Old Boys in contention

Press, 29 June 1981, Page 22

Old Boys in contention

Vistalite H. 5.0.8. moved back into contention for the men s first division basketball championship on Saturday with a good win over Continental Caterers-Rangi-ora, 66-56. ' Rangiora’s lack-lustre performance was quite surprising in light of its semi-finals appearance at the recent national men's club basketball championships.. The Old Boys win means that they and Chateau Re-gency-University are the leading contenders to play United Service Aranui next month in the best-of-three series for the division one title. University had a win over Checkers, 79-63, in a game that showed just how well Checkers can play basketball when it pulls out all the stops. In the third division one match, the competition leaders, United ServiceAranui, struggled against Butler Auto Spares before running out winners, 54-42. VISTALITE-H.5.0.8. 66;

I (K. Duff 22, M. Searle 18. A. f Mance 12, D. Barry and J. Whelan 6, H. Thomson 2). CONTINENTAL CATER-. . ERS-RANGIORA 56: (L. Dixon 14, B. Cummack 10, J. Hill 8, S. Nuku 6, J. London 5, A. Robson 4, S. O’Connor 3, G. Maynard 2. Old Boys made up for their disappointment at haying to‘field . an under-strength side at the national club tournament and came back with vengeance. ■ The Canterbury representative. Kelvin Duff, found his touch to score 22 points, while two players who could not attend the national tournament,. Al Mance and Marty Searle, returned to the side and had fine games. Mance scored 12 points and Searle 18. Mance’s work around the backboards particularly helped the Old Boys side. For Rangiora the only player to stand out was its New Zealand representative, John Hill, who recently attended the national squad training camp. He seemed fired up for the greater part of the game. His attitude was in marked contrast to the rest of the side, who seemed quite content with

their national tournament placing and uncaring about the local competition. CHATEAU REGENCY-UNI-VERSITY 79: (G. Gordon 25. M. Herribt 18, M. Ruscoe 12. J. Caldwell and A. Guillen 10. J. Wright and R>Parkinson 2). CHECKERS 63: (P. Daigneault 16. B. Daniel 15, P. Trass 14, S. Edwards 10, I. Watson 8). Checkers played above themselves in this match to be down by only six points at half tipie to the bigger-reputation University side. But when its concentration lapsed, and the taller University players, Gilbert Gordon and Max Herriot, began scoring, the writing was on the wall for the Checkers side. For Checkers its guards. Steve Edwards and Jeff Scarbrough, had a good game, while around the basket Paul Daigneault was impressive. UNITED SERVICE-ARANUI 54: (B. Knops 14, A. bennett 12, J. Rademakers 8, P. Vos and A. Campbell 6. T. Costain 4, A. Aitchison and I. Johnson 2). BUTLER AUTO SPARESY.M.C.A. 42: (C. Dobbs and J. Bosch 14, I. Webb 8, K. Jones 6, G. Atvars 2). Relying mainly on his starting five players for most of the match, the Aranui coach, Murray

Mackay, seemed at a loss against a hustling Y.M.C.A. side. The best performances came from two Y.M.C.A. players, Chris Dobbs and John Bosch. Bosch had to cope with several players his own size or bigger in and around the basket. Lower grade results were:— Division two.— Y.M.C.A.-Win-stone 61. Burnside 57; Checkers B 55, Taxes 49; University. B 82, United Service B 45. . Division three (A).— Continental Caterers 68, Riccarton 26; University C 44, H. 5.0.8. B 32; Lincoln College 90. Dukes 54; Butlers C 55, C.B.H.S. A 46; C.B.H.S. A 53, Continental Caterers B 36; H. 5.0.8. B 87, Dukes 42. Division three (B>.— Taxes B 58. C.B.H.S. B 26; Burnside B 66. Mairehau H.S. 35; Wigram 55, Checkers C 32: Hagley 39, Aranui ■ C 27; Checkers C 51. C.B.H.S. B 24; Haglev 22, Burnside B 20. H. C 2. Taxes B 0. Division four— Seekers 28, Police 11; Eric 16. Hillmorton 0. B. 14; Deaf Boys A 34. Southern 7 19; Air N.Z. 21. B.N.Z. 20. Division five.— Rothmans 26, Hotshots .20; Te Kapianga 2, I. 0; Albatross 26. Rehua 24; Riccarton 29, Kerstars 15. Division six.— Ashley 39, Toe H 21; Railway 32, Media 19; Deaf Boys B 2, Mount Cook 0; Continental Caterers 19; Mairehau C 18.