Basketballers swamped

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 4

Basketballers swamped

2 By ROD DEW 'I i A tiring bus trip from Nelson a few hours earlier was not - enough to stop the touring 5; United States college basketbail j team. Yavapai, from overwhelming the Canterbury men. 82-57. jin Cowles Stadium last evening. 1 Yavapai dictated terms from j* the outset while the Canterbury j team, studded with present and i former New Zealand representa- . lives, struggled to get some co- 1 !■ ordination into its game. The ’ Americans led. 34-24. at half- ' i time and gained even more con- . trol in the second half as Canj terbury*s team-work deteriorated. ’ It was an uninspiring and ■disappointing performance by ! Canterbury—probably its worst in years. It was not helped when the New Zealand repre- • sentative centre. John Hill, in- [ iured his ankle late in the second . spell and was put out of the ' game. ' However. Hill is confident that! . he will be fit in time for the' final two matches between New Zealand and Yavapai this weekend. The Yavapai coach '.Mr Dave i Brown) was surprised how easily I his 18 and 19-year-old college players had dominated the match. “We had heard that Canter- | bun was the best provincial side i in New Zealand but we didn’t*

have to play too hard to win j That was good for us because i 1 don’t think anybody wasi i capable of playing hard. Every-1 I body is very tired.” 1 Air Brown is confident that his - team will give New Zealand a . hard time in the final two . matches in Dunedin tomorrow i evening and back in Christchurch on Sunday afternoon “We have 1 been close both times You can -1 be sure that the matches will be 'well worth seeing.” Yavapai made the best of the opening minutes and slowly edged ahead to lead by 10 points at half-time. There was still hope of a Canterbury revival at this stage and when play resumed the home side did display greater purpose. However, this gradually deteriorated into scrappy, unco-ordinated play. The outstanding Yavapai player was the 19-year-old utility man. ’ Marty Peterson. He rebounded strongly at both ends and was j much too strong for the CanterI bury defence. He ended the. game with 29 points. Keith Ballinger, the shortest man in the side at 1.86 m (6ft i Ilin), was also impressive. His 1 I mid-court play was excellent and he was a very energetic defender. For Canterbury, top honours had to go to John Fairweather , i He began badly but lifted his • own standard as Canterbury’s I

|fell. He was the only Canter ■ bury player who looked con »i fident attacking the Yavap* • I basket and was rewarded wit. ■IS points—l2 of them in tht i second half. i Hill rebounded well until l» i was injured and David Usmar the new national representative i worked very hard John Wrig'.t playing his first game for < a» terbury, appeared more confider.* ’ than his more experienced team mates. Scoring details were:— Yavapai 82. Marty Peterson 29 Keith Ballinger 14, Ron Barthok mew 8, Dave Gerner 8, Randoip i Carroll 7, Joe Kraznarich 6. Dav Duggin 6 Dave Brackins. 2 Kevin Gilbert 2 Canterbury 57: John Far weather 16. Dave Usmar 9, Ma 4 Ruscoe 8 Stewart Ferguson ' John Wright 6, John Whela ’6, Mike Seaward 2, Dennis Barr 2 } Mairehau High School easih beat Rangiora. 83-45. in a fir* .division women's club champion ship game, played as » curtain raiser. Jeanette Howard ugi • the star of the match, sconnj '3O points. Mairehau H.S 83 (Howard 30 R. Cassidy 16. D. Broughton 12 iS. Wood 9, D. Goodland 8 V : Cassidy* 4. M. Stokes 4i bea Rangiora 45 iS. Blackadder 13. K Sim 10. R. King 10, C Wintei 110. B. Fortune 2).