WIN FOR POLICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21852, 24 October 1945, Page 6

WIN FOR POLICE

AMERICAN BASKETBALL CHINESE DEFEATED 79-45 BRILLIANT DISPLAY j In its Police-. Force team, Gisborne cal} justifiably claim to possess one of the besf combinations in American basketball ip the Dominion to-day. Support for this statement is given in the decisive manner in which they defeated Wellington’s crack team —the S.M.Y.M.— in Gisborne on Monday afternoon, the final scoro being 79 —45. ; The S.M.Y.M. is an all-Chinese team and won the Wellington championship tiiis sea) son. The initials stand for Sam Min Youth Movement, and the Wellington team represented a New Zealand branch of this organisation.

Size, aggressive teamwork, accuracy and stamina gate the home team the edge and it was the nkilful use of these factors which gave tho homo team their victory. - All members of tho Police team towered at least a foot over tho tallest of the Chinese players and this was perhaps the principal rea-on for Police’s win. More so than the visitors they adopted their tactics to suit the conditions and by keeping the ball high they bad tho monopoly of it. The teamwork of tho homo side was excellent and throwing the ball about with confidence, they were able to bring their attacks to fruition more frequently. Greater accuracy at goal shooting was markedly in Police’s favour. They were a bit ragged at first, but with practice improved” Of course, the longer reach stood them in good stead. The Chinese at times were inclined to be haphazard in this direction and many shots that appeared “sure things” went astray. Nevertheless, both sides at times gave brilliant exhibitions of goaling. High Speed I’lay Tho Chinese made the early pace, but towards the end were visibly tiring, while the Police after wearing down their oppoiK ents kept the pressure on until the final whistle. Tho high scoring testifies to the speed of the game. The visitors were probably handicapped in that they spent all the previous day travelling and consequently were.not so fit as the Police. Also their method of play must have been more exhausting. t' The 34 point margin is not a true indication of the respective merits of the two teams and the S.M.Y'.M. was certainly not disgraced by their defeat. It was a beau-; tiful team to watch and their agility was truly remarkable. Their prowess at leap-* ing would make any ballet dancer envious. > Another handicap they faced was that this was tlie first occasion they had played on an inside court. The game was played in four spells of 15} minutes, Inn on three occasions S.M.Y.M., took privilege and called ‘‘time out.” < The visitors opened up the scoring, but their ascendancy was short-lived and within two minutes Police had levelled them and drawn ahead and the first spell saw the score 9 —7. By half-time Police had piled on 33 points as against the visitors’ 25. The slump really set in now and in the third quarter Police added twice a 3 many points as tho Wellingtonians and the rest whistle saw the score go to 57—37, During the last 15 minutes the police had it very much to their liking, with the result that they added a further 22 points to their opponents’ eight, bringing the final score to The referees were Messrs. G. C. Lucas and If. L. I.e Bas. During an interval in the play, Mr. Le Bas thanked the Chinese team for their visit and the team was accorded three cheers by the sizeable gallery of spectators. A collection was taken up and the pro* coeds are to go towards the Chinese war re. lief fund and tho Gisborne-East Coast Y.M.C.A. Immediately after the game the visitor sterted on their return journey.