Club Basketball by Bruce Martin

Men’s Premier championship

In a final, final appearance of Marques Whippey before he leaves on Tuesday with his family, Gators turned its Men’s Premier club basketball encounter to a 90-63 drubbng of a depleted Pioneer side in Cowles stadium on Saturday.    

Lincoln University showed its teamwork with a classy 102-84 win over Checkers while Wolverines face early elimination from the play-offs after being edged 64-60 by Atami.    

The LU Men’s team had an outstanding game in terms of shooting the ball - headlined by NZ 3x3 team member James Cawthorn - going an impressive 8/10 from deep as part of his 28 point, 6 rebound, 5 assist performance that earned him player of the match status.

Sam Smith had another excellent showing, notching a line of 31 points and 11 rebounds, with Ben Bowie also contributing a double-double of 12 and 11 for LU. Ben Williams did a little bit of everything to finish with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

For Checkers, Joe Cook-Green managed 21 points, and former Lincoln High student Sam Riley had 18 and 8, but could not do much to slow down the three-point onslaught, as LU shot a scorching 43% (15/35) from distance in the game.

Women’s Premier championship

Minties, powered up by the return home by Tessa Boagni from her Cal State University (CSUN) caused the defending Women’s Premier champion side North Canterbury all sorts of problems.

Minties, took a handy 18-5 first quarter lead and maintained that by half-time, still ahead 37-23. Estelle Uren found many gaps in the NC defence which she penetrated with ease but it was the teamwork and cohesion that brought North Canterbury back into the game. Despite slotting 17 points Charlotte Whittaker shut down the dangerous Boagni, restricting her to 13 points. New New Zealand Under 17 Junior representative Helen Mathews showed her class for North Canterbury with many strong penetrating runs while the dimunitive Caoimhe Colgan, an Northern Irish player, who recently transferred from Pioneer, was another inspiration to the team. By three quarter time the game was all tied up at 50-50 and extra time was forced with the game tied 59-59.

Crucial turnovers under pressure saw North Canterbury finally prevail 69-63.

Patron’s trophy defending champion Lincoln University, which still has to play the postponed Patron’s trophy final against 2017 champion North Canterbury was pushed hard by a keen Pioneer side. It was point for point, basket for basket for most of the game with Lincoln ahead 17-15 at quarter-time and 35-34 by half-time. Pioneer forged to a 41-35 lead in the third before Lincoln bounced back. The final quarter saw Lincoln grab some fresh legs after levelling 50-50 and pushed onto win the encounter 69-55.

Wildcats Tessa Burry and Bianca Aguiar were the mainstays behind Pioneer efforts with 18 points each.

Canterbury Wildcat Connie Poletti was almost unstoppable under the basket for Lincoln, slotting 24 (8-11) while Wildcat and College teammate Aijah Pepe slotted a backup 16 points. Captain and Wildcats guard Shea Crotty was at her Defensive best with five steals and a big highlight block in the second 1quarter. Game was tied late in the 4th when CGHS school girl Sammy Arnold provided a spark off the bench hitting two big 3s and coming up big with some big time stops.

In the other game Halswell was worked hard to shut out some determined efforts from Wolverines before winning a tight battle 67-55 while University had the bye. The veteran Darcy Rose led Halswell’s efforts with 27 while Wildcat Tessa Stewart-Morrison also slotted 27 for her Wolverines team with support from Kendall Hastie.

Competition is pretty tight in the Men’s Under 20 A grade now with 13 teams.

A combined Rangiora High-NC entry lies in a share off third place with four other teams after it was beaten 96-74 by second place getter Gators on Saturday. Lachlan McFarlane (25) and Jack Exeter (20) stood out while the side attempted to comeback after trailing 49-29 at the break.

The North Canterbury entry in the grade was promoted up to the A grade from the Development section only to be edged by Gators Green 81-77. Reto Schori (22), Canaan Tarawa (18) and Jordan Mann (11) led the NC efforts. It was basket for basket for three-quarters of the game, Gators Green pulling clear to lead 72-59 in the fourth while hard work from Rangiora almost brought off a miraculous fightback in the closing moments.