CBA Winter Club Basketball 2015 by Bruce Martin

Checkers, the defending champions, maintained a tight grip on the Men’s Premier grade club basketball championship with a resounding 105-62 win over a lacklustre Atami in Cowles Stadium on Saturday. Hoben trophy winner Wolverines rebuffed an early challenge from Lincoln University, racing to a 57-29 before cruising to a 99-69 win.

A buzz of excitement reverberated around Cowles as Gators brought out their big guns, which included Rams Marcus Whippy, Jeremy Kench and Sam Timmins. Gators quickly put on a 10 plus lead while maintaining a tight defensive circle. Canterbury Ram, Marty Davison, fired up his Pioneer team using a well exercised inside outside quick passing game to set up players for the outside shot. Harley Davison drilled two triples, Davison and Cam Costley another, as Pioneer closed the gap to trail 18-21 at the quarter break to match the strong inside game of Gators, trailing 36-39 at the turnaround. While Timmins (15) and Kench (16) kept Gators in touch, everything that Davison did saw Pioneers forge ahead in the third quarter before eventually winning the tight game 84-64. Davison set many of the Pioneer moves in motion, splashed in seven triples in his 29 points along with numerous assists, Costley four in his 21 points, Campbell three and for good measure Dave Langrell shone with three in his 16 points. Auckland based Inga Solofuti added depth to the Gators line up and Jozef Knottenbelt worked his butt off to feed the tall inside timbers before fouling out. John McDonald recently returned from surgery and Hitesh Pratap were good support players for Pioneer.

Checkers leads the championship after three rounds unbeaten, Wolverines are second, with Atami and Pioneer sharing third place. One of the seven teams will drop out of contention for the championship race when both Premier grades go into Quarter-finals on August 29^th.

North Canterbury came out firing in a revenge match against Patron’s trophy winner, UC in the Women’s Premier third round encounter. A full NC bench comprehensively outplayed the students 81-64, building quarter by quarter before easing the pressure in the final quarter. In absence of Harriet Fenwick, Lori Haisty (13) and Paige Willman (16) led Gators to a 50-23 win over cellar-dwellers Pioneer, while the defending champion Lincoln University, with a busy 20 points from Maja Burry, had too much teamwork in beating Halswell 64-43.

North Canterbury leads the championship with three wins with Gators moving into second place.

Checkers outplayed Atami is most facets of the match, shooting 38-78 (49%) to a paltry 35% for Atami and from its bench players. Checkers shone with 53-12 points and 17-8 second chance points. Canterbury Ram Ethan Rusbatch was in fine touch with deceptive ball control skills, slotting 20 points, taking eight rebounds and five assists for Checkers, while Nat Connell was at his nimble best with 14 points and nine rebounds. Rusty Thompson replied for Atami with 25 points and nine rebounds, while the veteran Rich Howell compiled a hard earned 18 with seven rebounds, but the veteran side was outplayed.

Wolverines had too much depth on its bench scoring 42-8 over a lack-lustre Lincoln slotting 40-79 (51%) to a low 38% for the students. While Mike Kinley, often seen with mouth guard hanging down, shone with 25 points and back up from the veteran Dean Le Warne (16 points and five assists) and teenager Britt Taylor with 17 to carry Wolverines to a comfortable victory. It was left to Aled Jones (19 points and nine rebounds) to carry the workload for Lincoln while left unmarked James Levings slotted 20 points, but they lacked support.

North Canterbury fast open running game saw some amazing interplay between netballer Gemma Hazeldine and American College bound Mary Goulding, who both slotted 23 points apiece. Wildcat Hayley Gray led the side by example and boundless energy from the numerous Rangiora High school players saw North Canterbury control the game. Tyler Courtney and Charlotte Whittaker were able support players while Emily Baker’s background play added to North Canterbury’s strengths. Standing in their way were Wildcat veterans Pip Connell (14) and Ro Katene (15), while the tall Lily Nichol also had a good game for Canterbury University.

 

Results were:

MEN

PREMIER Grade Championship Round three:

Wolverines 99 (Mike Kinley 25, Taylor Britt 17, Dean Le Warne 16, 5A, George Love 12, 10R, Nic Adcock 11, 8R) Lincoln University 69 (James Levings 20, Aled Jones 19, 9R). HT: 57-29, Checkers 105 (Ethan Rusbatch 20, 8R, 5A, Josh Paurini 18, Nat Connell 14, 9R, Josh Thompson 11, Ben Van Oosten 11) Atami 62 (Rusty Thomson 25, 9R, Ritchie Howell 18, 7R). HT: 54-18, Pioner Pacers 84 (Marty Davison 29, Cameron Costley 21, Dave Langrel 16)

Gators 64 (Jeremy Kench 16, Sam Timmins 15, Marques Whippy 11). HT: Gators 39-36.

Bye: University. Points table after three rounds: Checekers 6, Wolverines 5, Atami 4, Pioneer 4, University 3 (2), Lincoln Uni 3, (2), Gators 2 (2).

 

Under 23:

Lincoln University Bulls 84 (James Cawthorn 25, 9R, Tullan McGuiness 16, Nick Erwood 11, 22R, 5A) Pioneer Pacers 63 (Jahnim Campbell 23, 7R, Ben Van Noorden 12, 13R, Harley Campbell 11). HT: 42-30, Wolverines 87 (Carl Isitt 18, Keiran Ball 18, Taylor Britt 16) Atami 69 (Josh Peterman 21). HT: 39-35, University 73 (Karl Magon 24, Daniel Mulder 13) Gators White 61 (Jonny Suddens 12). HT: 40-25, Gators Green 111 (Barclay Millar 35, Michael Barnes 24, Liam Mulvihill 26) Lincoln Longhorns 54 (Tyler Burnett 16). HT: 55-21,

North Canterbury 77 (Liam Connelly 22, Lauchie Weston 14, Conor McCrossin 13) Checkers 49 (Max De Geest 11, Cyrus Eade 10, Jaiden Manning 10). HT: 40-22. Points table after round 12: Lincoln Bulls 22 pts (11), University 22, Wolverines 20 (11), Gators Green 19, Pioneer 19, Atami 18.

 

WOMEN

PREMIER Grade Championship Round three:

North Canterbury 81 (Mary Goulding 23, Gemma Hazeldine 23) University 64 (Rosana Katene 15, Pip Connell 14, Lily Nichol 11). HT: 46-31, Lincoln University 64 (Maja Burry 20, Tessa Stewart-Morrison 13,Courtney Hamblin 11) Halswell 43  (Terai Sadler 10). HT: 32-16, Gators 50 (Paige Willman 16, Lori Hastie 13) Pioneer Pacers 23 (Moli Daily 6). HT: 31-15. Bye: Minties. Points table after three rounds: North Canterbury 6 pts, Gators 5, Lincoln Uni 4, University 4, Halswell 3 (2), Minties 3 (2), Pioneer 2 (2).

 

Photo courtesy of UC Basketball (Arjan van Hasselt)