Fairweather and Spark led basketball scoring

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 11

Fairweather and Spark led basketball scoring

(By R. O. DEW) fTHE 18-year-old 6ft 4in x Checkers centre, J. Fairweather, has topped the individual points scoring in the Canterbury A grade men’s basketball championship competition with a record tally of 262. His total might have been even greater had he not missed the final round last Saturday. , The previous record of 217 points was set by D. Rattray (Y.M.C.A.) two years ago, but conditions this year were slightly different. The championship was decided over two rounds of six full-length games. When Rattray seit his record, the championship was decided over three rounds of six games but the clock was not stopped for infringements. Four other players this season bettered Rattray’s record—R. Spark (Rangiora), A.. Hounsell (Old Boys), J. Culliford (University) and K. Hessell

(University). For the first time 22 of the 100 players who appeared in the A grade competition scored more than a century of points—an indication of the rapidly increasing standard. In the supplementary com petition, scoring honours went to the Mid Canterbury player, B. Young, who scored 50 points from five games. His nearest chal-

lenger was Spark, who scored two points less. This season, the distribution of points indicates more strongly than ever before that basketball is essentially a team game. Rangiora, which had four players with more than a century of points, finished last in the championship competition. Scoring points is obviously not the most important facet of the game. In the supplementary competition, the trend was similar. Checkers, which won this, did not have one player among the top 10 scorers. Spark finished the season with the highest individual game total of 47 points, a record. This record, which stood to Rattray’s credit at 30 points at the start of the season, was equalled once and broken five times. The record setters in sequence were R. Dew (Checkers) 35, Culliford 41, Hessell 42, R. Millard (Y.M.C.A.) 44 and Spark 47. Players who exceeded a century of points in championship games were: J. Fairweather (Checkers) 262, R. Spark (Rangiora) 252, A. Hounsell (Old Boys) 251, J. Culliford (University) 247, K. Hessell (University) 229, R. Millard (Y.M.C.A.) 200, G. Nobbs (Checkers) 189, P. Stigley (University) 181, K. Luxton (Old Boys) 161, G. Phillips (Rangiora) 151, R. McCormack (Burnham) 135, T. ■ Guthrie (University) 129, W. Smith (Old Maroons) , 128, M. Clements (Y.M.C.A.) 127, P. Trass (Bumham) 120, J. Edyvean (Old Maroons) 115, A. Dyer (Rangiora) 114, B. Borrell (Rangiora) 109, R. Dew (Checkers) 109, L. Haysoin (Checkers) 109, B. Hepenstall (Y.M.C.A.) 108, G. Keelty (Burnham) 106. Leading scorers in the supplementary competition were: B. Young (Mid Canterbury) 50, R. Spark (Rangiora) 48, K. Beach (Mid Canterbury) 47, T. Freeman (Mid Canterbury) 47, A. Hounsell (Old Boys) 46. W. Smith (Old Maroons) 43, J. Edyvean (Old Maroons) 43, M. Clements (Y.M.C.A.) 41. Spark was the highest scorer for the season over both competitions with a combined total of 300 points.