Basketball player back

Press, 25 August 1976, Page 32

Basketball player back

By ROD DEW The 6ft 4in Y.M.C.A. forward, Stuart Ferguson, who produced such outstanding form in the final of the national club zone tournament at Dunedin last Sunday, returns to the Canterbury A grade men’s basketball team for its match against New Zealand Universities in Cowles Stadium this evening.

A foot injury prevented Ferguson, a leading candi-! date for the next New Zealand Games team, from tak-i ing his place in the team; which recently won the New Zealand inter-provincial I championship. However, the lay-off did him no harm, if his performance at Dunedin was any indication. The 44 points he scored against Checkers in the final was the highest individual total by a player in Canterbury this season. Apart from Ferguson, the

team will be the same as that which won the national crown. But it will be without its coach (Mr Ray Thomson) who is away coaching the Christchurch Boys’ High School team at the national secondary school championship final in Rotorua. i The team for tonight’s i game — which will provide ; the only opportunity for j basketball supporters to see their champion side in ac- ' tion on its home court — has been selected by a fori mer Canterbury playerI coach, Tim Guthrie. He will i coach the team, as well as (being a team member. HowI ever, he is recovering from a minor operation and might not be able to play. The team is:— T. Guthrie. S. Guthrie, E. Manco (High School Old Boys); R. Cooke, J. Fairweather, D. Barry, P. Daigneault (Checkers); Ferguson, R.

Mant h e i , R. Millard (Y.M.C.A.). The game will be another chance for Robert Cooke and the very promising 19-year-old Ed Manco to advance their claims to places in the next New Zealand senior side. With Ferguson, they must be among the leading candidates for the New Zealand Games team. The New Zealand Universities team will not be named until this afternoon but it is expected to be a strong one. Players from Otago University are expected to dominate it. John Whelan, a New Zealand representative, and his Otago team-mates, John Rademakers and Matt Ruscoe, appear to be certain selections. Rademakers was captain of the New Zealand junior side three seasons ago. Another former New Zealand representative, Dave Shiels, an American living in Auckland, and another player who is highly regarded on the national front, “Easy” Ed McGrattan (Wellington), are others who must be fairly sure of selection.