Club Basketball Report - by Bruce Martin and Sharon Erwood

Photo Courtesy Graeme Gampbell

 

Gators, the defending champion, kept their hopes alive of making this seasons Men’s Premier club basketball quarter-final play-offs when they clinched an over-time victory over Atami 79-77, after the game was tied 68-68 at regular time in Cowles stadium on Saturday.

Lincoln University still leads the Championship Round unbeaten but had the bye on Saturday with Checkers out-playing a depleted Wolverines 71-64 to join LU at top-of-the-table. The University of Canterbury powered its way into third place thumping the Hoban trophy winner Pioneer Pacers 83-68. UC now plays Lincoln University next week to determine the number one spot in the play-offs.

This leaves three teams on six points (one win, four losses each) at the bottom and two of them, Atami and Pioneer, face off in the final round robin encounter this Saturday. If Gators, the third team at the bottom, can take down fourth placed Wolverines then it will be the loser of the Atami/Pioneer encounter that will be eliminated from the quarter-final play-offs. If Gators lose they have a win advantage over Atami, but not Pioneer.

The Gators/Atami game had 14 lead changes, tied 14-14 at the first break, Gators went ahead 38-30 at half-time and Atami sneaked ahead 51-47 by three-quarter time. The remainder was a point for point affair. Player of the match Marques Whippy (16pts, 6 assists and 16 rebounds) was again dominant for Gators and was ably supported by Tall-Black trialist Angus McWilliam (20Pts, 10R) and Jordan Duggan (10pts, 10R). Despite Atami having four players in double figures, Zacc Dwan (20), Derek Albertsen (15), Aled Jones (12, 8R, 5A) and Angus Forbes (11, 8R) the team lost the rebound count 59-43. Atami restricted their turnover count to 13 forcing Gators into 20 of their own, keeping them in the game.

Pioneer struggled to combat UC's Tony Tolovae who was on fire at both ends of the court. With a game high 39 pts and 22 rebounds, Tolovae's domination meant that Pioneer efforts were very quickly extinguished. For Pioneer Nick Erwood (14) and Marty Davison (13, 8R) lacked scoring support with a poor field goal percentage of only 28%.

A strong third quarter by Checkers sealed their win over Wolverines. Checkers also out rebounded Wolverines 61 to 36. The big four for Checkers, Bede Marsters (14pts, 11R), Wade Parata (12pts 6R), Joe Cook-Green (11pts) and Nat Connell (10pts, 14R) kept the pressure on the struggling Wolverines team despite the efforts of Taylor Britt (20), Kieran Ball (15) and Carl Issit (11).

In Women’s Premier Championship action, North Canterbury took revenge on the Patron’s trophy winner and defending championship team Lincoln University with a mammoth 86-57 victory. LU was missing Wildcat Fran Edmondson flight bound on her way home from International volleyball in Manilla, and had three others injured. NC was also missing Junior Tall Fern Esra McGoldrick. Teenager Helen Mathews, who is in the NZ U17 squad to tour India in October, made good use of a ready supply of ball to lead NC with 18 points, 11 in the first quarter. Charlotte Whittaker, although closely marked, was pivotal in the key. Gemma Hazeldine had a steady game with 14 points while Wildcat Hayley Gray made a welcome return to the team with 11 points. For LU Tessa Burry and Connie Poletti both slotted 21 points while Tessa Morrison was out of touch. LU struggled to get shots to fall, a flat performance but will be motivated to bounce back next week.

Pioneer outpaced Halswell with a strong second half to win 59-50 while University beat Wolverines 63-51 in a bottom-of-the-table encounter but the game is under review due to UC possibly playing an ineligible player.

Lincoln, North Canterbury and Pioneer with 5-1 record share the lead in the Women’s championship with one round remaining with Gators a close fourth.

 

Men’s Premiership Championship: 

Checkers 71 (Wade Parata 14, 6R, Bede Marsters 14, 11R, Joe Cook-Green 11) Wolverines 64 (Taylor Britt 20, Kieran Ball 15, Carl Isitt 11). HT: 47-37

Gators 79 (Marques Whippy 16, 16R, 6A, Angus McWilliam 20, 10R, Matt Mischewski 11, Adrian Taylor 11, Jordan Duggan 10, 10R) Atami 77 (Zacc Dwan 20, Derek Albertson 15, Aled Jones 12, 8R, 5A, Angus Forbes 11, 8R) in Extra-time. HT: 38-30, FT: 68-68. ET: 79-77

University of Canterbury 83 (Tony Tolovae 39, 22R, Josh Petermann 15, Paul Stephenson 14, 11R) Pioneer Pacers 68 (Nick Erwood 14, Marty Davison 13, 8R). HT: 38-34

Points table with games played in parenthesis: LU 10 (5), Checkers 10 (6), UC 9 (5), Wolverines 7 (5), Atami, Pioneer and Gators each 6 (5).

 

Women’s Premier Championship:

North Canterbury 86 (Helen Mathews 19, Gemma Hazeldine 15, Hayley Gray 11) Lincoln University 57 (Tessa Burry 21, Connie Poletti 21). HT: 39-25

University of Canterbury 63 (Kaitlyn Stringer 20, Caitlin Johnston 15, Lily Nicol 11) Wolverines 51 (Letitia Mullaly 51). HT: 29-26

Pioneer Pacers 59 (Bianca Aguiar 14, Aimee Book 14) Halswell 50 (Terai Sadler 21). HT: Halswell 28-26

Points table after six rounds: LU 11, North Canterbury 11, Pioneer 11, Gators 10, Halswell 9, UC 8, Wolverines 6.