Tonight the night for main title tilt

Press, 25 August 1986, Page 23

Tonight the night for main title tilt

This evening’s Canterbury men’s basketball penultimate round of games at Pioneer Stadium should go a long way to deciding the winner of the main championship. The front runner, Butler Auto Spares, already the winner of the preliminary championship, the' Alan Hoben Trophy, will play Vistalite High School Old Boys and success this evening will ensure Butler, formerly Y.M.C.A., of its first main championship in 10 years.

It will not be easy however, judging by the performance of Old Boys at Cowles Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Butier won by default against University A (the students were too involved in other commitments); Old Boys struggled for most of their game against Haralds University B and then came right. Behind 23-26 at half-time, Old Boys managed to draw level, 60-all, with two minutes

left and then scored six points to two to seal the game.

It was a typical escape act by Old Boys this season. It may have lost its long reign as champion last year, but it still retains a fighting spirit, as it has shown in recent matches.

However, its bench coach, Mr Ray Thomson, has had many problems this year, attempting to fill the gaps of John Whelan, Dennis Barry and so on. He has encouraged youth, rightly so, but the team often lacks in stability.

That is what will worry him this evening. His son, Hugh, will not be playing — he is at the universities’ tournament — and neither will Alan Manco, a redoubtable forward, and Craig Cowie, who lost a toe recently.

Mr Thomson has promoted B grade players, and they will be deeply involved this evening, as they were on Saturday. However, the dan-

ger factor to Butler is Kelvin Duff, who scored 27 points on Saturday, and remains the only pure shooter in Canterbury basketball.

He is at his best in club basketball where he gets more action and opportunity. In the league, he appears to clam up, although work commitments restrict his training and possibly affect his concentration.

Butler has beaten Old Boys in earlier clashes this season, but Old Boys usually reserves its best for last, and this evening’s struggle should be absorbing.

However, going on this season’s form, Butler must be the favourite. In 16 games it has dropped only one match, and leads the championship grade, having won nine of its 10 games, compared with its closest rival, Admiral Lodge Checkers, with seven out of 10. Old Boys is in third place, with six wins out of 10 attempts.

Whatever the outcome of

this evening’s match, Butler can at least tie for the title. Its last game is against Checkers on Saturday. Should Butler win either of the two games, it has captured the title. In the other senior match on Saturday, Continential Caterers Rangiora always held an edge over Aranui, improving from a 31-27 first half advantage to win 70-60. High scorers for the day were Kelvin Duff (Old Boys) 27 and Lance Dixon (Rangiora) 26. Both played a large part in their team’s success. Results: Rangiora 70, Aranui 60; Old Boys 66, Haralds 62; Butlers beat University A by default; Checkers a bye. Competition points.

Rangiora 70, Aranui 60 Rangiora: L. Dixon 26, A. Robson 15, D. Ruske 10, P. Newall 7, C. Kilgour 5, K. Schasching 4, R. Whearty 2, M. Holland 1. Aranui: K. Ritsma 18, P. Hill 14, L. Dunstan 12, P. Douglas 5, T. Costain 4, A. Aitchison 3, R. Davis and C Penney, both 2. Half-time: 31-27 (Rangiora). The referees were Messrs Paul Ray and Nick Warren. The league centre, Lance Dixon, and Rangiora’s cap-

tain, Alan Robson, did a fine job in containing a sometimes vigorous Aranui team. Dixon scored 26 points, with Robson getting 15 in his best game of the season. Rangiora always held control, leading 31-27 at the break, then easing away in the second half. A guard, Dean Ruske (10), had a good game fbr Rangiora, while the best of the Aranui players were the usually consistent Korry Ritsma (18), Phil Hill (14) in a good captain’s role, and Lloyd Dunstan (12). H. 5.0.8. 66,

Haralds 23

H. 5.0.8.: K. Duff 27, G. Lang 11, H. Thomson 10, T. Shalkeld 7, N. Dawson 6, G. Eader 5. Haralds: S. Eves 17, G. Bain 16, G. Magon 11, J.

Price 8, R. Evans 6, G. Otman 4. The referees were Mrs Carl Fahey and Mr Ken Kilgour.

Old Boys did a fair amount of soul-searching before overcoming Haralds by four points. Haralds led, 26-23, at halftime, but“old Boys charged to a 38-30 lead five minutes into the second half, helped by three three-pointers by Kelvin Duff. However, the score was tied at 60-all in the eighteenth minute. That was the closest Haralds got. Duff had a fine game getting 27 points, while Glen Lang (11) and Hugh Thomson (10) had sound games. The robust Steve Eves (17) and Graeme Bain (16) were the pick of the Haralds players apart from Grant Magon (11).

P W L F A Pt Butlers 10 9 1 617 534 9

Checkers 10 7 3 675 579 7 H.S.O.B. 10 6 4 688 662 6 Haralds 10 5 5 612 579 5 Rangiora 10 4 6 590 636 4 Aranui 11 3 8 712W766 3 niver. A 11 2 9 517 i 518 2