Rotorua's Wesley Hunia makes another charge against Gisborne on Saturday. Photo / Ben Fraser
Rotorua's Wesley Hunia makes another charge against Gisborne on Saturday. Photo / Ben Fraser
Rotorua's ruthless offence and tight defence was too much for the Gisborne Rising Suns at John Paul College on Saturday, the home side shoring up their SAS Sport Conference Basketball League ladder position with a comfortable 112-70 victory.
The Suns were given an early glimmer of hope after ending thefirst quarter with a slender lead.
But despite flashes of skill and flair, in the end the visitors had no answer to Rotorua's explosive counter-attacking plays, often led by the powerful Wesley Hunia and prolific scoring of Talor Kahu.
"There's nowhere to run bro," said Hunia, to no one in particular, after another steamroller charge down the court for two points early in the second period. For the Suns, it was an ominous prophecy.
Crowded out by Rotorua's tight defensive line again and again, they found themselves forced into circuitous, time-consuming routes to the basket, trying to find a way through.
Plays frequently ran out of steam, passes went astray; once again the Rotorua offence were away, handed the gift of attacking an empty court.
Rotorua head coach Mark Ellers, whose team included six Rotorua Boys' High School players, said afterwards the dominance shown in the final three quarters had been "a good run for the boys". Coming into the game with two wins and three losses for the season so far, getting the right result at home had been a priority.
"It was an important game in terms of the ladder and consolidating our spot in the top four," said Ellers.
The coach was keen to praise the efforts of Kahu, for a strong attacking performance that included four crowd-pleasing slam dunks. Kahu, who came to basketball after suffering a serious neck injury playing rugby in 2008 aged 13, was the spearhead of an unforgiving Rotorua offence, terrorising a Suns defence that never quite worked out a way to contain him.
As part of a Rotorua counter-attacking strategy so effective it bordered on clinical, Kahu's blistering pace and soaring dunks gave his team some welcome style - not bad for an athlete who was told he might never walk again .
Rotorua assistant coach Daryl Watene said the team's strong performance came from good preparation.
"We were expecting a hard game from them," Watene said. "[But] we knew what we were doing on defence and offence ... We just stuck to our strategy.
"We got out and we ran the lines hard and played hard."
Rotorua will now have fresh confidence going into next weekend's double-header. Ellers said he was especially hoping for victory against the Waikato Pistons, after his team lost to them by just six points in their previous game.
