KEY PLAYER INJURED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31077, 4 June 1966, Page 19

KEY PLAYER INJURED

The leg injury suffered by the Y.M.G.A. player, M. Busch, could have a more profound effect on the outcome of the A grade men’s basketball competition than originally seemed likely.

Mr J. Dempsey, the Y.M.C.A. coach, has been building some of his team’s most important moves around Busch, an American in his first playing season in Christchurch. With Busch now out for the rest of the season, Mr Dempsey may have to revise the pattern of much of his offensive play.

This means that Y.M.C.A. may have difficulty in settling down quickly in its next match, against University B, this afternoon and nobody is more aware of this than the University club’s coach (Mr A. Forrester). Y.M.C.A. and University A at present share the competition lead and a win for University’s B team would make the A team’s task infinitely easier.

Loss Of Form

And if Y.M.C.A. cannot produce better form than it showed against Rex after Busch was carried off the court last week, University B will have an excellent chance of scoring an upset win. Led by the New Zealand Universities representative, W. E. Smith, the side is a

reasonably strong one and would, have been up among the leaders had it not voluntarily defaulted to its A team during the holidays. There is also the prospect of a surprise in the BumhamUniversity A encounter. In its last two games Burnham has beaten both Y.M.C.A. and High School Old Boys and a third victory over the highly favoured University A team is certainly not beyond it. University’s main aim must be to contain C. P. Dyson, the highest individual points scorer in the competition so far, and G. I. Costello, a relative newcomer who has been showing very impressive form in recent matches. If it can do that then the scoring ability of such players as J. Stead, M. Askew and G. Williams should ensure that it remains at the head of the competition. High School Old Boys, with A. Hounsell back in the centre, should have no difficulty in accounting for YBoys, which will be without three of its leading players, N. Vincent, R. Dew and B. Skinner. Dew and Vincent are injured.