Saints set to end Auckland’s run

Press, 13 July 1984, Page 23

Saints set to end Auckland’s run

By

FRANK DUGGAN

Everything good must come to an end, and in DB Auckland’s case its two-year reign as Countrywide national men’s basketball champions should be halted at Lower Hutt on Sunday afternoon. Exchequer Saints (Wellington) . starts the final as the favourite and should win.

An unbeaten run of six wins in the last five weeks of the qualifying rounds lifted Saints to the top of the table, while the early leader, DB, struggled in that period and dropped three of its seven games. Last season both teams met in the final, Stan Hill, who has since moved to Tauranga, being a dominant figure in DB’s narrow success. DB is without Hill this time and will rely heavily on the Americans, Benny Anthony (last season’s top guard) and David Trost. Conversely, two other > Americans, Ronnie-Voyney land Kenny McFad@n, are

outstanding players for Saints.

DB is probably more formidable in bench strength than Saints, with players such as Paul Barrett, Kim Harvey, Allan Ovens, David Neutz, Craig Cruickshank, and Warwick Meehl to call on.

However, while DB has been stuttering in recent weeks, Saints has been running hot and it would come as something of a surprise if it went off the boil on Sunday. Voyney came to Saints at the beginning of last month as a replacement for the seriously-injured Angelo Hill, who had been a dominant figure. Voyney has proved more than an adequate replacement. Since he joined, Saints has not lost a game and the American has usually topped the score sheet, both as a joints scorer and a rebcvuder.

Twice this season Saints has beaten DB. In the first game in Auckland, Saints won 86-85, but six weeks later in Wellington the margin was more decisive — 8977.

On that score alone Saints has a psychological advantage, strengthened by the fact that the winner of past finals has never been beaten by its rival in the season’s qualifying rounds. Ironically 3ZM Canterbury twice defeated Saints, but lost twice to DB. South Island interest in this week-end’s national finals will centre on the Nelson women’s team and the Otago second division men's side.

The Nelson women will be trying to go one better than Canterbury, the beaten finalists, last season. Nelson was unbeaten in the southern division qualifying

rounds and should reach the final. Other semi-finalists are last season’s champion, Hamilton, North Shore (northern division), and Porirua, who finished runner-up to Nelson in the southern division.

Otago’s challenge for a place in next season’s top league has been a feature of the qualifying rounds in the men’s second division. The inclusion of the American player-coach, Charlie Wise, has made the difference. Palmerston North is the other southern division qualifier (both had a win and a loss against each other), and New Plymouth and North Shore are northern division semi-finalists. The two finalists automatically win promotion to next year’s senior division, which has been expanded to 10 teams. New Plymouth has been the outstanding second division team this season and looks certain of a place. It is anyone’s guess wKy will get the other spot.