Indoor Basketball Canterbury Plays Badly Against Southland

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30219, 26 August 1963, Page 6

Indoor Basketball Canterbury Plays Badly Against Southland

M the Cantegbus-y tnen’a basketball A grade representative side hopes to perform creditably in the New Zealand championships in Christchurch next week, it will have to show infinitely better form than It showed against Southland at the Cowies Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening. In spite of the closeness of the game, it rarely raised itself above mediocrity, and in some respects Canterbury was lucky to go down by such • narrow margin as 42-4 S. Southland, which will not compete in the national championships this year, was not faultless and in different circumstances would not have deserved to win. But the

Canterbury player* appeared lifelee* throughout, ana were never quick enough to take advantage of any mtatakee. The promising Canterbury under Ilf side a&> aSered « contrast to the A grade gam*, thia match wu much brighter and of a reasonably high standdard, even if the local player* did occasionally show lack of match temperament For Canterbury the only really encouraging thing about the whole tournament was the B grade game. The Canterbury B team played one of its best games this season to overwhelm Southland. 60-23. after leading 32-10 at half-tome. The Canterbury captain, R. Spark, was outstanding, scoring the amazing total of 19 points, most of which came from good set and jump shots.

In the main game, Canterbury could not do a thing right. Even Canterbury's sole representative in the New Ztetand final trial. R. -Zacbartassen, would not have been picked out from the rest of the players as a possible New Zealand representative. For the first time in counties* representative

matches, he failed to score. Perhaps the steadiest Canterbury player wm the veteran R. Entwistle. Re scored 11 points, the top Canterbury score. P. Doogue, captaining the side for the first time this season, worked hard on defence and drove harder than usual, but his shooting was not good. W. WardHolmes waa the most formidable attacking player, although he was slightly erratic and had five foul* recorded against him. leaving the court at a critical moment half-way through the second half.

D. Sharp did some sterling work under both baskets and scored six point* with some good rebound play. P. Simpson, who began the season so brilliantly against the touring Melbourne Y.M.C.A. side, again did not come up to expectations, scoring only two points. R. Bumby, K. Baker, and P. Dyson were steady without proving much of a danger on attack. For Southland. G. Nobbs, the New Zealand trial player, was outstanding. He top-scored with 18 points, showing remarkable ball control end accuracy with his set shots. R. Price and R. Barrow, who scored 11 points each, kept up with play well and also shot accurately. The remainder o’ th team did not impress greatly. Scores were:— Southland A 45 (G. Nobbs 18, R. Barrow 11. R. Price 11. J, Wright 3. N. Familton 3, T. Sea to 0, D. Lloyd 0) beat Canterbury A 42 (R, Entwistle 11. W. Ward-Holmes 9. D. Sharp 6, R. Bumby 5. P. Doogue 4 P. Dyson 3. P. Simpson 2, K. Baker 2 R. Zachariassen 0). Canterbury B 60 (R. Spark 29. B. Woo&ord 8, W. Shaw 6, K. Luey 6. J. Stead 5. J. McArthur 4. R. Milligan 2. J. Hill 0) beat Southland B 23 (E. Lowe 13, R. Harrington 4. L. King 4. P. Mortou f I. Findlay 0, R. Newall 0, G. Brown 0, G. Viteridge 0). Southland Under 18, 55 (N. Price 23) beat Canterbury under 18, 51 (G. Orchard 17).