George Berry from #WeAreCanterbury wraps up week one of club basketball
The demand for court time is showing no signs of abating in Canterbury with the first round of club basketball seeing a further 10 games, or approximately 20 teams added from last year’s competition.
As you may have seen from our CBA Facebook post earlier in the week, creating the draws looks like it required some military precision.
Good news is relief looks to be on the way with the brand-new facilities at Ōrua Paeroa (the new Avonside Girls’ and Shirley Boys’ High School site) set to be confirmed as a regular venue in the next day or so.
Toby Gillooly had a big night for the Checkers against Lincoln University in the Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League, scoring 32 of their 101 points, while pulling down 12 rebounds. Lincoln struggled in the paint scoring just 67 points and turning the boards into a bit of a lottery, managing just 27 defensive rebounds while the Checkers snatched 21 offensive rebounds.
LU’s women on the other hand more than lapped Minties, with Wildcat Ajiah Pepe looking sharp with 26 points and nabbing six rebounds in their 73-30 victory.
Fellow Wildcat Tessa Morrison led the way for the Wolverines against University of Canterbury, top scoring with 21 points. Although it took a fair bit for both teams to get going with scores locked at 8-8 at quarter time, before Wolves went on a 23-0 run to wrestle control of the game.
North Canterbury and Halswell women are both set to play their first games of the season this weekend.
UC vs Gators and Atami vs Wolverines were significantly closer games in the men’s league, with UC getting the best of Gators following an 18-1 run in the final quarter to bank a round one win, 78-70.
Andrew Kellaway was in some sort of form for Wolves with his first double-double of the season as he scored 38 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Interesting enough 14 of his points were from the charity stripe from nineteen attempts. However, it wasn’t enough with Atami getting the 89-78 win.
Round two sees some interesting match-ups with every men’s team that lost taking on a team that won during the opening round, meaning there’s a chance we could see a few teams go 2 from 2 while others could end up 0 from 2.
Marty Davison and Rebecca Moon, plus the hordes of referees deserve a special mention, with 127 of the 130 weekend referee slots (65 games) assigned an official referee. Some positive signs of what looks to be another bumper basketball season in Canterbury.
Article written by George Berry from #WeAreCanterbury
