The promotion-relegation games to decide the make-up of the Boy’s and Girl’s Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Grades were played on Friday night.
Two new teams will compete in the Girl’s Premier Grade while Mt Roskill Grammar School (pictured) will replace Rangitoto College after a thrilling 75-73 win in the Boy’s decider.
The winning basket was made by Alfred Kerr with the last play of the game – joy for Roskill and despair for Rangitoto.
Rangitoto 73 – Max Mudford 26, Michael Ropotini 21, William Cheng 17
Mt Roskill 75 – Haisem Osman 16, Alfred Kerr 15, Wai Tonga 14, Ezra Ogbuze 10, Zachan Kemen 10
In the other Boy’s play-off encounter St Peter’s College remain in premier grade after seeing off the challenge of Liston College with a comfortable 96-63 victory.
There was better news for Rangitoto College with the senior girls returning to Premier Grade after a one-sided 121-23 win against Baradene College. Rangitoto are promoted alongside Manurewa High School who replace St Mary’s College for the 2024 season commencing after the April school holidays.
Numbers plus entertainment suggest retaining Parker Jackson Cartwright is a must for the BNZ Breakers.
Renowned basketball scribe Marc Hinton ranks Parker Jackson-Cartwright as the second best import that the Breakers have ever had behind multiple championship winner Cedric Jackson.
It’s hard to pick between the singular Jackson and the hyphenated version as the numbers below tend to show but what is certain is that they are the two best import point guards to play for the Breakers. Ced J was arguably the better defender and Parker J-C the more talented at the offensive end of the floor.
Here is a snapshot of some key numbers:
After scoring 19 points in the season ending encounter with the Hawks Jackson-Cartwright became only the second Breakers player to score in double figure in every game of the season (30 games). The only other occasion was in 2006-07 when Carlos Powell scored in double digits in all 33 games.
He also becomes just the third Breaker to score over 600 points in a season (616 at 20.5ppg), following Carlos Powell who tallied 932 points in the 06-07 season and Kirk Penney who passed the mark twice. KP scored 749 points in 2007-08 and 747 points the following season.
PJC has also averaged 5.8 assists per game, a number only bettered at the Breakers by Will McDowell-White last season (5.9apg) and Cedric Jackson who exceeded 6 assists per game in all four seasons he played for the Breakers.
In addition the 2024 All-NBL First Team pick led the league in steals pinching on average 1.9 extra possessions a game. Cedric Jackson also excelled in this area posting figures of 2.2, 2.8, 2.2 and 1.2 during his four prolific years with the club.
2023-24 has been a stellar season for PJC and perhaps from a pure entertainment perspective it could be argued he is the Breakers greatest ever import. Let’s hope we see the LA native back with the club next season to embellish his numbers and once again thrill basketball fans on both sides of the Tasman.
Emme Shearer has become the 18th Kiwi to score 1,000 points in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball.
With 3:09 left in the Portland Pilots West Coast Conference game at Santa Clara, Shearer converted a baseline in-bounds play to bring up the major milestone in her 115th appearance for the Pilots.
The former Westlake Girls High School and North Harbour wing is averaging a team high 12 points per game in her senior year. In addition, with three steals, she snared her 200th career steal in the contest – she leads the West Coast Conference in that statistical category.
Below are New Zealand’s All-Time Top-24 points scorers in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball and includes some of our finest Tall Ferns players, both past and present.
1,743
*Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State 2020-present)
From schoolboy star to star Breaker and Tall Black below is a condensed look at the achievements of one of New Zealand’s finest basketball players. Diving into his formative years it’s easy to forget how much Abercrombie has achieved and how good a junior athlete he was.
7 major Australasian championships, numerous Breakers all-time records, 100+ Tall Blacks appearances including 3 World Cup trips plus many other accolades and records broken in the past 20 years.
2002 (Year 10) Westlake Boys Runners-up at Secondary Schools Nationals. North Harbour Runners-up at U18 Nationals – named to Tournament team.
2003 (Year 11) Played for New Zealand Secondary Schools Team v Australia. North Harbour Runners-up at U18 Nationals.
Member of Westlake Boys National Championship winning volleyball team.
2004 (Year 12) Played for New Zealand Secondary Schools Team v Australia and NZ U18 team. North Harbour Runners-up at U18 Nationals – named to Tournament team.
2005 (Year 13) Captained Westlake to Secondary Schools National title. Played for Junior Tall Blacks at the Youth Olympics in Sydney.
2006/7 Redshirt Freshman at Washington State University – NCAA Tournament 2nd Round
2007/8 Sophomore at Washington State University – NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
2008/9 Breakers debut.
