CBA Winter Club Basketball 2015 by Bruce Martin

 

A herculean defensive effort saw Hoben trophy winners Wolverines beat the defending champion Checkers 87-80 in the Premier Men’s basketball championship round encounter played in Cowles Stadium on Saturday, helped by some accurate triple-point shooting, with five players landing 12 successful baskets. Canterbury Ram Ethan Rusbatch splashed in 31 points for Checkers while Ben Van Oosten and Nat Connell were smothered by Wolverines tight defence.

 

A man-of-the match performance, this time from teenage Ram and American college bound Sam Timmins with 31 points and 19 huge rebounds, saw Gators inching towards a quarter-final berth by beating a desperate Lincoln University 75-72 after a last ditch three pointer failed to drop and send the game to over-time. Canterbury Ram Marques Whippy added more weight to Gators with a forceful 16 points along with 18 rebounds and six assists.

 

Pioneer overwhelmed University 91-72 through speed and agility from Elliot Noble with 17 points but the students were still placed at the break trailing 46-40. While Jeremy Hancock kept University in the hunt with 21 points, Dave Langrell took charge of the defensive boards for Pioneer, slotting just 12 points but taking 14 big rebounds.

 

Saturday results make things interesting with four teams bottom on seven points and two, Checkers and University on eight. Wolverines is on top with 10 and finished their games and heading top qualifier but can be caught by Checkers if they beat Pioneer but Wolves will still be first and Checkers second if University lose. Gators in rampant form should beat University leaving a three-way tie on 10 points with Checkers first, University second and Wolverines third on count back. However, if Pioneer beats Checkers, Gators beat University and the winner of Lincoln and Atami would leave five teams on nine points with the loser of the Lincoln/Atami encounter missing the play-offs on August 29th.

 

In the Women’s Premier Championship sixth round defending champion Lincoln University outplayed Gators Women from the outset, leading 44 -15 by half-time and running its bench in the second to win comfortably 79-52. University of Canterbury outpaced Pioneer 76-34 with a strong team effort, lead by a busy effort from Bianca Aguiar (15) while arch-rivals Halswell and Minties had a typical close encounter. Halswell lead 16/12 at quarter-time, 29/25 at the turn around and 40-36 by the third break. Minties closed the gap momentarily in the final quarter but Halswell through the hard efforts of Terai Sadler (13) and Nao Matsui (11) finished ahead 53-49. Jess Rathgen was among the points with 16 for Minties.

North Canterbury on 10 points had the bye on Saturday and should finish top qualifier by beating Gators in the final round encounter this Saturday. Patron’s trophy Winner University have finished with nine points, Halswell and Lincoln eight and Minties and Gators seven each to sort out the quarter-final play-off spots on August 29^th.

 

In the Men’s Under 23 competition Lincoln Bulls remained unbeaten but was well strongly challenged by Atami before winning 79-67. With one round remaining the four teams likely to contest the semi-finals are the LU Bulls, University, Wolverines and Gators Green.

 

Results were:

MEN

PREMIER Grade Championship Round six:

Wolverines 87 (Kieran Ball 19, Mike Kinley17, Lionel Hopgood 17, Shou Nisbet 12)

Checkers 80 (Ethan Rusbatch 31, Pip Johnston 14).  HT: 53-47, Gators 75 (Sam Timmins 31, 19R, Jeremy Kench 17, 7R, Marques Whippy 16, 18R, 6A) Lincoln University 72 (James Cawthorn 26, Aled Jones 10, 7R, 6A, James Levings 10, Xavier Shaw 10, 12R). HT: 46-40,

Pioneer Pacers 91 (Elliot Noble 17, Harley Campbell 15, Dave Langrell 12, 14R, Joe Cook-Green 11) University 72 (Jeremy Hancock 21, Karl Magon 10). HT: 41-40.Bye: Atami.

Points table after six rounds: Wolverines 10 (6), Checkers 8 (5), University 8 (5), Atami 7 (5), Pioneer 7 (5), Lincoln University 7 (5), and Gators 7 (5).

 

Under 23:

Lincoln University Bulls 79 (James Cawthorn 23, 7R, 5A, Ben Williams 17, 7R, James Levings 14, Ben Bowie 13) Atami 67 (Zacc Dwan 27, 18R, Josh Peterman 18). HT: 45-37,

University 20 Checkers 0 by forfeit, Wolverines 81 (George Love 21, Kieran Ball 18, Carl Isitt 11) Gators Green 77 (Jackson Stent 23, Cam Chalmers 21, Liam Mulvihill 11). HT: 36-33,

North Canterbury 91 (Connor McCrossin 31, Liam Connelly 23, Lauchie Weston 16, Alex Ross 12) Lincoln Longhorns 90 (Karesse Lavery 31, Jayden Chan 20, Ben Cushing 13, Brian Kim 13). HT: Lincoln 51-37, Pioneer Pacers 86 (Nick Owens 12, Oli Davies 12, Ben Van Noorden 10) Gators White 61 (Tom Cooper 16, Harry Paulin 12, Jonny Suddens 10). HT: 42-25. Points table after round 15: Lincoln Bulls 30 pts, University 27, Wolverines 27, Gators Green 24, Atami 23, Pioneer 23.

 

WOMEN

PREMIER Grade Championship Round six:

Halswell 53 (Terai Sadler 13, Anna Williams 13, Nao Matsui 11) Minties 49 (Jess Rathgen 16, Natasha Van Vuuren 10). HT: 29-25, University 76 (Bianca Aguiar 15, Pip Connell 12, Rosanna Katene 12, Lily Nicol 11) Pioneer Pacers 34 (Poly Hill 13).  HT: 28-17, Lincoln University 79 (Maja Burry 22, Tessa Morrison 14, Courtney Hamblin 13, Shea Crotty 13, Bailey McDougall 11) Gators 52 (Harriet Fenwick 24, Sam Duggan 10). HT: 44-15. Bye: North Canterbury. Points table after six rounds: North Canterbury 10 pts (5), University 9 (6), Lincoln University 8 (5), Halswell 8 (5), Minties 7 (5), Gators 7 (5), and Pioneer (5).