Basketball Old Boys retain lead

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 25

Basketball Old Boys retain lead

Vistalite High School Old Boys carried on their march towards retaining the Alan Hoben trophy for Canterbury senior men's basketball with another clear-cut win at Cowles Stadium on Saturday afternoon. This time it was Edgeware Service Station-Mairehau’s turn to be on the losing end of another polished Old Boys performance. Old Boys led by 20 points, 51-31, at the interval and continued to dominate the speed of the game to eventually win 89-71. With five of their six rivals weakened in the competition through the loss of league players, Old Boys should have little trouble retaining their title going on their four unbeaten efforts. They have averaged 85 points a game and conceded only 57 points in each match. Businessworld ComputersUniversity shares the lead with Old Boys after beating Aranui, 62-54, in a reasonably close game. University, however, has played one more game than Ola Boys and, at present, looks the only side to offer a real challenge to the champions. Butler Auto Spares moved into a tie with Admiral LodgeCheckers for third place when beating Continental CaterersRangiora, 57-54, in a game which had twice as many missed shots as successful attempts. Checkers, which had the bye on Saturday, and Butlers share the best defensive record of the competition with an average of 55 points a game.

Dennis Barry (Old Boys), and John Bosch (Butlers), led the scoring for the day with 26 points each. Barry’s return to form came at an opportune time with the team’s top shooter, Kelvin Duff, being unavailable. Bosch continued his run of high scoring for Butlers in recent matches. The quicksilvered Mairehau guard, Murray Weir, bad a good day with 22 points. Rangiora and Mairehau have yet to win in four games, while Aranui has won one match out of four and is fifth in the competition. Results:— University 62, Aranui 54; H. 5.0.8. 89, Mairehau . 71; Butlers 57, Rangiora 54; Checkers a bye. Competition points:—

University 62, Aranui 54 University: J. Caldwell 14, R. Evans 10, K. Eriksen 9, J. Dahl 8, T. Thodey 8, N. Crampton 6, B. Alexander 5, P. Mulvihill 2. Aranui: P. Hill 15, A. Timu 13, N. Costain 10, G. Harrison 8, T. Costain 4, R. Davis 2, D. Moir 2. Half-time: 31-all.

University, still smarting after losing one point to Checkers the previous week, struggled to defeat a depleted Aranui side. The scores were equal at 31-all at half-time and it was not until late in the game that University’s greater bench strength began to swing the game in its favour. However, the success was far from convincing and the University captain-coach, John Caldwell, must be disappointed in the light of previous good performances. In three games during the week, University won two, but the efforts were usually riddled with mistakes. The referees kept strict control and the game failed to flow. Visits to the free throw line were frequent, University being penalised 22 times and Aranui on 20 occasions. Univerity made better use of

the opportunities and scored 13 points. A generally disjointed and frustrating game saw three players being fouled off in the second half, including Jim Dahl, who strung together five demeanours in rapid succession, and Tim Thodey (both University) and Alan Timu (Aranui). All three had previously bad useful games. The loss of its two league players, Bery Knops and John Rademakers, creates real problems for Aranui at any time, but they worsened on Saturday with the absence of the top-scoring Kerry Ritsma. Under the circumstances Phil Hill (15 points), Alan Timu (13), Neville Costain (10), and Graeme Harrison (8) did a good job. H. 5.0.8. 89, Mairehau 71. D. Barry 26, J. Whelan 16, H. Thomson 15, A. Maneo 12, T. Crenshaw 8, C. Cowie 6, M. Searle 6. Mairehau: Murray Weir 22, P. Kuipers 17, P. Berry 14, B. Hall 8, S. Paterson 6, D. Green 4. Half-time: 51-31 (H5.0J8.). Old Boys and Mairehau were allowed to play a free-flowing game and the result was the best showing of the afternoon. Old Boys were never really threatened at any stage and the success compounded the early-season prediction that they should again be the champions. A 51-31 Old Boys lead at half-time did not deter Mairehau from running the ball in the second half and the tactics were much more successful, Mairehau outscoring Old Boys by 40 points to 38, However, Mairehau’s secondhalf surge never really put any real pressure on an Old Boys side playing well within themselves. Dennis Barry strung together 26 well taken points for Old Boys and he was followed in the score-line by John Whelan (16), Hugh Thomson (15), and Al Manco (12). This quartet of Old Boys scorers more than compensated for the loss of the top-scoring Kelvin Duff, who was not available. Thomson had a rather dramatic exit from the court late in the game, being

given three fouls inside 30 seconds, the final call, a technical, after an intentional fouL Murray Weir was at his best in getting 22 points for Mairehau and some of the most successful shots were from well out Brian Fifield was missed for his strength under the boards, and it was left to Peter Kuipers and Steve Paterson to do most of the work in this area. Butlers 57, Rangiora 54. Butlers: L. Bosch 26, K. Jones 10, P. Cook 8, B. Duggan 8, P. Scott 3, M. Turner 2. Rangiora: A. Robson 18, R. Whearty 10, P. Hobbs 8, M. Knox 6, P. Milner 6, J. London 6. Halftime: 30-29 (Butlers). Butlers generally make a habit of cutting it close and the same applied against Rangiora. Early in the competition Butlers dropped two games after extra time, with one going into double overtime. Since then Butlers’ winning margins in three games have been 62-54 (Mairehau), 5553 (Aranui), and three points against Rangiora on Saturday. Butlers won a game it could quite easily have thrown away on two occasions. An early 12point lead was "blown'' to end up Butlers leading by only one point, 36-29, at the break. Then, in the early stages of the second half, Butlers pulled back a three-point deficit to have a lead of 12 points with six minutes left But Butlers allowed Rangiora to get back into the game in the final minutes and sat uneasily on a three-point advantage at the end. John Bosch was Butler’s outstanding figure both on defence and attack. He not only scored 26 points but collected a host of rebounds. Ken Jones avas an astute guard; Peter (8) and Bill Duggan (8), although he had a dreadful day with his shooting, were strong under the boards. Rangiora’s captain-coach, Allan Robson, led by example. He scored 18 points and defended well In an unselfish display. Both Bob Whearty (10) ana Paul Hobbs (8) had one of their better club games this season, Hobbs, in particular, being active in the guard-line.

P W L F A Pt JLS.O.R 4 4 341 229 8 University 5 4 1 306 279 8 Butlers 5 3 2 279 275 6 Checkers 4 3 1 199 219 6 Aranui 4 1 3 265 266 2 Mairehau 4 4 253 283 Rangiora 4 - 4 218 301