2009 Waikato Pistons NBL Champions – Named to All Star 5 and Most Outstanding Forward.Debuted for the Tall Blacks v Estonia.
2010 Waikato Pistons NBL Runners-up – Named to All Star 5 and Most Outstanding Forward. Played for Tall Blacks at FIBA World Cup in Turkey.
2010-11 Breakers ANBL Champions – Grand Final MVP..
2011-12 Breakers ANBL Champions – scored a career high 33 points v Melbourne Tigers. Named to All-NBL First Team.
2012-13 Breakers ANBL Champions.
2014 Played for Tall Blacks at FIBA World Cup in Spain.
2014-15 Breakers ANBL Champions – pulled down a career high 15 rebounds v Sydney Kings.
2015-16 Breakers ANBL Runners-up.
2017-18 Breakers ANBL semi-finalists. Had a career high 7 blocks v Brisbane Bullets.
2018 A member of the Tall Blacks bronze medal winning team at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
2018-19 Moved past Kirk Penney (3,226pts) as Breakers all-time leading scorer.
2019 Wellington Saints NBL Champions – Grand Final MVP. Played his 100th game for the Tall Blacks ahead of the FIBA World Cup in China.
2020-21 Most games played for the Breakers passing Mika Vukona (354 games).
2022-23 Breakers ANBL Runners-up.
2023-24 Played 400th game for the Breakers in the opening game of his final season.
In his senior year at Westlake Boys High School (2005) he captained Westlake (35-0) to the NZ Secondary Schools National title. Played for the Junior Tall Blacks at the Youth Olympics in Sydney and at an Invitational Tournament in San Diego. He was also selected for the NZ Volleyball team at the Youth Olympics but had to withdraw due to the clash with basketball. He was a member of Westlake’s Swimming team and was the school’s High Jump, Long Jump and Triple Jump champion.
Charlisse Leger-Walker has become New Zealand’s all-time NCAA Division I (male or female) points scorer despite Washington State University Cougars going down 74-65 at #8 Stanford in Pac-12 Conference play.
A deep three from Leger-Walker, on the brink of half-time, was the score that carried the WSU standout past the previous record of 1,647 points held by Cantabrian and former Tall Fern Erin Rooney (Monmouth University Hawks, 2009-11/Fordham University Rams, 2012-14).
Leger-Walker was all class in the defeat making 5 from 10 three-pointers on her way to a game high 22 points along with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. She now has 1,667 career points in 99 appearances with her 100th game for the Cougars coming up on Monday against the University of California, Berkeley.
Her 100th game will see the Waikato native become the 27th Kiwi to bring up a century of appearances in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball, emulating the milestone achieved by sister Krystal Leger-Walker (Washington State 2020-22/Northern Colorado 2015-18).
All time New Zealand NCAA Division I Top scorers: ( #played 5 seasons including the additional Covid year)
1,667
Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State 2020-present)
1,647
Erin Rooney (Monmouth University, 2009-11/Fordham University 2012-14)
Emme Shearer became the 28th Kiwi to play 100 NCAA Division I games when suiting up for the University of Portland in their 81-51loss at #9 ranked Stanford.
Shearer top scored for Portland with 12 points taking her to 807 career points which moves her up to 21st on the Kiwi women’s all-time Division I scoring list. In addition her 77 starts place her 10th highest in that statistical category.
In the Men’s game Tafara Gapare enjoyed a breakout game as he helped Georgia Tech to an 82-81 overtime victory against Penn State. At the iconic Madison Square Garden the Wellingtonian scored 20 points, making 3 from 6 triples, while adding 6 rebounds.
Fellow Wellingtonian Ben Gold scored 8 points as Marquette closed non-conference play with an 84-79 win against St Thomas.
Back to the women and Kaylee Smiler scored a season high 17 points as BYU overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Idaho State 79-76 in an overtime thriller.
Held scoreless in the first half Charlisse Leger-Walker eventually finished with 11 points as Washington State went down 60-55 to local rivals Washington in the opening Pac-12 fixture of the season.
Leger-Walker now has 1,618 career points just 30 points away from taking the New Zealand all-time Division I scoring record away from Cantabrian Erin Rooney (Monmouth University Hawks, 2009-11/Fordham University Rams, 2012-14) who scored 1,647 points.
After averaging 10 points per game, on 75% shooting, Massachusetts forward Lilly Taulelei was named Atlantic-10 Conference Rookie of the Week.
Dani Bayes scored 8 points as Boise State defeated Rocky Mountain 67-46. NAIA school Rocky Mountain were led by former Waikato and St Peter’s School forward Dominique Stephens who put together an impressive double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds – her fourth double-double in eight games this season.
