Rep basketballers show spirit

PETER JONES

Marlborough teams proved very competitive in the recent Tasman Cup senior basketball tournament, finishing a narrow second in both grades.

The Marlborough Magic men’s side made their way to Sunday’s final in the six-team competition, taking on a classy ABC Rhythm side from Nelson, who prevailed 85-57.

The Marlborough women’s side played a series of matches against a similarly-powerful Nelson women’s side, losing by just two points in the best-of-three title decider.

Matt Pigou, spokesman for the Magic team, described it as “a great weekend”.

“The team didn’t have any formal trainings and was made up from the three local A grade teams, plus young MBC players Toby Baker and Vitale Toia,” he added. Despite their hurried build-up

Marlborough performed strongly, beating Nelson’s ABC Comets in the first game of the tournament.

Their second match game was a tougher encounter, coming up against eventual winners ABC Rhythm, then, on Sunday morning’s semifinal, Magic took on ABC Old Boys who qualified top of pool A after beating West Coast and ABC Magic.

Marlborough trailed until the final quarter before a late surge saw them get across the line. They had top performances from former MBC player Seb Lock, and shooting guard Donny Clarke to thank for their success.

Against ABC Rhythm again in the decider, Magic put up a much stronger performance than they managed in the preliminary rounds. The scores were tied 1010 at the end of the first quarter before the visitors pulled away to claim a well-earned tournament title.

For Marlborough, top scorers in the final were Matt Pigou (18) and Leo Wiapo (10). For the victors former Marlborough player Tyler Herbert, recently returned from the NZ under-23 3v3 world championships, showed his class all tournament. Rhythm also called in Ernie Kerr for Sunday’s games, the current Nelson Giant Ernie showed some excellent touches in the final.

Lock was huge all weekend for Magic, with loads of offensive rebounds and great work inside. He scored 51 points, averaging 12.1 points per game. Captain Wiapo led from the front all weekend while guards Clarke and Pigou provided outside shooting in tight matches.

With trophy holders West Coast not making an appearance this year, the women’s competition came down to a three-match series, Nelson winning game one 41-33, Marlborough taking game two 58-52, then the visitors edg- ing out Marlborough in the decider, winning 35-33.

The first game saw a nervy Marlborough side take on a polished Nelson side containing former Tall Fern, Kat Jones.

Marlborough’s 15-year-old star, Birgitta Prescott, showed she could play at this high level, an impressive effort in her first tournament since knee surgery.

Nelson also struggled to convert baskets in this low-scoring encounter, but were strong on the boards, Prescott scoring 13 and Nelson’s Jodi Hikuroa-Jeffrey 12. In game two a determined Marlborough side, led by Prescott with 16 points and Emily Stenhouse (13) ensured the series went to a decider.

Height in the keyhole helped, with Eloise van Velthooven joining the team for this game and taking many rebounds, blocking shots and scoring in the key.

Hikuroa-Jeffrey was again the highest scorer for Nelson with 15 points.

The decider was a tough battle to the very last seconds between two weary teams. Nelson were consistently a couple of points ahead throughout the match with point guard Hikuroa-Jeffrey showing why she was the stand-out player of the weekend with strong drives to the basket and accurate jump shots.

Sophie Van Velthooven led the way for Marlborough in this game, scoring 11 points. Prescott was the home side’s second-highest scorer with eight points.