Indoor Baskethall B.G.H. NARROWLY LEADS A GRADE COMPETITION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29515, 17 May 1961, Page 17

Indoor Baskethall B.G.H. NARROWLY LEADS A GRADE COMPETITION

With the defeat of the Rex A team in the fourth round of the Canterbury Men’s Basketball Association’s A grade competition, played in the King Edward Barracks last evening, Boys’ Gordon Hall A is now the only unbeaten team and leads the points table narrowly from University. Before last evening’s matches, Rex A and Boys’ Gordon Hall A were first equal. Rex A, Latter Day Saints, and Y-Boys now share second place. Each winning team scored more than 55 points, and consequently some fairly bright and sometimes enterprising play was seen. Generally, play was much better than that of the previous week. A grade scores were:— Y-Boys A 55, Wigram 26. Latter Day Saints 56, Rex A 31. Boys’ Gordon Hall 60, Ist N.Z. Regiment 31. Teachers’ College defaulted to University. B.G.H. A v. Ist N.Z. Reg. Showing a considerable Improvement on last week’s form B.G.H. A very comfortably beat Ist N.Z. Regiment by 60 points to 31. The team took control from the start. The B.G.H. players specialised in hard, fast passing, combined with exceptionally good shooting and positional play. Regiment played a fairly solid game, but in the main its players were far too slow and did not show much initiative. R. Burnby (8.G.H.), a Canterbury representative, played one of his best matches this season and was right on form with his long shots. He topscored with 24 points. R. Thompson, with 18 points, and R. Entwistle, with 14 points, also played extremely well. M. Mac Kay, another Canterbury reoresentative. concerned himself mainly with defensive play. The best of the Ist N.Z. Regiment players was undoubtedly P. Burtt. He played intelligently and led his team well. He scored 16 points, mostly with long shots. Scores were:— B.G.H. A: R. Burnby 24. R. Thompson 16. R. Entwistle 14. Mf Mac Kay 4, D. Ellison 1.

Ist N.Z. Regiment: P. Burtt 16, J. Sandford 13. K. Xharka 6, W. Paipa 3. G Ward 2. L.D.S. v. Rex A Rex A was well beaten by Latter Day Saints, 56-31. The match was reasonably entertaining and was fairly fast. Superior shooting from all positions was one of the main factors in the Mormons' victory. Their positional play and team work were good. Unlike L.D.S., Rex A was more a team of Individuals. From the start, L.D.S. dominated play, and at half-time had a lead of 13 points. The second half was more even and with 10 minutes to go. the score was 33-20 in favour of the Mormons. The outstanding player for L.D.S. was T. Demars. He was more than Competent on defence. and his shooting was excellent. His 27 points was a good indication of his accuracy. L. Little and C. Lange also played well. R. Smith was solid for Rex A, showing considerable potential. P. Ward was inclined to dribble unnecessarily and not use his other men. Scores were L.D.S.: T. Demars 27. L. Little 16, C. Lange a. R. Zollinger 5. Rex A: R. Smith 12. P. Fox 6, B. Berzines 5. P. Ward 4, M West 2, A. Harbott 2. Y-Boys A v. Wigram After a rather shaky start, YBoys A had little difficulty in beating Wigram by 55 points to 26 in a rather unimpressive match. Play was sometimes fairly scrappy and the points margin was not a very true indication of the closeness of the game. Y-Boys began badly, missing a number of easy goals with wild shots. Passing and handling were not of a very high standard. However, the team settled down and towards the end was giving a reasonable account of itself. Wlgram lacked enterprise, and its players were often out of position. K Ewing and K Baker, the two Y-Boys backs, combined well. Ewing in particular showed considerable skill on attack and scored 14 points. C. Harley (Y-Boysi. the right forward. also played well. He scored 16 points. Although one of the shortest in the Wigram side. D. A. De Felice played creditably and shot well. The two Wigram backs. J. Caudwell and J. Clift, failed to take advantage of their height in rebound play. Scores were:— Y-Boys A: C. Harley 16. K Ewing 14. A. Polll 10. 3. Dalton 8. A. Soley 4. K. Baker 2 Wigram: D. A. De Felice 13. K. Fem 5. M. Bach 4, J. Clift 2, D. Barson 2.