Leah Mafua came close to a double-double as Central Arkansas thumped Central Baptist 69-32. She finished with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
Emme Shearer and Tayla Dalton began their NCAA careers back in 2020 at a time when, as freshmen, they not only had to adapt to the demands placed on first year student athletes but also navigate the constraints and restrictions in place due to COVID.
Almost four years on, and in their senior years, the former Harbour representative teammates are bringing up a century of Division 1 appearances in the same week – Shearer with the University of Portland Pilots and Dalton with St Mary’s College, California Gaels.
Dalton reached the mark in the Gaels loss at UC Davis on Sunday while Shearer will reach her ton when Portland visit Stanford on Friday.
So how big a deal is a century of games?
Well first of all not many Kiwis have done it. In fact just 26 New Zealand women and 17 men have previously reached the mark in NCAA Division I play (see table below).
With college teams playing just over thirty games a season on average the other requirements to achieve the milestone are to remain injury free, which largely both have, and quickly win the trust of the coaching staff.
Many players suffer the frustration of sitting on the bench in their first year (or more) picking up spot minutes behind more established senior players. Dalton and Shearer were spared that hindrance as they made an immediate impact for their respective teams.
In the 2020-21 season Shearer played in all 27 games (with 14 starts) for the Pilots and was named to the All-West Coast Conference Freshman Team. The Gaels also play in the West Coast Conference where Dalton also appeared in every St Mary’s game (26) and made three starts.
Following accomplished freshman years the duo have continued to build successful NCAA Division I careers with both having a chance of completing the double of 100 appearances and a 1,000 points during this current season – something achieved by just 17 New Zealand women.
Shearer has a slight lead with 795 points compared with Dalton’s 771 points. Both are currently second on their team’s scoring list – Shearer averaging 10.7ppg and Dalton 9.3ppg.
In addition Shearer leads the Pilots in steals (2.4 per game) while Dalton, averaging a team high 31 minutes per game for the Gaels, is second in that stats category (1.6 per game).
Having played together for the Junior Tall Ferns in 2018, alongside each other for various Harbour representative teams, and against each other in the Auckland Schools competition (Shearer for Westlake Girls High and Dalton for Carmel College) it’s fitting these good friends hit the century mark just five days apart.
Dalton was unaware of the milestone she had attained when the Lowdown contacted her.
“To reach 100 games wearing the SMC #10 jersey is very special. I cannot believe how fast my college career is going by, but I absolutely love this journey. Not only is it great to be playing at such a high level, but making such incredible memories along the way.”
Shearer expresses similar sentiments, “It’s been cool to look back and see how far I’ve come and grown as a player and a person since I arrived at Portland.”
With West Coast Conference play underway at the end of the month Dalton is looking forward to that part of the season.
“We are hoping to finish out this non-conference play well and then ready to get into conference play – will be on the court against my best buddy Emme in no time, said Dalton”
The match-up between the pair will be on Thursday January 18 when St Mary’s head north to Portland, the West Coast Conference defending champions.
“It’ll be fun facing Tayla and the Gaels again. We are looking for a strong second half of the season with hopefully more Conference success and another trip to the NCAA Tournament, said Shearer.”
100+ Appearances/Starts – NZ Women (*currently playing | ^played 5 seasons)
153/78
^Tegan Graham (Colgate University, 2017-20/BYU 20-22)
145/117
^Kendell Heremaia (Fordham University, 2017-22)
142/139
^Krystal Leger-Walker (Washington State 2020-22/Northern Colorado 2015-18)
136/110
Jillian Harmon (Stanford University Cardinals, 2005-09)
Kaylee Smiler filled the stats line with 7 points (2/3 3PG), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block as Brigham Young University (BYU) improved to 7-2 with a 72-66 home win against Utah State.
In her fifth year with BYU the Waikato native is renowned for her defensive prowess more than her scoring capability. However, this season and approaching 500 career points, Smiler is shooting the ball at a better clip than at any time in her career.
A 75% free-throw shooter, her field goal percentage is at an all-time high of 47% while her 3-point success is at a heady 52% having made 11 from 21 from beyond the arc. Leading the team in assists (3.8apg) and steals (1.6spg) Smiler has become a key contributor at both ends of the floor for the Cougars.
Also filling the stats line was Leah Mafua as Central Arkansas dominated Central Baptist to win 69-32. Mafua finished with 8 points (passing 100 points for the season in the process), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block.
Three players, including Dani Bayes, scored 15 points (4/9 3PG) as Boise State comfortably beat a Grace Hunter less California State Bakersfield 87-66.
