Y.M.C.A. back in top form

Press, Issue 33840, 12 May 1975, Page 17

Y.M.C.A. back in top form

Y.M.C.A. was back to its best ! form to beat the young Mairehau i team. 93-53, in the fifth round of the Canterbury A grade men s basketball championship in Cowles Stadium on Saturday. It was not affected oy the bustling, high-speed play of its .opponents, made excellent use of its substantial height advantage and was always in a position to dictate the terms of play. With the national club championship final rapidly approaching, this disciplined performance must have given the Y.M.C.A. coach • Mr G. D Dempsey) great satisfaction. However, the greatest winning margin of the day — 43 points — was achieved by the competition leaders. High School Old Boys, who easily beat lowly University. 89-46. Old Boys finished with a flourish but lack of aggressive defence earlier cost them the chance of breaking the century for the first time this’ •.season. Checkers playing the promising but very inexperienced Burnside line-up. took the opportunity to run its second-string players and for half the game was struggling. Burnside actually, led. 30-28. at half-time but the second spell had not advanced

far before Checkers were in control. They finally won. 74-37. Robert Cooke (Checkers) topped the scoring honours with 26 points. Stuart Ferguson (Y.M.C.A., Carl Dickel Old Boys) and Brent Cummack 'Burnside i were others to equal or better 20 points. Points after five rounds are: Oid Boys 8. Y.M.C.A. 6, Checkers 4. Mairehau 4, Burn side 2. University 0. IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY Y.M.C.A. 93: S. Ferguson 22. H. Dimock 18, R. Millard 18, B. Cottell 10, B. Shipley 10. R. Manthei 6, P. Carpinter 5. J. Bosch 4. MAIREHAU 53: P. Howell 13. M. Melcher 12, G. Phillips 11. C. Stent 9. M. Seaward 4, D. Vincent 2. J. Piket 2. Although containing a high proportion of schoolboys, the Mairehau team has shown considerable promise this season and has won a lot of respect for its aggressive approach. However, on Saturday the superior skill and admirable sense of purpose of Y.M.C.A. made it look like a team' of raw novices. It was not so much that the i Mairehau representatives played badly. They chased the loose ball with a sense of urgency and

- did their best to run the taller but slower Y.M.C.A. men off ’heir i feet. That they failed to do so i was more a tribute to the out-' I standing form of the Y.M.C.A. i players than any real failings on - the part of Mairehau. r Y.M.C.A.. perhaps for the first lime this season, played with con- : fidence. They had 1 ' a height advantage and they made sure - they made good use of it. Apart from the first few minutes while the teams were settling down, Mairehau never looked like hold- ’ ing its own. In some respects, it probably tried to run the game ' too fast — and paid the penalty ■ of lost possession through intercepted passes. . At the end of the first 10 . minutes. Y.M.C.A. led 20-11. By . half-time, it had extended its lead to 21 points (46-25' and it 1 was then clear that Mairehau i could never make up the lost - ground. Y.M.C.A. finally won by i a deserved 40 points. r The New Zealand representa- - tive. Stuart Ferguson, was in r great shooting form, scoring 22 • points. He also had considerable < success on the boards. Hugh Dimock, at 6 ft 9in the tallest e man in Canterbury basketball, d chose this game to produce his e best display since returning from d overseas. His rebounding, tip-ins

and other work close to the basket was excellent. Another of the biii men, 6ft 7in Roger Millard, was in impressive form, too. He completed his work under the baskets elficientiy! enough but confounded the* Mairchau defence b> sinking several long set shots as well. For Mairehau. Peter Howell proved a skilful pla>-maker, often testing the Y.M.C.A. defence with solid drives. Although at a physical dis-; advantage, Carl Stent worked tirelessh under the boards- and was by no means disgraced. OLD BOYS 89: C. Dickel 22. G. Longley 17. A. Hounsell 12. T. Guthrie 12. E. Manco 10. N.i Daniel 8. W. Daniel 6, S. Guthrie'

UNIVERSITY 46: B Searle I--., J. McDowell 14. R. Gillie 10, G. Clancy 6. A. Freeman 2. Although Old Boys were not, always at maximum effort, they were much too good in ail aspects of play for University. There were times when the defence of the Old Boys players was a little too relaxed and others when the rebounding, particularly under their offensive board, was less than satisfactory. But at no stage did the students look like gaining any control over the game.

Old Boys led. 10-4, after 6min I and with lOmin gone were ahead, 18-8. The students held their own for a time but by half-time they were down, 39-22. and heading for inevitable defeat. Old Boys, using a zone for much of the second half, forged ahead to win by 43 points. After two weeks of indifferent shooting, Carl Diekel was back on target with his long set shots. Geoff Longley again gave the side its rebounding strength.

i although his handling and posii tional play let him down at times. I 1 Allan Hounsell displayed excel- ? lent control and took another * step towards regaining the form 1 for which he was held in such 1 high respect at representative - level two years ago. - John McDowell was a major r | force for University under the •‘ boards and it was largely through • i his efforts that his team got a ’' reasonable amount of possession K from rebounding sources. Ben ; Searle gave a workmanlike perL formance in the mid-court and 3 made good use of his set shot J But the rest of the team were ‘[generally outclassed. i SLOW START v CHECKERS 74: R. Cooke 26. 1 R. Knops 13. P. Daigneault 9. R. McCormack 8. I. Sheerin 7. D. Barrv 6. P. Trass 5. BURNSIDE 57: B. Cummack 20. J. Uav 13, V. Klassev 8. R. Lee Si 6. J. Wright 6, S. Fifield 2, T. . ' Green 2. pi Checkers, looked anything but e a team expected to challenge e seriously for major honours this e season in the early stages of this 5 . game and even when it was using j. its top line-up it seemed to have d difficulty obtaining cohesion. With its second-string players on s the courts Checkers looked very e vulnerable indeed. i- However, full credit must go t- to Burnside for its performance. J, At one stage, early in the first a spell, it scored. 10 points withn out conceding one. It continued 2 to play with a real sense of s purpose and its 30-28 lead at half-Hme was a just reward for its efforts. The second half was a somewhat different story. Checkers came on to the court determined to put the issue beyond doubt quickly and thev succeeded. Within 4min they had a 10-point lead and from that point were content to coast to the finish. The inexperienced Burnside players could not cope with an efficient fulheourt press. Robert Cooke, although looking a trifle indecisive in the first spell, achieved a high level of performance later in the game. His 26 points were well-earned. Bert Knops also played well for Checkers and. with the departure of Russell McCormack on five fouls, he did some sterling work under the boards. x For Burnside. Brent Cummack provided the Checkers defence with a serious problem. His ability to penetrate a forest of waving arms and legs to score was most impressive. LOWER GRADES B grade.—High School Old Boys B 64, Mairehau B 60; Checkers B 52. Christchurch B.H.S. A 41; Burnside B 45. Aranui A 41. C grade.—Y.M.C.A. E 27, N.A.C. 12: United 23, Burnside C 16; Y.M.C.A. D 28. Mairehau C 20: Aranui B 2. 3ZM 0; Teachers’ College 82. Christ’s College 26.