Nelson beats Canty

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 6

Nelson beats Canty

By

FRANK DUGGAN

The unpredictability of the 3ZM Canterbury men’s Countrywide basketball team turned full circle at Cowles' Stadium on Saturday afternoon when Bowater Nissan-Nelson “white-washed” the league coleaders 103-80. Nelson completely and incomprehensibly outclassed Canterbury and but for Nelson relaxing its vice-like grip on the game in the last five minutes the winning margin would have been well into the thirties. Canterbury's display was abysmal and in complete contrast to its professional-like and spectacular performances earlier in the season when winning three games in succession. However, the writing was on the wall two weeks ago when the Rams frittered away a 23-point half-time lead to lose 98-96 to D.B. Metro-Auck-land followed by two indifferent efforts when losing to Hamilton and Napier. Perhaps the Canterbury players had spent too long watching the international netball curtain-raiser where defence was suspect, passing sometimes wildly astray and shooting inconsistent. The Canterbury men started where the young New Zealand netballers left off. However, in fairness to the women they attempted to solve their problems and kept trying; some of the basketbailers appeared to go through the motions and their indifference was like chicken-pox; it spread like wildfire. Nelson’s success was its first against Canterbury in the league since the competition was introduced in 1981. It was well worth the waiting and Nelson’s winning margin was the biggest Canterbury has suffered in the league. Nelson completely outplayed Canterbury in all departments, with one man, Jacques Tuz, dominating both the offence and defence boards. The 2.02 m American forward, scored a season’s high of 43 points and picked up 17 rebounds. Tuz’s performance was a high point in a real team effort. The guards, Brent Wright and Euan Lockhart, hustled and bustled to such an extent in wrong-footing and “stealing” Canterbury possession that the Rams could not settle to its fast-breaking game. Tony Shallcrass, Nick Costley, and the captain, Tom Lesko, complemented what the coach, Dave Taylor, later described as his team’s best performance. “We knew that we had to ■ upset Clyde Huntley so we put two guards on him and did not allow him to run,” said Mr Taylor. “It worked better than we expected, but this was a real team game. In the end it was us who were gunning and running when everybody expected Canterbury to do so.”

Asked to compare his Saturday team with last season (Nelson held league status after a promotion-relegation series), Mr Taylor replied: “Three inches better.” “Last year we had the American, Bill Mercer (1.85 m and he was good," said Mr Taylor. “This year we have Tuz, three inches taller, just as good if not better than Mercer, and that has made the difference.” Nelson’s 45 per cent shooting average came from 40 successful shots from 91 attempts, Tuz being followed on the score line by Shallcrass (13) and Lesko (12). Tuz’s average was 55 per cent from the floor and 88 per cent from free throws. In comparison Canterbury scored only 31 goals from 75 attempts, a 41.33 per cent average, and from 15 of 24 visits to the free-throw line. From the eleventh to the sixteenth minute in the first half Nelson scored 16 points to Canterbury’s two. In the first eight minutes of the game Canterbury got only four points from a possible 30 points from the floor which gives a further indication of the Rams’ inexcusably bad shooting. The one factor that brought Canterbury reasonably close at the end of the first half, 43-34, was that Nelson went on to team fouls after 12 minutes. It was Canterbury’s turn to be on team fouls with seven

minutes of the game left and Nelson ahead by 30 points. This gave the Nelson coach the luxury of using all 12 members on his bench and eventually allowed Canterbury to close the winning margin to 23 points. One word can describe Canterbury’s performance, inept, and it will need a more dedicated and purposeful effort today at Cowles Stadium to beat Exchequer Saints-Welling-ton. Admittedly Canterbury beat Saints 103-96 earlier in the season, but the Canterbury team is now playing at only half the capacity it was then. Perhaps the Canterbury coach, Darrel Todd, might do well to ponder on the quip made by a spectator in the second half when Mr Todd briefly stopped the play as two children playing at the end of the court accidentally bounced their ball into the play. “Is that your team, Darrel?" joked the spectator. Result: Nelson 103 (J. Tuz 43, T Shallcrass 13, T. Lesko 12, E. Lockhart 9, B. Wright 8, D. Jacob 6, N. Costley, D. Paul both 4, G. Duffy, A. Webster both 2. Canterbury 80 (C. Huntley 20, A. Bennett 19, J. Rademakers 15, J. Hill 9, D. Usmar 8, B. Knops 6, I. Webb 3). Half-time: 43-34 (Nelson). The referees were Messrs R. Milligan (Canterbury) and D. Solomon (Otago).