Lilly Taulelei shot a perfect 6 from 6 on her way to scoring 12 points – her third consecutive game with ten points or more.
Emme Shearer is ranked first in the West Coast Conference for steals per game (2.6) and she snared another three, as well as 12 points, despite Portland falling 76-71 at Stephen F. Austin.
Lilly Parke claimed 7 rebounds to go with 10 points as Fairleigh Dickinson coped fairly easily with Bloomfield winning 86-38.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones passed the 100 points mark for the season as UC San Diego eased past Occidental with a 98-67 win. AT-J made 8 points on a perfect 4 from 4 shooting and also added 8 rebounds and 4 assists. That was followed with 11 points in a narrow 68-62 loss at Pepperdine.
Ben Gold was a perfect 3 from 3 from the field in making 8 points as #7 Marquette gained a big 86-65 win against #12 Texas.
In his 50th game for Fordham University, Zach Riley scored 3 points as the Rams clinched a tight one against North Texas 60-59.
A week after recording her first collegiate triple-double Charlisse Leger-Walker settled for back to back double-doubles for Washington State (9-1). The Cougars ran all over Texas A&M Commerce winning 111-50 (CL-W finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds) and followed that with a 77-52 defeat of UC Davis (CL-W 10 and 10).
Leger-Walker now has 1,603 career points with only Erin Rooney (1,647pts) and Tera Reed (1,624pts) ahead of her on the all-time list of NZ NCAA Division I points scorers.
in her 98th appearance for St Mary’s College Tayla Dalton posted a season high 19 points, and a team leading 6 assists, as St Mary’s fell 74-69 at Pac-12 opponents California Berkeley.
Leah Mafua continued her strong start to the season – she top scored with 16 points, and added 7 rebounds, as Central Arkansas (6-3) put the hammer down on Little Rock to win 63-58.
Flo Dallow and Emme Shearer both made double digit contributions as Portland dunked the Oregon Ducks 91-60 – the biggest win against Pac12 opponents by Portland. Dallow came off the bench to slot home a perfect 4 from 4 for 10 points in just 7 minutes while Shearer tallied 11 points.
Shearer followed that with 16 points and 5 steals – all in the second half – in Portland’s 73-64 come from behind win against Montana State.
Freshman Lilly Taulelei had her second double figure points scoring outing for Massachusetts in their 70-62 loss to Yale. The Wellingtonian forward tallied 13 points on 6 from 8 shooting.
Along with 9 points Vitolia Tuilave grabbed 8 rebounds, including 7 off the offensive glass, to help propel Wofford College (4-3) to a decisive 65-42 win against Southern Wesleyan.
Having endured two injury interrupted years it’s pleasing to see former Canterbury and Junior Tall Fern forward Charlotte Whittaker back to the sort of form that made her such a coveted collegiate recruit.
In 17 minutes of action Whittaker tallied 5 points, 4 rebounds and a steal as number 7 ranked Colorado Buffaloes (7-1) charged past Boston to win 85-55.
With 5 points, Dani Bayes brought up 300 career points despite Boise State slipping to a 64-43 defeat at the hands of Eastern Washington.
In men’s NCAA Division I play Ben Gold grabbed a personal best 8 rebounds to go with 10 points as Marquette saw off Southern University winning 93-56.
Next up for #3 ranked Marquette is a trip to Wisconsin where former Tall Black great Kirk Penney is an assistant coach.
Zach Riley snared 3 steals to accompany a couple of points as Fordham (3-3) beat Manhattan 93-61 in the Battle of the Bronx.
In another rivalry game San Diego State pipped UC San Diego 63-63 with Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones accumulating 7 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists for UCSD.
A triple-double from Charlisse Leger-Walker, her first since her championship winning days back in Cambridge at St Peter’s School, headlines the Kiwi performances over the busy Thanksgiving period in American college hoops.
Charlisse posted 11 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists as Washington State University trumped Maryland 87-67 at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico on Thanksgiving Day.
Despite WSU going down 59-48 to Green Bay on the final day of the Cancun Challenge Leger-Walker was still named Tournament MVP after totalling 39 points, 28 rebounds and 17 assists in three games.
The University of Massachusetts didn’t enjoy the same degree of success in the Cancun Challenge although freshman Lilly Taulelei had the satisfaction of scoring a career high 14 points, on 6 from 8 from the field, in the 92-63 loss to Maryland.
There were also career highs from Leah Mafua and Emme Shearer over the weekend.
Mafua, with 19 points (3/6 3PG, 4/5FT), top scored for the University of Central Arkansas as they won 90-84 at Denver. She followed that with 12 points in the narrow 67-65 loss to Nevada.
