Miles Toyota Premier Club Basketball by Bruce Martin

University still leads the Miles Toyota Men’s Premier club Basketball after beating Pioneer Pacers 96-89 in Cowles stadium on Saturday.

Lincoln University beat Atami 84-74 with a stronger finish and Checkers pulled clear in the fourth quarter to beat Wolverines 84-70. Gators had the bye.

In Women’s Premier Lincoln University leads the table after thumping University 94-34, Halswell surprised Pioneer 49-46 and Minties beat Wolverines 60-49.

 

Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League

In a game of fluctuating lead changes, Pioneer managed to hold the competition leaders University to a 46-41 half-time lead after leading 24-23 at the first break.

Josh Petermann (24) orchestrated the second half challenge for University while former Canterbury Ram Brent Fisher continued his dominance about the boards, slotting 26 points and rebounding strongly. New comer Konrad Tota (22) added more valuable points as University slowly took control in the fourth quarter.

By three-quarter-time University had its nose in front 65-64 and was not headed in the final quarter, winning 96-89.

Cam Costly led the Pioneer Pacers efforts with his trademark 24 points with other handy contributions coming from Oli Davies (20), Nick Erwood (18) and, Max De Geest 16 points.

Lincoln University leads the chasing pack to catch University with an 84-74 win over Atami. Lincoln grabbed an early 20-14 first quarter lead only to see Atami forge to a handy 42-35 lead by half-time through the efforts of Paul McFarlin (20) and Joel Jeffrey with 17.

Wolverines are still in the danger zone for elimination, trailing the field but took the early advantage leading Checkers 20-14 at quarter-time and 36-33 by the turnaround.

Early in the third Checkers nudged ahead 45-43 and with the experienced veterans Pip Johnston (27) and Nat Connell (19) leading the charge. Checkers slowly edged away to a comfortable 84-70 victory. Canterbury Ram Taylor Britt’s every move was tightly restrained by the Checkers defence, limiting him to 12 points while Stuart Erskine 17 and, Andrew Kellaway 13 lead the Wolverines efforts. Gators had the bye.

 

Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League placings with games played in parenthesis: University 17 (9), Lincoln Univ 15 (10), Gators 14 (9), Checkers 14 (9), Pioneer 14 (10), Atami 13 (9), Wolverines 12 (10).

 

Miles Toyota Premier Women’s League

 

Canterbury Wildcat Connie Polleti with a powerful 26 points led Lincoln University to a comfortable 94-34 win over Canterbury University. She was supported by handy contributions from Lucy Brown and Caitlin Grice, both with 14 points. Veteran campaigner for University Ashlee Rigter slotted 14 points with assistance from Nicole Stuart on 11.

Lincoln took control, ahead 25-8 at quarter-time, 47/12 by half-time and 74-20 at the third break.

In a game of fluctuating fortunes Halswell edged Pioneer 49-46. Halswell lead the first quarter 12-6 while Pioneer stormed into a 26-18 half-time lead. Laken Wairau (19) put Halswell back in fromt 35-33 by the third break. Tessa Burry (13) and Lauryn Hippolite (11) lead the Pioneer efforts as the lead changed hands several times in the fourth quarter, Halswell holding tight in the closing moments to win 49-46.

Minties edged into second place on the table with a comfortable 60-49 win over Wolverines. Sarah Mason (17) and Gabriela Edmondson 13 lead the Minties efforts. Minties led all the way, up 25/8 by the first break. Wildcat Tessa Stewart-Morrison (24) helped close the gap for Wolverines in the second to trail 23/26 but Minties piled on the pressure and by the turnaround was ahead 34-23. By the last break Minties were ahead 48-30 but Wolverines kept battling away, closing the margin to just 11 points and a 60-49 win to Minties.

North Canterbury had the bye:

Miles Toyota Premier Women’s League placings with games played in parenthesis: Lincoln University 17 (9), Minties 16 (10), North Canterbury 15 (8), Pioneer 14 (9), Halswell 13 (10), University 11 (9), Wolverines 10 (9).