N.Z. just pipped in basketball test

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 22

N.Z. just pipped in basketball test

By

ROD DEW

I Strong offensive rebounding] I provided Australia with the slighteuge it needed to beat a gal-1 lam New Zealand line-up, 76-69,; in the third and deciding Oceania] men’s basketball test match in Cowles Stadium on Saturday: eveiung. I Australia, a 2-1 winner of the) series, will now go forward to I the world championship tourna-l ment in the Philippines in Octo-1 ber. However, the honours could so; easily have gone to New Zea-1 land. And 11 nothing else was' achieved it is certain that Aus-, tralia will never again take New Zealand lightly. "I am more relieved than happy.” the Australian coach, (Lindsay Gaze) said afterwards. “It has "been a tough week. I am very pleased for what this has done for New Zealand basketball, but I would have been more happy if we had breezed! through as we have done in the] past. New Zealand basketball has certainly come up. Welcome to] the club.” The iinal match was a tensel and demanding affair from start] to finish, with New Zealand very! much in the hunt until the final! minute when Australia, feeling, safe on a seven-point lead, began;' playing for time. It worked. Bothl sides scored before the end but I the scoring rate was slowed soi much that New Zealand had no! hope of bridging the gap ini time. The tenseness was reflected in.an unusual fracas 6min from the i end. The New Zealand captain, j John MacDonald, was crashed , to the floor by the Australian , mid-court player. Les Kiddle. It ■ was a very severe and blatant i foul, and as MacDonald lay stretched out on the floor, the i New Zealand manager Mr Ivan i Dominikovich, moved off the ’ bench and on to the court to 1 remonstrate with the offending ' Australian. i The New Zealand players also moved angrily towards the Aus- i tralian and in a flash the other ' Australians rushed to his de- 1 fence. The bench players from - both sides joined in. and there!; was 1 suddenly a mass of strug- 1 gling bodies on the sideline. At one stage, the tall New ] Zealand player. Gordon Reardon, was being held around the neck by the Australian 2.13 m (7ft) , centre, Peter Walsh. There was some angry pushing and shov- . ing, and punches were thrown, , before order was restored by the coaches and referees. , A foul was called on Riddle, but he was not sent off. This ; displeased the capacity crowd ] of 1200 — which booed, hissed, , and chanted “Off, Off Off . . .” for minutes afterwards. From 1 that moment, the crowd saw ■ little of merit in anything the j Australians did. 1 Riddle was sensibly substituted 1 a short time later and this re- i suited in another round of boo- j ing and jeering. Subsequent Aus- :

I tralian substitutions were greeted iin similar fashion.

The New Zealand coach, Steve McKean passed the incident off I lightly. “It was just the tension jof the moment. MacDonald got ! knocked down pretty hard and everybody likes to protect their own. I don’t think it was Inteni tional.” ] What obviously upset everyi body about the foul was that I MacDonald. the outstanding : figure hi the New Zealand team, I had earlier injured his ankle and was playing under a considI erabie handicap with it tightly strapped up. Riddle’s action, perhaps wrongly, was interpreted as a deliberate attempt to put MacDonald out of the game. But MacDonald recovered and was successful with both free throws he was awarded. The part he played in the game was quite outstanding. In the first half, when New Zealand was having difficulties get- ] ting the ball in to its closely i marked centre, Stan Hill, he kept his team In the game with some splendid shooting and individual ] play. By half-time, he had scored : 16 points. His ankle Injury six minutes into the second half could have 1 been a disaster. But he returned to the court three minutes later and, although in difficulties again ] took control of the New Zealand | offense. His generalship was { superb. He was clearly the finest guard on the court, and this was ! one of the finest games of his ; career The other starting guard, John Rademakers, did not get into the game as he would have liked but his replacement, the 19-year-old Warwick Meehl, rose to the occasion magnificently. His speed and versatility were obvious assets. New Zealand’s two main deficiencies were in defensive rebounding and a reluctance to use pattern play to get scoring opportunities. These two aspects were not bad by normal standards but were enough to give Australia an edge. Australia sometimes got as many as three chances under its offensive basket because New Zealand was not screening out effectively, and Australia did not make the same mistake at the other end. Australia was also prepared to run through its pattern options without being forced into a rushed shot. Steve McKean was a glum figure afterwards. “I thought that in the second half our guys were ready to take the game. From the manager down, we all felt that we could win. I am very disappointed. W’e didn’t run our offence the why we should have—we have got two or three guard options. We didn’t get continuity; we have got to get smarter,” Nevertheless, McKean said he was well pleased with the performance over the series of the New Zealand side. "Playing at this level was a new experience for a lot of the guys. Maybe I was expecting more than I should have. We have certainly

shown that if we get the right preparation, we have got a New Zealand team we can be proud of." Stan Hili was, as always, a tower of strength in the centre. He was a marked man ail night, sometimes attracting the attention of two defenders. Nevertheless, he still piled on IS points, rebounded strongly and gave New Zealand strength inside the keyhole which Australia could not match. He was fouled off again but this time lasted until the last 30 seconds. Nothing more could be asked of him. John Fairweather, a key man in the second test, was also watched carefully and he had fewer opportunities because of this. John Hill, who scored the winning points at Hutt Valley, was another who found his movements severely restricted. Australia’s approach to this match was more intense than in either of the other two matches. Mike Tucker and Steve Gray, both 1.98 m (6ft 6in) tail, were brilliant on the offensive boards, each tipping in a number of shots after unsuccessful first attempts by their team-mates. Gray was also a big force on the defensive board. Top honours in the Australian guard line went to the smallest and fastest man in the team, Phil Smyth, who is just 1.83 m (6ft). His defensive work and bail stealing ability was most impressive, and he also showed an ability to score. From the outset, the game was tight and close. The lead changed regularly in the first five minutes and scores were level at 17-all after eight minutes. Then two fine goals by Smyth gave Australia a break, and with four minutes of the half remaining it had increased its lead to 12 points Some splendid work by MacDonald and a beautiful lay-up by Fairweather on time reduced the half-time margin to eight points (44-36). New Zealand returned in forthright mood, but twice baskets w ere ruled out because of progress. Australia edged out to a lead of 10 points, and then New' Zealand pulled back to within six. This pattern repeated itself several times in the half. Overall, New Zealand had the better of the final half by a point (33-32) but it did not get the breaks needed to turn a narrow defeat into a brilliant victory. Australia hung on grimly to win by seven points, and New Zealand will have to wait until the next qualifying tournament for Moscow’ Olympic Games for another chance to make its impact on the highest levels of the sport. The series W’as jointly sponsored by Flag Inns and Adidas. Scoring details:— AUSTRALIA 76: Mike Tucker 21, Steven Grav 15. Tonv Forbes 12, Phil Smyth’lO, John Maddock 8, Bobbie Cadee 6, Les Riddle 4. NEW ZEALAND 69; John MacDonald 25. Stan Hill 13, John Fairweather it, Warwick Meehl 10, John Hill 4. John Rademakers 1.