Shearer equaled her career high in scoring 21 points (7/11FG, 2/2 3PG) although Portland were pipped at the buzzer by Northern Arizona going down 66-65.
Tayla Dalton top scored for St Mary’s College (3-4) with 11 points as the Gaels slipped to a 62-51 home defeat at the hands of Illinois State.
Kaylee Smiler added a season high 7 assists to 8 points as BYU made it a 6-0 start to the season with a comfortable 74-58 win against Loyola Marymount.
Scoring 9 points, Dani Bayes passed 300 career points as Boise State beat Rutgers 68-65.
Lilly Parke also posted 9 points, to go with a team high 8 rebounds, as Fairleigh Dickinson (1-5) gained their first win of the season, defeating Rider 64-59. Parke leads the team in rebounding over the first six games averaging 5.3 boards per game.
In men’s Division I action Ben Gold (6 points) sunk a couple of dagger threes as Marquette, ranked #4 in the country, downed #1 Kansas in the semi-final of the prestigious Allstate Maui Invitational Tournament in Honolulu.
Marquette would go on to lose the final to #2 Purdue (78-75) but demonstrated they have the capacity to take on the very best teams this season.
Ahmed Essahatay made 3 from 5 triples in his 11 points as Long Island defeated A&M Corpus Christi 83-68.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had 10 points and 5 rebounds but couldn’t prevent San Diego (4-3) going down 79-67 to Seattle.
Maia Jones scored a team high 12 points as St Mary’s College, California slipped to a 73-62 loss at Rice. In just her fourth game for St Mary’s Jones made 4 from 5 from the field including 2 from 3 from deep.
Also for St Mary’s Tayla Dalton contributed a team high 4 assists to go with 6 points and is now just two points shy of 700 career points.
Another freshman with a season high was Lilly Taulelei. She scored 8 points off the bench for Massachusetts but the Minutewomen were defeated 74-62 at Monmouth.
At the other end of her collegiate career Charlisse Leger-Walker top scored with 17 points as #23 Washington State comfortably defeated Prairie View 81-43 for a fifth straight win. WSU now head to Mexico for the Cancun challenge over Thanksgiving weekend.
Kaylee Smiler, a former Waikato rep alongside CL-W, was a perfect 3 from 3 from beyond the arc as BYU made it four wins on the bounce to open the season with a comfortable 67-44 win against Wake Forrest in the sunny climes of Hawaii. Smiler finished with 10 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, a block and a rebound.
Tall Fern guard Grace Hunter also filled the stats line as Cal State Bakersfield accounted for Fresno State in a tight one, 65-63. Hunter added a game high 7 assists to 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
Lilly Parke maintained her season average with 11 points in Fairleigh Dickinson’s 60-45 loss to Georgetown.
In Men’s Division I play Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones continued his fine start to his Division I career with 19 points as UC San Diego sailed past Navy to win 73-55 and improve to 4-0 on the season. Jones collected his points on an efficient 7 from 8 from the field plus 5 from 8 at the foul line while also pulling down 6 rebounds.
A belated congratulations to Emme Shearer who, with 7 points against Villanova last weekend, took her career points tally past the 700 points mark. Amongst current New Zealand players in NCAA Division I basketball she is the second highest scorer behind Charlisse Leger-Walker.
Shearer followed that with a career high 7 steals to accompany 16 points as Portland were easy winners against Warner Pacific (86-49). Another former Harbour Basketball rep Flo Dallow was also prominent for Portland with a season best 14 points.
Another of Shearer’s former Harbour Basketball teammates, Tayla Dalton, is not far short of 700 points herself. Dalton made the first two baskets of the game and went on to make 10 points as St Mary’s College Gaels saw off the UC Irvine challenge to win a low scoring encounter 52-37. The Tall Ferns guard now has 690 career points.
Talking of Charlisse Leger-Walker, she scored 19 points as Washington State, ranked #24 in the nation, eased to a 61-49 win at Montana.
Freshman Vitolia Tuilave produced her first collegiate double-double as Wofford College eased to an 82-52 win against North Carolina Central. The Tauranga native finished with 17 points (8/11FG) and a dozen rebounds.
Former Baradene College standout Lilly Parke was only one point shy of a double-double in Fairleigh Dickinson’s 49-44 loss to Bucknell. Parke finished with 9 points and 10 rebounds – her 4 offensive boards a game high.
Dani Bayes, with 13 points, was the leading scorer for Boise State as they dominated Weber State with a 76-47 win. Kaitlin Burgess, working her way back to game fitness after missing the bulk of last season through injury added 3 points for Boise.
