A sporting weekend can entail fishing, watching the next generation at play or maybe a bit of shopping.
Or it can mean busting it up and down Court 4 at Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale, playing Tupu men’s league basketball with a view to being one of two Central Zone teams to qualify for the national championships.
The here and now for the Quentin Solomon-coached Gisborne Basketball Association crew on that mission features games against Manawatu at 11am and Taranaki at 5pm tomorrow.
The Central Zone semifinals are at 10am on Sunday, followed by the final and play-off for third and fourth at 2pm.
The Taranaki game will reunite Gisborne with one of the greats of the Rising Suns’ second division heydays - Dwayne Tamatea, who is coaching Taranaki.
The Scott Muncaster-led GBA lost 105-67 to Hawke’s Bay at the Gisborne YMCA on Saturday but interest in and excitement around the modern equivalent of national second division hoops is growing.
Social media is abuzz nationwide and there is great interest among youth and veterans, particularly in the provinces.
“We trust the structures we’ve embedded at training in the last month,” Solomon said. “In the game against Hawke’s Bay we ran our offensive plays and created open shots. Defensively, we’ve got to do the same thing. We’ve got to maintain discipline, trust our principles, and we’ll be OK.”
The GBA team are Scott Muncaster (c), Carl Riini (vc), Adam Harford, Adam Nepe, Adrian Peachey, Thomas Kepa, Felix Sparks, CJ Tarei, Cody Tarei, Ryan Walters, Dom Wilson.
Near misses: City Lights pip Massive Marauders
It was a week of near-misses and games so close that the victors could hardly breathe afterwards.
Defending Men’s Premier Grade champions City Lights squeaked by Massive Marauders 57-54 to avoid what would have been an upset for the ages in the late game on Tuesday night.
Team man Dom Wilson’s assist to Simon Wilson (11) saw the MMs open the scoring. He also found Stefan Pishief (11 points) for a field goal the big man could not turn into a three-point play.
In the fourth period, a spectacular Wilson crossover dribble right-side to the hoop, and later a three-point shot from the top of the key, was as much any true competitor could do in a lost cause.
Wilson left-side ducked underneath Lights strongman Adam Nepe to keep the Marauders in touch at 19-15 but Lights skipper Scott Muncaster, with 18, always had an eye on the scoreboard.
He, ever-improving teammate Israel Kerisome (11), Nepe and the experienced Ryan Walters did what they needed to do to keep the MMs at Bay.
Lights had unsung heroes in David Glendenning, who stole the ball from Wilson, and Darius Waititi-Leach, who hit a one-handed shot over Pishief at 34-27 and gave an assist to the cutting Muncaster right-side for 38-29.
Auric Pocock again wowed the crowd of 200 with his maturity, reading of the game, shooting touch and defensive effort to get back and prevent Nepe from scoring.
Lights’ Zade Donner sent a length-of-the court pass to Walters for 57-52 and Pishief closed it to three points at the death.
“We outscored them in the second half and that was our closest-ever result versus City Lights,” Pishief said.
“We played with structure in a great team effort, but City Lights are a good team and they know how to close games out.”
Waengapu Stallions beat SE Systems by default in game 1 of week 5 and in game 2, Raiders’ Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson laid on 29 points in their 64-57 win against Green Up.
His teammate Allies Rangihuna (14) showed a touch of class, as did Green Up guards Safin Tuwairua-Brown (22) and Dominique Wilson (8).
Big forward Cody Tarei (17) continues to show a degree of athleticism and play with urgency unseen until this season.
Adrian Sparks’ crew had three players score in double-figures, Old Surfers had one, and that was the story of game 3.
GBHS Senior A captain Felix Sparks opened the scoring with a three-pointer in a 69-37 win to his posse.
Feisty CJ Tarei made a tough shot under the hoop for 5-0.
In the second period, Surfers’ Riley Horsfield got a steal at halfway and punished the turnover to close their deficit to 29-22.
Promising Boys’ High forward Te Ratahi Hills shone at both ends of the court, scored 13 points and played one of his best games to date for the A team.
As if to underline the effort at improving the basketball knowledge and concentration of the GBA referees, despite Gisborne Boys’ 35-point lead with three minutes to play in the game, trail referee Ngarangione-Pearson called a foul for Old Surfers’ Jorge Tofilau (7) – basket interference or goal-tending. He counted the shot attempt as a made basket.