BASKETBALL: Napier end Hastings' run

HAMISH BIDWELL
Hastings Boys' High School coach Curtis Wooten was downcast after his team suffered their first inter-city loss in nine years, as they went down 54-51 to Napier Boys' High School in the opening match of the Super 8 Secondary Schools' Basketball Tournament being played at the Hastings Sports Centre this week.
Having already been nervous about his team's chances of defending their title, HBHS coach Curtis Wooten admits the loss confirmed his programme is at a pretty low ebb.
"The commitment factor isn't there," said the man whose team has been virtually unbeatable for the past decade.
"I've only got about five or six committed players and you can't even practise with those kinds of numbers. Right now all we can do at practice is run part of our offense."
Seeded number one for the tournament, Wooten says being drawn in section A was the worst-case scenario for his team, who match up against Tauranga Boys' College and New Plymouth Boys' High School as well as the eighth-seeded NBHS.
He says that right now, both of those visiting schools are probably better than his team, not to mention NBHS, whom HBHS have already beaten twice this year. The only plus for Wooten is that this should be only a temporary glitch and when his third and fourth-form players are big enough, he'll have a team to be reckoned with.
"Napier had three guys in their team who were six inches taller than us, especially their two big kids, Davis and Tyson Ataera. Their number five, Shelton Smith, really hurt us as well.
"We've got six weeks to get ready for the zonal premiership and if I can just get 12 bodies at practice we'll turn it around."
Section B of the tournament, which concludes on Saturday afternoon, comprises the Boys' High Schools from Palmerston North, Hamilton, Rotorua and Gisborne.