In Men’s Division I action Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones made double figures for the third consecutive game as UC San Diego pasted La Verne 116-57. Tait-Jones finished with 15 points (4/5FG, 7/8FT).
Tom Beattie scored 12 points on debut for the University of Hawaii as they beat local rivals Hawaii at Hilo 82-66.
Charlisse Leger-Walker and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones produced the two standout performances by Kiwis in NCAA Division I basketball over the weekend.
After scoring 26 points in Washington State’s 77-72 overtime win against Gonzaga, Leger-Walker moved to within three of 1500 career points as she tied Megan Compain’s 1,497 career points at St Joseph’s (1993-97).
With 6 points in the 64-47 win against Idaho State on Sunday, Leger-Walker passed the 1,500 points mark and in the process moved to third on the all-time list of NZ scorers in NCAA basketball. Only Tera Reed (1,624 points) and Erin Rooney (1,647) are ahead of KL-W.
Meanwhile Tait-Jones followed up his near triple double performance on his UC San Diego debut to register 21 points and 8 rebounds in his second game as the Tritons edged the local derby against San Diego 69-63.
Incidentally Tait-Jones is putting up significant numbers. Having scored 1,061 points at Hawaii at Hilo (NCAA Division II) he is now up to 1,096 career collegiate points.
Back to the women’s game and fellow Wellingtonian Grace Hunter top scored for Cal State Bakersfield in their 67-54 loss to Pacific. The Tokomanawa Queens and Tall Ferns guard posted 15 points and 3 assists.
Lilly Parke followed up her 11-point effort on debut for Fairleigh Dickinson with 15 points in the 71-63 loss to Army West Point.
Vitolia Tuilave, in just her second collegiate game, scored 14 points and pulled down 8 rebounds as Wofford College defeated Erskine 85-47.
Leah Mafua led the Central Arkansas scoring with 15 points but the Purples were pipped 65-62 by Samford.
Playing her 107th game for BYU Kaylee Smiler scored 10 points (4/6FG) including 2 from 3 from beyond the arc. A renowned defender she also snared 6 rebounds and tied her career high of 4 blocks.
On her first appearance for Portland, after redshirting the 2022-23 season, Flo Dallow scored 9 points in the 64-42 loss to Villanova.
Another freshman Hunter Adam, in his third game for Davidson College, scored 9 points in their narrow 68-65 loss to Clemson.
The opening couple of days of the NCAA Division I basketball season has seen some good performances by New Zealand players, of note being the efforts of Division I debutants Aniwania Tait-Jones, Lilly Parke and Leah Mafua.
See summary below.
Washington State 78 Cal Poly 61
Charlisse Leger-Walker had 6 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 3 steals in the Cougars win – the 9 assists one shy of her career best.
Boise State 77 College of Idaho 35
Dani Bayes 10 points, Kaitlin Burgess 2 points on return after missing the bulk of last season due to injury.
Portland 72 San Diego State 58
Emme Shearer top scored for Portland with 17 points and added 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Fairleigh Dickinson 46 #3 Iowa 102
On debut, and against the number three ranked Iowa, Lilly Parke top scored for Fairleigh Dickinson with 11 points. Last season’s Women’s College player of the Year led the way for Iowa with 28 points.
Southern Methodist 78 UC Riverside 55
Ella Brow 10 points and 5 rebounds.
CSU Bakersfield 56 Cal Berkeley 89
Grace Hunter 8 points
Central Arkansas 85 Hendrix 25
Leah Mafua 8 points and 8 rebounds on debut for Central Arkansas. Also on debut sister Jenna Rose had 5 steals and 4 rebounds.
Western Kentucky 70 Mercer 64
Mackenzie Chatfield (3 points) – made her first shot, a three-pointer – on her WKU debut.
La Salle 73 Coppin State 68
Emilee Tahata 8 points for La Salle.
Massachusetts 56 St Peter’s 44
Lilly Taulelei 6 points on debut for UMass.
Colorado 97 Le Moyne 38
Charlotte Whittaker 9 points (4/7FG) for Colorado.
NCAA Division I Men
UC San Diego 95 Denver 87
Aniwania Tait-Jones impressed on debut for UCSD with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals and a block.
Marquette 92 Northern Illinois 70
Ben Gold passed 100 career points with his 9 points – the Tall Back also added 7 rebounds.
Davidson 86 Washington & Lee 63
Hunter Adam scored 3 points on his Davidson debut.
Georgia Tech 84 Georgia Southern 62
Tafara Gapare 3 points and 3 blocks on his Georgia Tech debut.
