University jubilant after winning two hard-fought finals

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 3

University jubilant after winning two hard-fought finals

Jubilation was akin to that usually reserved for Capping Day when Canter-1 bury University won both' the mens A and B divisions' of the South Island Easter tnter-cluh basketball tournament at Cowles Stadium] yesterday. University A. which is sponsored by Inns of the : Pacific, recovered from a seemingly impossible deficit to upset Jaks-High School) Old Boys, 69-67, in the Al grade final, while its second I team had to cling tenaciously to an ever-dimin- I ishing lead over the closing (; stages to hold out Y.M.C.A.!’ B, 59-58. The Checkers club, which had won the first women's, Easter A grade title seven’! years ago, ended a long wait! for its second success by[ comfortably keeping ahead : of Mairehau, 52-44. The ; Christchurch monopoly was ; broken in the women’s B i grade, with Greymouth Mar-[ ist finishing in front of DB’; Rovers (Dunedin), 43-38, in' spite of being reduced to): four players. When Old Boys were lead-,I Ing by 31-16 in the ] fourteenth minute of the II

men’s A grade final, and; apparently had settled into a (mood to considerably in-1 |crease the advantage, Uni-1 versitys prospects were: dim. But an unexpected and decisive transformation foli lowed. University providing :15 of the next 16 points, and! Old Boys were trailing, 37'36, at the interval. Between the twelfth and; (sixteenth minutes in the sec-; jond spell, the lead changed! ‘six times, and Old Boys! I were placed under more pressure when John Wright' hobbled from the court with; lan injured ankle and David! [Usmar was fouled off. 1 Once more the scales were, balanced as two of Univer-1 ■sity’s most effective players, 'Peter Logan and Gareth .‘Hare, committed their fifth ! fouls and went off. University slipped ahead with goals by John Caldwell and I Max Herriot. but Old Boys [responded in turn and the [totals were tied at 67-67 just a minute from the end. [ Old Boys returned to the (attack, but a penalty inicurred under the University (basket gave Herriot the opportunity to sink two free (throws and, as the hooter

(sounded, John Hill, of Old :Boys, was only marginally off target with an attempted [equaliser. The strengthened Checkers ■ line-up revenged an earlier [one-point defeat that it had [suffered from Mairehau durling the tournament quarterI finals. In contrast to their (previous meeting, Checkers (immediately took up the front running and virtually I had the result in safe keeping [by half-time, when it was [nine points clear. : Checkers benefited greatly [from the long and accurate [passes of Beth McLeod and 'the experience and high work-rate of Sharon Rennell. (Although Mairehau mounted a determined challenge it was never really in range and frittered away scoring; chances because of errors. . Paul Carpinter scored 31 [ points (17 of them consecu-i tive) for Y.M.C.A. in the' men’s B grade final, but Uni-: versity narrowly won the title. : Although University’ was 'generally about six points m front for most of the second half, Y.M.C.A. gradually closed the gap as lime began to run out, and would have wrested the initiative had it been able to capitalise on more than one of five free throws. In the second-to-last, but most decisive, act of the match, Clive Pope scored for University. A goal by Bert Shipley as the hooter

.sounded could do no more [than bring Y.M.C.A. up to 58-59. Much of the credit for Greymouth Marist’s triumph in the B grade must be given to Joanne Jones, who scored 23 of her team’s. 43 points. Marist was behind DB Rovers, 23-21, at the break, and the sides took turns at adding to their totals until Jones sank three long shots [to break the deadlock. Even then Marist was not out of reach. It was left with only four players for the last 3min after three others had been fouled off, and Jones herself had incurred four such penalties. Results and scorers:— Men A grade.—University 69 <P. Logan 13, M. Herriot 13, G. Hare 12. C. Stent 9, R. Ruwhui 7, M. Ruscoe 7. J. Caldwell 6. M. McLeod 2» heal Old 80y5.67 iB. Tietsheid 19. J. Hill 16. D. Barry 15. D. Usmar 9, J. Wright 4, T. Guthrie 2, J. Whelan 2). B grade.—University 59 (R. [Bishop 23. R. Parkinson !3, C. Pope 7. P. Whiteside 6, N. iKraayvanger 6. A. Webster 4) ;beat Y.M.C.A. B 58 tP. Carpinter 131, B. Shipley 12, C. Magon 8, IW. Smith 7». Women A grade.—Checkers 52 <R. North 11. J. McMeekin 11, L. Hannen 10, S. Rennell 10. S. Elliott 5, B. McLeod. 3, S. Constable 2» beat Mairehau 44 (P. Barry 14, C. McFarlin 10. A. Taylor 8. J. Cooke 4. V. Howard. 4, M. Tastier 4). B grade.—Grey mouth Marist 43 (J. Jones 23. J. Clark -8. P. Gilbert 6, F. Menzies 5, P. Fahey 1) beat D.B. Rovers 38 (A. Boock 14, P. Carnegie 9. G. Seymour 9, S. Millan 3. Y. McKindley 2, C. Ashton I>.