Christchurch basketballers win

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33816, 12 April 1975, Page 16

Christchurch basketballers win

(From

ROD DEW)

GREYMOUTH. |: The Christchurch teams, I Checkers and High School Old I Boys, proved much too strong!' for their West Coast opponents! in the Old Crow New Zealand) men s basketball club championship qualifying round last even-| '''checkers won the early game against Grevmouth Marist, 92-34,, ;and Old Boys were equally con-( vinrfng against Greymouth < VV-eds. falling by a single point, Ito score the first century of the' (tournament. i A basket right on time by the; (New Z-aland junior representa- : tive, Ed Manco. was disallowed and Old Bovs had to be content! with a 99-41 victory. ! The defending New Zealand champion team. Victoria Univer-, sitv, had to work very hard for! its 66-55 victory over Nelson, Athletic. ..... I I Victoria led 38-23 at half-time.) Not even a very determined full-1 ■court nress by the Nelson players; was able to alter the balance., • The 6ft ain New Zealand repre-l

isentative, John Slaker. was the: key figure in Victorias victory. (His rebounding off both boards iwas outstanding. It was no surprise that he top|scored with 21 points. Another) • big man. John Zohrab. showed: (that he had not lost the talent: which earned him a place in the 1 'New Zealand team two years ago.l The two top players for. Athletic were the captain, John ! Phelps, and Andrew Harding.! They scored 11 and 14 points, I respectively. ! Both games involving the I Christchurch clubs were rather one-sided, and the respective (coaches took the opportunity to: jplav the second-string plavers. I Checkers took early control; (against Marist and after five: minutes we-e ahead. 10-4. •I After a further five minutes, i! they were leading 23-8, and from (that point it was obvious that: i there would be only one out-: Icome. Checkers led 36-14 at half- 1 i time. The second half was a | repetition of the first. .1 The New Zealand represents-

ttve. John Fairweather, playing his first game for Checkers since ■returning to Christchurch, (started shakily but later showed (good form close to the basket (He top-scored with 24 points. • High School Old Boys started slowly and there were several scrambling exchanges before the I first points went on the board i However, strong defence and superior individual offensive (skills soon put them In a comImandlng position. Bv half-time, (they were ahead 45-13. The Old Boys captain, Tim Guthrie, produced casllv his best shooting form of the (season He top-scored with 24 points, and also controlled play ■well in mid-court, Manco also (had an outstanding game, winning a lot of possession from .interceptions. He scored 29 points. : Checkers meet Nelson Old ■ ! Bovs in their onlv remaining (game in section play. Old Boys, i,in a I’-r-r section, meet Vln’« toria University this afterno' | ■ land Nelson Athletic this evenin.l