Two steals pilfered by Tom Abercrombie, in the BNZ Breakers 91-81 win against the Cairns Taipans on Friday night in Christchurch, meant he overtook Dillon Boucher (288 steals) to become the Breakers all-time leader in that statitical category. Probably worth noting though is that Boucher racked up his 288 steals in just 220 games compared with Abercrombie’s 290 in 406 appearances!
Ced Jackson was a prolific game ball thief averaging a club best 2.1 steals per game while Parker Jackson-Cartwright has begun this season averaging 2.4 per game – we’ll keep an eye on how he progresses to see if he can maintain that sort of output for the remainder of the season.
Breakers leading stealers:
Abercrombie 290 in 406 games @ 0.7pg
Boucher 288 in 220 games @ 1.3pg
Ced Jackson 278 in 130 games @ 2.1pg
Mika Vukona 252 in 354 games @ 1.4pg
Paul Henare 209 in 250 games @ 0.8pg
CJ Bruton 167 in 179 games @ 0.9pg
Corey Webster 165 in 236 games @ 0.7pg
Parker Jackson-Cartwright 17 in 7 games @ 2.4pg
As well as steals Abbo now leads the Breakers in appearances (406), wins (228), points (4,358) and blocks (258).
Also against Cairns Izayah Le’afa, with 14 points, reached the 400 career points mark with the club. He is the 39thBreaker to score 400 points and the 15th Kiwi to log that number of points for the club.
Mangok Mathiang pulled down a season high 11 rebounds.
48-hours later the Breakers lost a nail-biter in Sydney, downed 87-85 by the Kings, where Le’afa played his 100th NBL game, 58 of those in his two seasons with South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Five rebounds from Finn Delany propelled him to 754 career boards with the Breakers – only the sixth Breaker after Mika Vukona, Abbo, Alex Pledger, Dillon Boucher and big Ben Pepper to reach the milestone.
Upcoming
Finn Delany is just one point shy of becoming the ninth player to score 1,600 points for the club.
Also one shy – in this case of 300 defensive rebounds – is Will McDowell-White. He will be the 16th Breaker to reach the mark but only the sixth guard following Ced Jackson (4.6), Paul Henare (1.9), CJ Bruton (1.7), Kirk Penney (3.3) and Corey Webster (1.6).
McD-W has accumulated his 299 DR’s at 3.6 per game which amongst the guards is only bettered by Ced Jackson’s 4.6 per game (see bracket figures above).
The BNZ Breakers, back from their two-game NBA excursion, were defeated 97-88 by Melbourne United in the Victorian capital on Sunday afternoon.
It was an afternoon we got to see two new Breakers in action and also an occasion the Breakers took the court with an all overseas starting five for the first time in the club’s 633 game history.
With Tom Abercrombie relegated to the bench coach Mody Maor wheeled out a first five featuring Australians Will McDowell-White and Mangok Mathiang to accompany the American trio of Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Zylan Cheatham and recent arrival Anthony Lamb.
Former NBA player Lamb, the 148th Breaker, scored 15 points against United while fellow debutant Mantas Rubštavičius (Breaker #149) had 2 points and 2 rebounds in his first outing. 21 year-old Rubštavičius, a Lithuanian national team player, is part of the NBL’s Next Stars programme.
Cheatham scored a monster 30 points while Jackson-Cartwright had 5 steals to accompany 18 points and 5 assists although fouled out with 3:37 to play.
Other numbers of interest:
McDowell-White, with 9 dimes, passed 400 assists for the Breakers – the 8th Breaker to reach this number. Averaging 4.3 assists per game he will likely threaten the 500 mark before the season concludes but has a long way to go to reach Paul Henare’s all-time club record of 901 assists.
It’s early in the season but the hyphenated duo of McDowell-White (6.5apg) and Jackson-Cartwright (6.0apg) are first and third in the NBL in that statistical category with PJC leading the steals category (4 per game) and also currently the second leading scorer tallying 21 points per outing.
Izayah Le’afa scored 7 points to reach 800 points in his 96th NBL game. 425 of those points were scored in his two season with South East Melbourne Phoenix prior to joining the Breakers.
Dane Pineau’s 5 points were his first in Breakers colours and took the Australian forward past 400 NBL career points.
Next up for the Breakers (1-2) is a home encounter with Adelaide 36ers (2-5) at Spark Arena on Thursday October 26.
The BNZ Breakers began their 2023-24 NBL season in a positive fashion defeating Cairns Taipans 98-87 at Spark Arena on Saturday night. In front of nearly 7,000 fans it was a fitting way to celebrate Tom Abercrombie’s 400th game for the club.
