BASKETBALL

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27999, 20 June 1956, Page 14

BASKETBALL

AIR FORCE TOURNAMENT CONCLUDED

Headquarters won the final of th* men’a section and Hobson ville the final of th# women's division, when the annual Ro/*1 New Zealand Air Force indoor basketball tournament concluded at Wigram lart evening. In representative matches against prospective Royal New Zealand Air Force teams, both the Canterbury men’s and women’s teams won by margins of 15 points.

In winning the men's final. Headquarters played some excellent basketball but was pressed all the way by Taieri. The Headquarters captain, D. J. Cotton, moved the ball fast and freely to his forwards. He scored six points. G. Bridge handled well also, scoring seven points, most of them from close to the hoop.

Particularly fine rebounding by L. Hattaway held the Headquarters back line together and resulted in fast breaks of a high standard. J. Cleary also played a good game. In the final five minutes Cotton and Cleary were fouled off. Taieri had the advantage at this stage but was unable to take the ball from Headquarters in the final three minutes- Taieri excelled in the tight play. J./Clift, L. Piggott, and K. E. Williams, were the outstanding combination for Taieri, scoring 14 points among them. Hobsonville won the women’s title by good courtcraft and excellent handling. In scoring eight points, V. Hutson wu outstanding. S. Macdonald scored six goals and J. Tingle five. The loose defence of Whenuapai allowed Hobsonville to score 24 points from close in. The rebounding of the Whenuapai players, M. Leaf, N. Worthington, and R. Armstrong, was good in patches. Leaf scored five goals.

Representative Matches The two Canterbury teams were too strong for the Air Force teams. Tha Air Force teams lacked te*m practice, but showed flashes of combination 1 which could make them hard to beat at tha Inter-services’ tournament.

In the men’s game the highest scorers for Air Force were J. Clift (9), J. Page (8), and for Canterbury R. Ent whistle (14) and R. Salt (11).

M. Mangin (5) and H. Hutana (4) were the highest scorers for Air Force in the women’s match, and for Canterbury. N. Tregoning (16) and H. Hops (8).

After the matches the Royal New Zealand Air Force selectors announced the following teams to play against Wellington next Saturday:— Men.—Forwards, G. C. Bridge, D. J. Cotton (H.Q.), C. W. S. Yare (Ohakea), K. E. Williams (Taieri); centres. J. Clift (Taieri). J. S. Page (Whenuapai); guards. B. S. Belcher (Woodbourne). L. V. Piggott (Taieri), L. J. Restall (Wigram), D Cook (Ohakea), M. Jones (Te Rapa). W. Ryde (Woodbourne). Women.—M. Mangin (Ohakea). S. Conrade (H.Q.). R. N. Porou (Woodbourne). V. Hutson. S. Macdonald, M. Allen (Hobsonville), T. Bristow. M. Meldrum (Wifram), H. Hutana (Ohakea). Results Men Ohakea 24. Headquarters 20. Final: Headquarters 17, Taieri 16. Representative match: Canterbury 52, R.N.Z.A.F. 37. Women Hobsonville 21. Taieri 8; Whenuapai 14. Ohakea 12; Woodbourne 20. Headquarters 9. Final: Hobsonville 24, Whenuapai NRepresentative match: Canterbury 31. R.N.Z.A.F. 16. NELSON TEAMS’ VISIT Three basketball teams from Nelson, two men's and one women’s team, played matches in Christchurch during the weekend. The visit was the first of its kind for three or four years, when an annual tournament used to be played between the Nelson Y.M.C.A. and the Christchurch Y.M.C.A.

The two men’s teams played the Christchurch Y.M.C.A. and the women’s team played a Christchurch women’s team, ths Overlanders. The Christchurch Y.M.C.A. was invited to send basketball teams to Nelson next year.