and Dom Wilson (12pts) were also in good form for City Lights, Wilson hitting four three-pointers and Donner making a three-point play in the third quarter.

Yet it was Ryan Walters who made the classic play of Week 8 for the last basket of the evening with 23 seconds left, for 65-42.

On the right side of the court at the knuckle, he glanced up at the backboard, stepped by Whetu Haworth off the head-fake and finished with a finger-roll. The skill lies in the simplicity.

City Lights held the advantage 15-13, 25-20 and 51-32 through the quarters.

Despite their best efforts, Drae Calles (16pts) and Haworth (14pts) couldn’t swing the game the Coast’s way.

East Coast captain Brandon Paul said: “We had to run in that game. Drae hit some shots and Ezra (Paul) played good defence. For us, it’s still early days.”