Rangiora in upset win

Press, 9 June 1980, Page 23

Rangiora in upset win

Continental Caterers. of Rangiora caused an upset ■when it beat Inns of the Pacific University, 71-57, in the Guthrey Travel men’s first division basketball competition at Cowles Stadium on Saturday. The win opens tip the possibility of a three-way tio for places in the finals. Although University seems assured of the Alan Hoban trophv and Jaks High School Old Boys should beat Y.M.C.A. to go into the finals. Rangiora might now- join Checkers and United Services Aranui in a play-off for the last two places in the top four. The upest also makes the draw for the national club championships. in Wellington at the end of June, look silly with Rangiora well below University in the rankings. The basketball federation officer, Mr Joe McLeod, said that University had the higher ranking because it had greater depth in the bench, which will be crucial in the week-long tournament. He said that out of 10 games against Rangiora, University would win nine.

But the upset came in a storm of controversy as Universityplayers lost their concentration after some refereering decisions went against them. The University coach, Mr Bob Bishop, was particularly incensed and asked if It were possible to have video machines installed to record such Incidents for analysis. He said: ‘1 am very disappointed. . A number of the calls went against us. The fans lost because of poor refereeing but we lost because of poor playing." The Rangiora coach, Mr Darrell Todd, said: "We needed the win after the hiding we got on Wednesday night. We’ve got the best refs in the country. It’s such a pity they have to referee the same guys all the time. There’s bound to be a personality problem now and again.” There will be a meeting with referees tonight at Hagley Sports Centre. Coaches have been askd to bring one player with

them to discuss rules, definitions and interpretations of the game. In the other game Checkers easily beat Aranui, 84-59, in spite of a second-half come-back by the United Services team, when it scored only five points fewer than their much taller rivals. Stan Hill was remarkable for some faultless shooting which was marred by some lax work around the court, sometimes not even seeing passes being thrown at him. However, his score of 39 is the highest by any player this season and brings his total to 127 from four games—an average of 32. Checkers won none of its five matches while he and Wayne Marsh were away in Taipei. In the early match. Jaks defeated Mairehau. 81-75. The play see-sawed for most of the match with Old Boys building their score in bursts while Mairehau potted baskets steadily, always keeping within firing distance.

Jaks will have a hard game on Wednesday night to keep out a Checkers side determined to make the top four, while Rangiora should follow up Saturday’s form by reversing its first round loss to Mairehau.

Competition points are: University 16. Old Boys 12, Aranui 10, Mairehau 8. Rangiora 8, Y.M.C.A. 8, Checkers 8.

RANGIORA 71 (Al Robson 23, J. London 15, J. Hill 13. L. Dixon 8. R. Scarhill 6. D. Edmonds 6) beat UNIVERSITY 57 (M. Herriot 13, J. Caldwell 11, G. Gordon 11, M. Ruscoe 10. G. Hare 6. M. Stokes 2, J. Wright 2, A. Guillen 2). Referees: R. Berry and B. Martin.

The play was extremely- close for all of tire first spell with Rangiora staying one or two points ahead after 10 minutes of settling down. The University captain. Matt Ruscoe, snatched the lead in the 16min but it was shortlived as Rangiora surged ahead. Al Robson (23 points) played another solid game compiling his total with a series of

baskets which kept Rangiora ahead, 32-30 at half-lime. If possible, the scoring was even closer as the teams jostled for the lead in the early part of the second half. Max Herriot. University’s top scorer with 13 points, w-as hampered by a strong defence with John Hill and Lance Dixon winning a lot of Rangiora’s ball. But it was John London’s day, scoring a hat-trick in the sixteenth and seventeenth minutes with some off-balance shots which uncannily found the ring. His total of 15 points Is his highest — his previous best was 13 — and is a fitting climax before he flies to London in August. it was after the llmin. that University allowed refereeing decisions on one technical and one intentional foul which went against them, to upset their play. They lost concentration and Rangiora capitalised to pull away in the last 9 minutes scoring 22 points to University’s 9. Checkers 84 (S. HUI 39, A. MUlar 17, E. Vollmers 12, P. Hard 8, W. Marsh 6, R. Ruwhui 2) beat Aranui 59 (J. Rademakers 20, B. Knopps 17, K. Ritsma 11, T. Costain 8, G. Campbell 5). Referees: B. McCormack and R. Milligan. With Alan Campbell out with glandular fever and Phil HUI with a sprained ankle it was a depleted Aranui side which faced the Checkers onslaught. Checkers easUy built up an early lead with Stan HUI potting at wUI. The 9min. score of 16-4 was stretched to a 20-point margin at half-time (39-19). They rested on their laurels after the break and allowed an Aranui comeback. Some nice long shots by Dutchie Rademakers (20 points) after 7min. (57-35) and again after llmin. reduced the deficit to 17 points (64-47). However, Eric VoUmers with 12 points jumped well for Checkers and helped take the sting out of the Aranui comeback after 14min. (75-21) and Checkers cruised through to the bell with comparative ease.

Jaks H. 5.0.8. 81 (K. Duff 21 J. Whelan 18; A. Manco 12, M ■ Searle 10, T. Guthrie 10, C Cowie 6, H. Thomson 4) beat . Mairehau 75 (B. Fifield 14, M Seaward 14, B. Hall 12, J Phillips 12. M. Hall 10, P Kearney 9, J. Picker 4). Referees: R. Milligan and M. Warren. Jaks made better use of interceptions during the see-sawlng settling down period. Al Mance jumped well with three baskets after 17min. (33-29>. Kelvin Duff, i top scoring with 21. played another fine game contributing to Jaks half-time lead of 43-34. Mairehau worked well in gaining the rebounds but failed to convert these to points on the second or third attempts. This contrasted with Old Boys who set up play systematically and made first shots count. Mike Seaward was limited to 14 points by a strong Old Boys defence. Their second half scoring bursts Occurred after 9min. (63-45) and 16min. (75-58) while Mairehau built up their score by a steady trickle of baskets, keeping the final margin down to a respectable six points.