The Miles Toyota Premier League’s were back in action this past weekend – Bruce Martin catches us up on all the results from the June 30 round of games.
Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League
Gators vs Pioneer
In a final, final appearance of Marques Whippy before he leaves on Tuesday with his family, Gators turned its Men’s Premier club basketball encounter to a 90-63 drubbing of a depleted Pioneer side in Cowles stadium on Saturday.
Things were tight at half time, with Pioneer only down four points at the half (44-40). The Pacers were suddenly facing a 23-point deficit at the end of three, after a 28-9 quarter. Sam Lees (17p) and Marques Whippy (19p 14r) being key, as Pioneer ceded a quick 8-0 run to the Gators’ press.
Lincoln University vs Checkers
The Lincoln University men faced Checkers and had an outstanding game in terms of shooting the ball – headlined by NZ 3×3 team member James Cawthorn going an impressive 8/10 from deep as part of his 28 point, 6 rebound, 5 assist performance that earned him player of the match status.
The hot-shooting LU team raced out to a 23-6 lead in the first quarter, and only let Checkers within 12 points once in the second half. LU built a 100-65 lead late in the game before Checkers could add some respectability to the score-line, as they closed the gap to 102-81 at the final buzzer.
Sam Smith had another excellent showing, notching a line of 31 points and 11 rebounds, with Ben Bowie also contributing a double-double of 12 and 11 for LU. Ben Williams did a little bit of everything to finish with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists.
For Checkers, Joe Cook-Green managed 21 points, and former Lincoln High student Sam Riley had 18 and 8, but could not do much to slow down the three-point onslaught, as LU shot a scorching 43% (15/35) from distance in the game.
Atami vs Wolverines
Wolverines fought back after a nightmare start saw them down 13-2 to Atami, gradually able to get the game to 52-49 after a Jordan Duggan Three (16p). Patrick Rodger answered (12p) and Aled Jones to give a bit of breathing room back to Atami, who were able to hold on 64-60 in a low-scoring affair.
Miles Toyota Premier Women’s League
North Canterbury vs Minties
Minties, powered up by the return home of Tessa Boagni from Cal State University (CSUN) caused the defending Women’s Premier champion side North Canterbury all sorts of problems. Minties took a handy 18-5 first quarter lead and maintained that until half-time, still ahead 37-23. Estelle Uren found many gaps in the NC defense, which she penetrated with ease, but it was teamwork and cohesion that brought North Canterbury back into the game.
Despite slotting 17 points, Charlotte Whittaker was alops tasked with shutting down the dangerous Boagni, restricting her to 13 points. New Zealand Under 17 Junior representative Helen Mathews showed her class for North Canterbury with many strong penetrating runs while the diminutive Caoimhe Colgan, a Northern Irish player, was another inspiration to the team. By three-quarter time the game was all tied up at 50-50, and extra time was forced with the game tied 59-59. Crucial turnovers under pressure saw North Canterbury finally prevail 69-63.
Lincoln University vs Pioneer
Patron’s trophy defending champion Lincoln University was pushed hard by a keen Pioneer side. The last game played between these two teams was a tough double-overtime thriller, with LU coming out top in that game. It was again point for point, basket for basket, through most of the game with Lincoln ahead 17-15 at quarter-time, and 35-34 by half-time. Pioneer forged to a 41-35 lead in the third before LU bounced back. The final quarter saw Lincoln grab some fresh legs after levelling 50-50 and pushed onto win the encounter 69-55.
Alloyfold Canterbury Wildcat Connie Poletti was almost unstoppable under the basket for Lincoln, slotting 24 (8-11) while College and Wildcat teammate Ajiah Pepe (16p 4 assists) was big early – hitting threes and getting into the paint to create for others, while Shea Crotty was at her defensive best with five steals and a big highlight block in the second. Tessa Burry and Bianca Aguiar were the mainstays behind Pioneer efforts with 18 points each.
Halswell vs Wolverines
In the other game Halswell was worked hard to shut out some determined efforts from Wolverines before winning a tight battle 67-55 while University had the bye. The veteran Darcy Rose led Halswell’s efforts with 27 while Wildcat Tessa Stewart-Morrison also slotted 27 for her Wolverines team with support from Kendall Hastie (13p). This is the first on-court win for Halswell this year, after several heartbreaking losses earlier
Results were:
Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League
Lincoln University 102 (Sam Smith 31, James Cawthorn 28, Ben Bowie 15, Ben Williams 11) Checkers 84 (Joe Cook-Green 21, Sam Riley 20, Pip Johnston 10). HT: 57-40
Gators 90 Marques Whippy 19, Sam Lees 17, Matt Mischewski 10, Cam Chalmers 10) Pioneer 63 (Nick Erwood 13, Marty Davison 12, Adrian Taylor 11). HT: 44-40
Atami 64 (Zacc Dwan 20, Joel Jeffrey 15, Patrick Roger 12) Wolverines 60 (Keiran Ball 19, Jordan Duggan 16). HT: 36-27
Bye: University
Placings with games played in parenthesis: Gators 13, (8), University 13, (7), Lincoln 12, (8), Checkers 12, (8), Atami 11, (7), Pioneer 11, (8), Wolverines 9 (8).
Miles Toyota Premier Women’s League
Lincoln University 69 (Connie Poletti 24, Aijah Pepe 16) Pioneer 55 (Tessa Burry 18, Bianca Aguiar 18, Lauryn Hippolite 13). HT: 35-34
North Canterbury 69 (Charlotte Whittaker 17, Helen Mathews 16, Taneisha Nutira 12) Minties 63 (Estelle Uren 15, Tessa Boagni 13, Sarah Mason 11). HT: Minties 37-23. FT: 59-59. OT: NC 69-63
Halswell 67 (Darcy Rose 27, Laken Wairau 12) Wolverines 55 (Tessa Stewart-Morrison 27, Kendal Hastie 13). HT: 25-21.
Bye: University.
Placings with games played in parenthesis: North Canterbury 13, (7), Lincoln University 13, (7), Pioneer 13, (8), Minties 12, (8),Halswell 10, (8), University 9, (7), Wolverines 8 (7)
Report collated and written by Bruce Martin, and James Lissaman
