Mangonui Basketball Draw

Northern Advocate, 24 May 1939, Page 2

Mangonui Basketball Draw

Following is the draw for the Mangonui basketball competitions on Saturday next:—High School, Awanui and Valley, at High School courts, Kaitaia; Old Pupils and Takahuo. at Takahue; Pukcpoto. a bye.

Of special interest to Northlanders was the .appearance of Jack: Taylor, formerly of Kamo and now well on the way to making his name in city League. Jack played, a typically good game, and wa£ .always with the ball. The performance of the combined side was full of merit, as was shown by the final score. ■ ». Stringfellow (Hikurangi) and Flesher (Portland) filled the wing positions and both played sound dashing games, knowing what to do when the ball came their way and tackling hard. There was little to choose, between them, and each scored two tries. Claude Hamilton (Hikurangi) had a day out with the boot, and chalked up three conversions.

George Mackie Improves From Last Year. Most pleasing was the performance of George Mackie-(Portland) at fullback. He was ready for every, call when the home side was;:lap;.against it in the first half, and came,, to light with great initiative in the- second spell. - - - . At. times he came right .up among the forwards to initiate movements, while his kicking and tackling were hard and true. His game this - season has shown tremendous improvement over last year, and he seems well on the way to representative honours. Centre three-quarter was Picker ell, i Hikurangi’s new winger, who played ,a hard, penetrating game and was always to the fore. Tommy Wallbank (Portland) . was excellent as five-eighth until halftime, when he left the field to give another man a chance to appear before the selectors. ' ■

In the first spell as half-back. Raisbeck played a sound game, getting the ball away cleanly, but in the second, when he changed to first five-eighth and Tautari was the pivot, he was standing too close up .and-lost many passes altogether, besides losing that extra split-second which makes for a good getaway. - -- Promising s "Young Players. Tautari revealed himself as ,a game young half, and thrilled the. gallery with his dive passes,, In the forwards, one of the most prominent was Laird, a young player from Hikurangi, whose game was more than pleasing. \ Tooth made a good job of his hooking, especially in the second spell, when his side gained much more of the ball. ; ■ Len Payne (City) replaced McConnell who was injured, in the last half, and played an. outstanding game, apart from the fact that ho. was fresher than the rest of the field. His play was clean, and he always with the ball with deadly spoiling tactics. George Pitman, Pirihi and Paki comprised the rest of the "pack," and their solid hunting several times, had Newton worried.