Paul Henare made his long awaited debut for the Block City Brawlers as they took on the Youthtown Clique in the feature game in round five of the Mexicali Fresh Summer Jam. Henare missed the earlier rounds due to Breakers commitments but despite lacking a bit of pace compared to his Tall Blacks days his court savvy and leadership will be a big help to the Brawlers. Thanks to the scoring ability of Houston O’Riley and Alonzo Burton the Brawlers kept pace with the Clique in the first half, trailing just 40-43 at the main break. Jaylen Gerrand fresh from guiding Westlake Boys High School to the Secondary Schools National title formed a formidable backcourt combination with Dion Prewster and Lindsay Tait for the Clique as they extended their lead to eight points at three quarter time.
Burton was in fine form connecting with his sixth triple of the game early in the final period and a typical Henare drive and finish kept the Brawlers in the hunt, 67-77 with 5:30 remaining. However, the Clique were in no mood to relinquish their lead, Prewster, Tait and Anthony Jones all providing scoring punch in the closing minutes to help them record their fourth victory in five outings.
Final score; The Block City Brawlers 86 ( Burton 23, O’Riley 17, Henare 12, Darryl Cartwright 12) Youthtown Clique 98 (Prewster 26, Tait 26, Patrich Bolstad 13, Gerrand 10)
Nash Oh was a surprise inclusion in The Birdmen line up as they took on Flava Flyers in the second game of the night. The 23 year old was raised in Washington DC, and attended the Breakers Development Players trial earlier in the year. He attended Emory University, Atlanta and has returned to NZ looking to secure a spot on an NBL team. Oh and his team mates were quickly on the back foot against the Flyers, trailing 30-11 after the first period -Nick Barrow the early destroyer with ten points in the quarter. Oh, John Harrison and Aorere College student Theo Farrow led a comeback by the Birdmen in the second period (48-33 at half time) but any thoughts of a sustained revival were quashed when Flava opened the third quarter with a 13-1 run. From then on it was just a question of how many as Sam Everitt – 5 threes in the game – and Jarrod Kenny scored at will. Barrow brought up the ton feeding off the umpteenth dish from Hayden Allen, the Flyers cruising to the win.
Final score; The Flava Flyers 107 (Kenny 26, Barrow 26, Everitt 23 Allen 13) The Birdmen 87 (Harrison 23, Farrow 21, Oh 13, Johnny Fesolai 13)
LACEY LOWDOWN 