Favourites win well

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 22

Favourites win well

The three leading teams, Mai- : rehau. Checkers, and Jaks-High 1 School Old Boys, all had con vine- : ing wins in the second round of i the Canterbury first division 1 men’s basketball championship I in the Christchurch Boys’ High 1 School gymnasium on Saturday. 1 Checkers, winners of the club title last winter, accounted for i the newly promoted Aranui line- < up, 82-67. It was a comfortable i enough win in the end, although 1 Aranui produced a surprising < amount of resistance. ] There were onlv eight points i difference at half-time and for < much of the second spell the s margin was no more than 10 points. However, the greater ex- ( nerionce and depth of abil’tv in f the Checkers teame ensured that i it was never in any real danger 5 of being beaten. f A new comer from Auckland, Daye Ruha. was , in fine form, t scoring 2? points. The New Z°a- I land trialist. Dennis Barrv. also \ had a good game, giving the side s nlentv of offensive thrust from th* mid-court. He scored 20. i Allan Aitchison (15), and Trevor e rostain <l4), were prominent ; for Aranui. ; ’ Jaks-High School Old Boys,’s

strongly favoured to regain the title they lost to Checkers last season, easfh- beat Burnside, 8358, in spite of the absence of two New Zealand representatives, Stuart Ferguson and John Hill, and another strong rebounder, David Usmar. Two former New Zealand representatives, Matt Ruscoe and John Whelan, provided the scoring initiative and Jaks took control early and were well ahead. 48-25 at half-time. From that point it was just a case of cruising until the finish. At no stage did Burnside look likely to stage a recovery. Ruscoe, playing in his first competition game this season, scored 26 points—the highest individual tally of the round. Whelan added 16 with another fine display, and John Wright 13. For Burnside, the onlv player to reach double figures was Brent Cummack. who finished with 19. However, he had little support. University did not impress in its first match of the season, going down to Mairehau. 62-45. a*t*r trailing. ?7-27, at half-t’me Seaward. the highest scorer in Canterbury last season, !

maintained his usual tempo with 21 points for Mairehau. Y.M.C.A. had the bye. Points after two rounds are: Checkers 4, Jaks-High School Old Boys 4, Mairehau 4. Y.M.C.A. 0. University 0, Burnside 0, Aranui 0. Scoring details:— Checkers 82 (D. Ruha 22. D. Barry 20. P. J. Ward 13. T. Dons 8, P. Daigneault 7, G. Ottman 6. C. Dickel 4. P. Randle 2) beat Aranui 67 (A. Aitchison 15. T. Costain 14, K. Ritsma 11( N. Costain 6, P. Hill 5, G. Harrison 3, R. Aitchison 4, A. Alun 4, R. Costain 2i. Jaks-H.5.0.8. 83 (M. Ruscoe 26, J. Whelan 16, J. Wright 13. M. Searle 10. T. Guthrie 8, K. Duff 8. K. Luxton 2) beat Burnside 58 <B. Cummack 19, B. Daniel 7. J. London 6. R. Scahill 6. C. Pone 6. R. Lee 6, G. Bain 4, N. McCormack 4). Mairehau 62 (M. Seaward 21. B. Searle 12, P. Kearney 7, P. van Hout 6. M. Stokes 6. G. PhUlios 4, J. Caldwell 4. M. Belcher 2* beat University 45 (J. Eves 16. A. Webster 9, P. Stevenson 6. J. 4. J. Hay 4, R. Camnheil 2, K. Vanger 2, A. Guillen 2;.