Gisborne Boys’ High Basketball Tournament Journey Honoring Taika

The numbers say one thing. The story says something else entirely.

At the Basketball NZ AA Zone 2 secondary schoolboys tournament in Rotorua, Gisborne Boys’ High finished 14th out of 20. On paper, it’s a mid-table result. On the floor, it was a week carried by grief, resolve and one name written in ink on skin and shoes.

Taika.

He once ran the court for the Gisborne Under-13s B team and the Boys’ High junior development side, a young guard with a smooth handle and a clean shooting stroke. Mid-range jumpers, threes, the lot. But ask teammate and close friend Ollie Tong what really mattered and the scouting report changes.

“Taika was a good guard, ball-handler, passer, could shoot mid-range jumpers and three-pointers. More importantly he was a great person, always happy and smiling,” Tong said.

Those memories stretch well beyond the gym. Tong talks about a week in 2024 spent with Taika and his family, surfing and exploring, the kind of carefree days that feel endless at the time and impossibly short in hindsight.

“The last time I saw him was in January of this year at his house in Wainui. We surfed at Makorori and hung out the day before he left. He was just a week older than me. I just gave him a hug and said I’ll see you soon.”

In Rotorua, every game began with a small ritual. Tong ran out with Taika’s name on his arm and on his shoes. He wasn’t alone.

“Santy, Sam Crosby, Aidan O’Brien, Ryland Bright and I dedicated our tournament effort to Taika,” he said. “I had his name on my arm and my shoes every game. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than this; it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.

“Taika was one of my best mates. I’ve got very happy memories of him.”

On the court, Tong played like someone determined to honour a promise. He averaged 20.6 points per game, finished as the tournament’s eighth-highest scorer and was the only Gisborne player to hit double figures in every outing. His consistency became the team’s anchor in a wild, lurching campaign.

From 60-point hammering to history

Day one at Unison Arena delivered a brutal reminder of the level required. Defending champions Mount Maunganui College, stacked with two first-division players and Junior Tall Blacks, tore through Gisborne 94-34. Sixty points. A gulf in class, size, pedigree.

Most teams crumble after that kind of hiding.

Gisborne didn’t. The response came in Game 2 and it was ferocious.

Tong erupted for 39 points. Bright added 34. Kelly-Morehu Paenga-Rangihuna chipped in 15. Together they dragged Gisborne into a 95-93 shootout win over Ōtūmoetai College that flipped the script on the morning’s humiliation.

No Gisborne Boys’ High Senior A side had ever followed a 60-point defeat at a regional tournament with a win. This one did.

The surge continued. Coached by Felix Sparks and his father Adrian, Gisborne backed up the comeback with an 87-66 victory over Pāpāmoa, a performance that suggested the group had found its rhythm and its edge.

Then the stumble.

Against St Paul’s Collegiate School in Game 4, a single quarter ripped the contest away. Gisborne were outscored 22-9 in the second term, a lapse they never recovered from in a 68-46 defeat. That one stretch dropped them to third in their pool and into the harder road of a preliminary quarter-final.

John Paul College (Rotorua) stood in the way. Gisborne fought but couldn’t quite break through, losing 87-78 and sliding into the playoffs for places nine to 16.

The pattern held: flashes of fire, moments of regret. A 91-80 loss to Te Awamutu College nudged them into a 13th–16th playoff against Whakatāne High. This time there was no hesitation. Gisborne tore through Whakatāne 95-20, Paenga-Rangihuna pouring in 24 points in a one-sided statement.

Their final act came in the playoff for 13th–14th against Taupō-nui-a-Tia. Bright led the scoring with 17, but Gisborne fell 82-76, a competitive end to a turbulent week.

A bittersweet finish, and a warning

For Tong, the tournament closed a chapter. The performances, the scoring, the leadership under pressure – this was his peak season in a Gisborne singlet, but it arrived wrapped in loss.

“Definitely this year has been my highlight for my performances and tournaments, but I went on some great trips in my junior years and as a senior,” he said. “It’s been a great run, just with a bittersweet ending.”

He leaves with a message for those who will pull on the jersey next, and for anyone chasing something on a court, a field or a track.

“Don’t leave it too late. Work hard from as early as you can on your game, while you’re at school, whatever the sport, it makes a huge difference.”

In Rotorua, that work looked like a name written in pen on an arm, a jumper released under pressure, a team refusing to let a 60-point defeat define them. The results sheet will show 14th.

The players who were there will remember a tournament played for Taika.