Canty beaten by Hill, whistle

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 28

Canty beaten by Hill, whistle

From

FRANK DUGGAN

Darrel Todd ended his 2te year reign as coach of the Converse Canterbury Countrywide men’s basketball league team at the Wellington Show and Sports Centre on Friday evening, disappointed more for his players tnan for himself after the Rams had lost 100116 to the defending champions, Exchequer Saints (Wellington), in the best semi-final of the evening. “Naturally I’m disappointed, but more for the players because they have put so much into it for so long only to go down on the eve of what could have been their greatest success,” he said after the match.

“I never like criticising referees, but as far as the foul count tonight was concerned it was all one-way traffic (Canterbury was penalised 26 times and Saints on nine occasions). This cost us dearly and almost certainly the match,” said Mr Todd. “We made mistakes and no team likes losing two handy leads and then go down by 16 points. Still, I thought we played well and, given the breaks and a fair share of the referees’ calls, it could have been a totally different result.”

The Canterbury players were bitterly disappointed with the result and after the game individuals sat in solitude allowing the defeat to sink further in. One player felt that Canterbury could have done better, but the same applied to the referees. “They (the referees) could see only one colour under the boards and that was red. It got that bad that we were frightened to contest the ball, because every time we did the whistle arrived and Saints went to the free-throw line,”

he said. In both halves Canterbury went on to team fouls after only 10 minutes. Still the fouls continued to be called and Saints’ increasing traffic to the free-throw line was like rush time at the Wellington railway station. Saints rarely missed the opportunity, particularly the star of the match, the 2.03 m power forward, Angelo Hill, who has seldom played better. His dominance of the boards increased with every minute and he ended up with a game “high” of 43 points and 15 rebounds. He, more than anyone else, sunk Canterbury. His ability to power inside and shoot successfully from practically every position, including one when he was almost horizontal to the floor, demoralised a weakening Canterbury defence, which "climaxed” with its tallest men, Eddie McLeod and John Hill, fouling off in the last quarter. Canterbury was beaten however, before their departure. The gradual slide went into over-drive with seven minutes remaining. Canterbury and the Saints were .locked together after 7% minutes of the second half, 69-all, and a series of three pointers had Canterbury leading 81-76 at the end of the third quarter. A similar situation had occurred in the first half, Canterbury leading 28-22, and Saints recovering to have a two-point margin, 52-50, at the change-over. Canterbury’s second-half lead was brief, however, and only acted as a spur for Saints, and particularly Angelo Hill, to lift its performance another 50 per cent. When this happened Canterbury started playing like a lot of puzzled young men who had just found out

that the rich prize of the league title in one hand had suddenly became a wet squib in the other hand.

Canterbury played as if in a quandary. Passes were 111oirected or dropped, shots missed the mark, and there was the ever-increasing presence of Angelo Hill who started to really enjoy himself and carve out bigger gaps in a jelly-like Canterbury defence. It was in complete contrast to Canterbury’s earlier performance, but once again rammed home two points that have curtailed Canterbury all season, the almost non-exist-ence of offensive rebounding, and a lack of bench strength, particularly hard-nosed rebounders and reliable shooters. John Hill did not have a good game and had a difficult time matching the toughness of Peter Ruscoe in the first half and the agility of his Hill namesake in the second spell. McLeod started the game off rebounding like he had just been appointed the window cleaner of the stadium’s new glass backboards. But defen-sive-wise his effort did not last, although he retained a scoring ability sufficient to top score with 28 points. Another forward, lan Webb, did a sound job in difficult circumstances. He, too, was puzzled over one or two personal fouls, particularly when he was penalised under the defensive boards for touching the ring attempting to block a shot. The referees overlooked the fact that he had his hands pushed against the ring. The utility players had games of sorts. Both Dave Edmonds and Bert Knops did not sustain a degree of consistency sufficient at this level, and Edmonds was easy “meat”

for a rampaging Angelo Hill in the second half. The “old guard,” Clyde Huntly and John Rademakers, played close to their breathtaking form of earlier seasons. Both have lost a yard of pace, but their experience and consistency on Friday evening often out-manoeuvred a less skilful Saints guard-line. They were Canterbury’s top players, Rademakers getting 24 points and Huntley 17, mainly from three-pointers. They, more than anybody else, kept Canterbury’s chances alive until the last five minutes. Kelvin Duffs court time was restricted to the last 90 seconds and in this time he scored two glorious threepointers, an indication that Mr Todd may have made better use of his services earlier on. Canterbury’s performance was aptly summed up by the D.B. Auckland coach, Mr Steve McKean, at half-time as he sat watching the game with his seven-month-old daughter. “Canterbury is trying to play the percentage game without its renowned flair of hitting everybody from the guardline," he said. “That suits Saints, they don’t have to run so fast. Canterbury should vary its play more, get some of those big boys getting a sweat up in rebounding, and play the natural game it does so well,” said Mr McKean. “Otherwise they’re down the tube.”

That is what Canterbury failed to do and suffered the consequences. Variety is the spice of life, but life during the last three months of the league competition had become something of a grim existence for Canterbury and its decision to replace natural flair with colourless and uninventive patterns led to its downfall more

than anything else. Saints took a long time to eventually stamp its authority and its coach, Craig Furlong, had some worrying moments before Saints started to play full court basketball. Ruscoe, the hero of the previous season’s Saints championship success when he shut out the redoubtable Auckland forward, Benny Anthony, was the first to cause some anxiety to Canterbury. The tall, bearded forward, was unyielding as he upset the Canterbury defence and, although his tactics may have been questionable on occasions, he was the first to start the jitters in the Canterbury rear division. With the consistently probing Kenny McFadden driving forward and making Canterbury back-pedal—a zone defence was lacking—Saints thrived on the orthodox buildup and when Hill decided to stamp his mark in the second half his job became something like a courier delivering roses for the best of results. Result: EXCHEQUER SAINTS 116 (A. Hill 43, K. McFadden 27, R. Wineera 12, P. Ruscoe 11, J. Saker 9, G. Gordon and F. Mulvihill both 5, D. Mason 4). CONVERSE CANTERBURY 100 (E. McLeod 28, J. Rademakers 24, C. Huntley 17, J. Hill 8, K. Duff, D. Edmonds and B. Knops 6 each, I. Webb 5). Half-time: 52-50 (Saints). Earlier, in the first semifinal noted for the repeated failure of the scoring clock, D.B. Auckland has little difficulty improving on a half-time lead of 37-35 to swamp Hamilton Supersport in the second half and win 105-89. A subsequent protest by Hamilton over the result was later dismissed.