Exciting wins in basketball

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34131, 19 April 1976, Page 22

Exciting wins in basketball

Nelson Old Boys and Y.M.C.A., of Christchurch, will contest the ?200 winner’s prize money when the final of the Coruba Rum South Island men’s A grade basketball tournament is played at Cowle-i. Stadium today.

Both sides had many anxious moments before eliminating their semi-final opponents yesterday. Nelson came from behind to beat Checkers (Christchurch), 7460, and Y.M.C.A. nudged out High School Old Boys, also of Christchurch, 54-53. The women’s A grade final will be between Mairehau A (Christchurch) and Tennis A (Nelson). They were the qualifiers from a seven-team round-robin series, and in the light of Mairehau’s 58-55 victory over Tennis during section play, their second meeting should be most exciting. An all-Christchurch men’s final appeared probable when Nelson were trailing Checkers, 32-25, at the interval of the second semi-final. But Nelson slipped into a higher gear after the resumption, quickly made up its deficit, and raced away to a 20-point advantage entering the final quarter of the match. Bill Eldred, the tallest man on the court, and Dave Taylor, Nelson’s coach, were largely responsible for the recovery. Taylor did much of the preparatory work, taking Nelson into scoring positions, and Eldred — who

had been scoreless in the opening half — accumulated a personal total of 19 points in just lOmin and finished with 27 for the game. The transition in Nelson’s form was not confined to its offensive manoeuvres. Whereas Robert Cooke and John Fairweather, the principle Checkers scorers, had been given considerable freedom until the break, their chances were severely limited later and Cooke had to be content with only two field goals in this spell. Checkers threatened to leave Nelson well in arrears when it spurted to an 18-8 lead, in spite of Taylor’s attempts to put some life into Nelson’s display. But Eldred’s dominance of the scoring when the teams returned to the court was even more marked than the ascendancy held by Cooke and Fairweather in the earlier stages. Only when Y.M.C.A. slipped 11 points clear of High School Old Boys as the first semi-final neared the last lOmin was there much between the other two Christchurch clubs with their sights set on the final. Ironically, just when it seemed that Y.M.C.A. had broken the dead-lock. Old Boys enjoyed their most prosperous period of the match, and all but took the lead for the only time as the final seconds ticked away. Y.M.C.A.’s advantage had been established through the accuracy of John Bosch and then Stewart Ferguson, while most of Old Boys’ points had been contributed by Ed Manco A heavy fall taken by Manco as he crashed over Bob Manthei while in the act of scoring a goal served to increase his enthusiasm and it was he and David Usmar who placed most pressure on the Y.M.C.A. defence. When time out was taken with 50sec remaining. Old Boys had closed the gap to 54-02. Al Manco had an excellent chance of bringing Old Boys level when he had two free throws, but only the first of these was on target, with 20sec left. A rather relieved Y.M.C.A. gained possession, moved the scene of the action to the other end of the court, and was able to retain the ball until the hooter sounded. Other men’s A grade results were.— Play-off for third and fourth: High School Old Boys 53, Checkers A 41s Play-off for fifth and sixth: Otago University 98, Lion Tavern 51. Play-off for seventh and eighth: Athletic 85, Mairehau 66. Play-off for ninth and tenth: Checkers B 38, Burnside 46. Play-off for eleventh and twelftn: K. Vees 72, Axanui 70 (after extra-time).