Basketball league lead to Canty

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 3

Basketball league lead to Canty

The 3ZM Canterbury men’s basketball team shot to the lead of the Countrywide national league championships with two wins in Wellington at the week-end. Canterbury beat the strong Exchequer Saints team, 10396, on Saturday evening and yesterday afternoon came from a half-time deficit of 50-45 to down 2ZM Centrals, 95-89.

Canterbury is now unbeaten in three league games, having been successful over Friday’s Restaurant-Ponsonby, 74-68, in the opening game in Christchurch the previous week-end. Bowater Nissan Nelson lost a chance to shake the lead with Canterbury when beaten 101-82 by Kinnerley Video-Hamilton at Hamilton. Nelson now have four points from three games, with five of the other six league teams each having two points. Napier has lost three games. This is the first time Canterbury has headed the league and one of the rare occasions it has won an away double-header. The senior Canterbury coach, Mr Darrel Todd, said the win against Centrals yesterday gave him the most personal satisfaction. “The game against Saints the previous evening was energy-sapping and to come back against a side like Centrals and beat them only a few hours later was, to me, the extreme tribute to a good team.” In both games Canterbury

played a full court pattern. ’‘Against Saints we made the most of the shots available and grabbed a few steals,” he said. “We virtually ran Saints off their feet and always held a slight advantage. We pushed them all over the court and pressed their guards at all times to see if they could goal from outside. They didn’t.”

The Americans, Angelo Hill and Kenny McFadden, were virtually a one-man band for Saints. Hill scored 48 points and McFadden 27, 75 per cent of Saints’ total.

Canterbury’s centreforward, John Hill, was' the game’s outstanding player and was an awesome figure under the boards. Dave Edmonds also played well, as did John Rademakers, who scored 29 points, seven less than the Canterbury captain and scoring machine, Clyde Huntley. As usual, Huntley topped the score sheet in the Centrals game. He got 33 points, with Edmonds (12), Hill (11), Rademakers (10), and Bert Knops (10), all being in the double-figure ranks.

“The Centrals game was a real team effort,” said Mr Todd, noting that nine of the 10-man squad scored points. Showing the effects of the tough Saturday evening game, Canterbury did not settle until Centrals had got out to a 21-12 lead after five minutes and later to 27-17. Canterbury ran into team foul problems after 11

minutes but still managed to cut Centrals’ lead to 50-45 at the break.

“We just kept grinding away, following our same full court pattern,” said Mr Todd. Eventually the tactics paid off and Centrals’ cause was not helped when Canterbury went on to team fouls with eight minutes left.

Canterbury grabbed the lead with six minutes left, 81-79, and held an advantage to the end. Canterbury’s next game is against D.B. MetroAuckland in Christchurch on Saturday, May 19. Results:

Canterbury 103, Saints (Wellington) 96; Ponsonby 77, Napier 68; Hamilton 101, Nelson 82; Canterbury 95, Centrals 89; D.B. Metro (Auckland) 86, Napier 84.