CBA Winter Club Basketball 2015 by Bruce Martin

 

Both the Men’s and Women’s club basketball championships were thrown wide open after a number of surprise upset results in Cowles stadium on Saturday. A man-of-the-match performance from Canterbury Ram Marques Whippy with 29 points and 11 rebounds saw Gators get their first championship round win and first win this season in a close fought match against Atami, edging home 77-74. Lincoln University produced one of its best team performances to upset the defending champion Checkers 87-71, Lincoln’s second win of the championship round. Meanwhile, Hoben trophy winner, Wolverines, struggled for combinations, playing without their injured whizkid Taylor Britt, and had no answer for a powerful game from Canterbury University, the students pulling away in the second half to a 95-70 win, Wolverines second loss of the championship round.

 

The big upset in the Women’s championship fifth round game was a top team effort by Halswell saw them outpoint Patron’s trophy winner University of Canterbury 71-61, leaving five of the seven teams on six or seven points. North Canterbury took a strangle hold on its game against Minties in the first half and held out a determined robust second-half challenge before winning comfortably 81-56 through the strong efforts of Tactics netballer Gemma Hazeldine with 27 points. Mary Goulding, playing her last game for the team before heading this week to Gillette College in Wyoming (JuCo), was closely marked and restricted to 16 points. Defending champion Lincoln University powered on the points and pressure, thumping the luckless Pioneer 81-33 and sending Pioneer out of play-off contention for the Quarter-finals on August 29^th. North Canterbury now claims top qualifying spot in those play-offs but may struggle with several players not always available.

 

The race for a quarter-final spot on August 29^th for the Men’s Premiership championship has Pioneer and and Gators possible contenders for the one team that gets eliminated with only one win each. With two games to go Gators face Lincoln and Canterbury Universities while Pioneer, which had the bye on Saturday, has to face a wounded Checkers as well as the improved University.

 

The Gators-Atami match-up was a point for point classic battle. Atami had a narrow 21-19 edge at quarter-time and Gators sneaked ahead 43-42 at the turn around. Gators went ahead 61-55 with a strong third-quarter and more accurate shooting. America bound Sam Timmins added depth to Gators play with 21 points and 19 rebounds while Whippy went around and through slackening Wolverines defence. Atami were not finished and with an ounce more luck could have wrapped up the game. Rusty Thompson managed a sharp 17 points and 10 rebounds despite close attention while Zacc Dwan (15) and Richie Howell (13) made valuable contributions. In the dying moments Atami was forced to foul to stop the clock giving away four points to Gators. Gators had the biggest lead at 71-63, though had changed seven times and was tied on eight occasions.

 

After some below par performances in recent weeks Nick Erwood turned it up with 22 points and 18 rebounds, 13 on defence and backed up by strong distribution skills from Aled Jones (19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists) carried the game against the unbeaten Checkers. New comer Ben Williams added depth to the Lincoln lineup with 15 points. Lincoln opened an 18-12 first-quarter lead while the second was even and Lincoln ahead 40-34 at the break. A powerful inside game by Ben Van Oosten (7-8 field goals and similar free throws) saw him keep Checkers chasing hard with 21 points. Canterbury Ram Ethan Rusbatch managed a low 20 points and 12 rebounds while fellow former Ram Nat Connell was restricted to nine points and 15 rebounds before fouling out.

 

Justin Kent (18) and Brent Fisher (17) led UC’s early efforts but after a quiet first spell Jeremy Hancock picked up the pace for University slotting 26 points. Without a Nebraska Junior College bound Taylor this week, Wolverines were struggling. Usual live wire Mike Kinley was limited to 10 points while Keiran Ball stepped up slotting 16 and Lionel Hopgood 14 points. Wolverines were still in it trailing 55-67 at three-quarter time but were unable to contain the rampant students in the final quarter.

 

Halswell women took their chances in the first quarter with Sarah French and Anna Williams sinking six triple pointers to push Halswell to a 40-20 half-time lead but despite strong plays from Wildcats Ro Katene (16) and Pip Connell (18) the students closed the gap on Minties over the next three periods but ran out of time.

 

Canterbury Under 19 rep Tessa Morrison was all around the court and sliced her way through tired Pioneer defence for Lincoln to slot 25 points while the experienced Fran Edmondson added 18.

 

Results were:

MEN

PREMIER Grade Championship Round five:

University 95 (Jeremy Hancock 26, Justin Kent 18, Brent Fisher 17, Karl Magon 11) Wolverines 70 (Keiran Ball 16, Lionel Hopgood 14, Mike Kinley 10). HT: 44-40, Gators (Marques Whippy 29, 11R, Sam Timmins 21, 16R, Sam Lees 14) Atami 74 (Rusty Thomson 17, 10R, Zacc Dwan 15, 8R, Ritchie Howell 13, 8R). HT: 43-42, Lincoln University 87 (Nick Erwoood 22, 18R, Aled Jones 19, 9R, 7A, Ben Williams 15, 7R, James Levings 11) Checkers 71 (Ben Van Oosten 21, Ethan Rusbatch 20, 12R, Pip Johnston 11). HT: 40-34. Bye: Pioner Pacers. Points table after five rounds: Wolverines 3W, 2L, 8 pts, Atami 2, 3, 7, University 3,  1, 7, Checkers 3, 1, 7, Lincoln Uni 2, 2, 6,  Gators 1, 3, 5, Pioneer 1, 3, 5.

 

Under 23:

Lincoln University Bulls 20 Checkers 0 by notified default, University 85 (Karl Magon 21, Paul Stephenson 19, Rohan Russo) Pioneer Pacers 81 (Jesse Campbell 34, Harley Campbell 29). HT: 42-37, Wolverines 86 (Shou Nisbett 18, Alex Irvine 17, George Love 16, Keiran Ball 14) Gators 74 White (Tom Cooper 24, Harry Paulin 15, Oliver Carren 12). HT:  47-28, Gators Green 91 (Barclay Millar 25, Michael Barnes 21, Cam Chalmers 11, Liam Mulvihill 10) North Canterbury 65 (Liam Connelly 18, Alex Ross 12, Gus Janssen 10). HT: 53-28, Atami 103 (Zacc Dwan 35, Patrick Roger 27) Lincoln Longhorns 79 (Karese Lavery 30, Jayden Chan 25). HT: 52-37, Catch up game: Lincoln University Bulls 95 (Nick Erwood 21, 16R, James Cawthorn 18, Ben Williams 17, Ben Bowie 15, James Levings). Points table after round 14: Lincoln Bulls 28pts, Wolverines 25, University 25, Gators Green 23, Atami 22, Pioneer 21.

 

WOMEN

PREMIER Grade Championship Round five:

North Canterbury 81 (Gemma Hazeldine 27, Mary Goulding 16) Minties 56 (Jess Rathgen 15, Anita Snowden 11). HT: 49-24, Halswell 71 (Terai Sadler 22) University 61 (Pip Connell 18, Rosana Katene 16). HT: 40-20, Lincoln University 81 (Tessa Morrison 25, Fran Edmondson 18, Jana Galaskova 12, Courtney Hamblin 10) Pioneer Pacers 33 (Moli Daily 10). HT: 25-17. Bye: Gators. Points table after five rounds: North Canterbury 10pts (5), Gators 6 (4), University 7 (5), Halswell 6 (4), Lincoln Uni 6 (4), Minties 6 (4), Pioneer 4 (4).

 

Photo courtesy UC Basketball (Arjan van Hasselt)