Abercrombie is the first player to make 400 appearances for the club with the Breakers Top-10 appearance makers listed below.
Tom Abercrombie
400
Mika Vukona
354
Paul Henare
250
Alex Pledger
238
Corey Webster
236
Dillon Boucher
220
CJ Bruton
179
Finn Delany
165
Kirk Penney
160
Rob Loe
145
Parker Jackson-Cartwright may be small in stature – generously listed as 5’11” – but is certainly big in game and demonstrated that with a stats line of 25 points (10/17FG), 8 assists, 6 steals and 4 rebounds.
His 6 steals are the most on debut by a Breakers player since Dillon Boucher snaffled 8 additional possessions in the inaugural Breakers game against the Adelaide 36ers back in October 2003.
The victory represented the Breakers first season opening win since 2016.
Five players made their Breakers debuts against the Taipans with Zylan Cheatham becoming Breaker #143, Jackson Cartwright #144, Justinian Jessup #145, Mangok Mathiang #146 and Dane Pineau #147.
Finn Delany made a welcome return to Breakers colours posting 18 points (4/7 3PG) and a couple of rebounds.
A shout-out to former Westlake Boys High and Harbour representative Sam Mennenga. Mennenga, making his professional debut, impressed as he led the Taipans scoring with 17 points on 7 from 11 shooting. Another Tall Black Sam Waardenburg was also in double figures for Cairns scoring 12 points.
Upcoming:
Izayah Lea’fa needs just 9 points to reach 800 career points, 425 of those with South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Westlake Girls High School defeated Mt Albert Grammar School 90-61 to win the Zone 1 National Championships Qualifying Tournament, at Eventfinda Stadium on Saturday evening. In so doing Westlake have completed the double of winning the Auckland Premier Grade title and the Qualifying Tournament for the second successive year.
MAGS, with Jorjia Fiu nailing a triple and Wai Clarken in good scoring touch, had parity at the end of a fast flowing opening quarter – the scores locked at 21 points apiece.
Clarken and Fiu each made a brace of scores in the second but with Elin Vincent and Amy Pateman dropping triples and Zenthia Stowers piercing the MAGS defence, Westlake had a 40-30 lead by half-time.
Phoenix Kaipo nailed a triple for MAGS before Westlake skipper Rebecca Moors amassed 15 third quarter points to carry her team to a commanding 71-43 lead at three-quarter time.
Westlake had little trouble negotiating their way through the final frame and will now look forward to defending their National title in Palmerston North at the end of the month.
Joining Westlake and MAGS at Nationals will be fellow Prems teams Epsom Girls Grammar, Takapuna Grammar and Baradene College. They will be joined by Senior A champions Manurewa High School who it is believed will be making their first ever trip to the National champs.
Other Results – Top 6 teams all qualifying for Nationals.
3rd/4th Playoff: Manurewa High 62 Takapuna Grammar 44
5th/6th Playoff: Epsom Girls Grammar 54 Baradene College 48
7th/8th Playoff: Northcote College 86 Rangitoto College 68
Rosmini College defeated Mt Albert Grammar School 66-51, to win the Zone 1 National Championships Qualifying Tournament, at Eventfinda Stadium on Saturday evening.
The two teams had met in the Auckland Prems Final the previous week, a game in which MAGS prevailed 79-78, but this time around it was Rosmini that triumphed in a relatively low scoring game.
Rosmini were paced by Zion Anderson (21 points) and Jameer Reed (15 points) while for MAGS, Romani Keith-Peraua tallied 16 points, Harri Coker-Grey 13 and Kade Cartwright 11.
Rosmini made the better start chalking up 27 first quarter points to lead by 13 with Harlan Roudon and Reed making some telling scores.
Coker-Grey produced 8 second quarter points but MAGS fell further behind as Anderson’s 8 points and a Chris Wyllie triple meant the Rosmini lead was 46-29 at half-time.
Neither side could find their offensive fluency in the third although Coker-Grey’s buzzer beater reduced the margin by two points (56-41) with ten minutes to play.
Wyllie made the opening score of the fourth period but then the Rosmini shooting went ice cold as MAGS put together a scoring run and when Louis Uri made a trade mark inside basket the Rosmini lead was down to eleven points (60-49) with just under 5 minutes to play.
Rosmini found a response through Reed and when Anderson came up with an athletic finish the Rosmini advantage was back to 15 points and the championship title secured.
Rosmini 66 – Anderson 21, Reed 15, Bart Jackowski 8, C Wyllie 7, Roudon 6
MAGS 51 – Keith-Peraua 16, Coker-Grey 13, Cartwright 11, Louis Uri 8, Dante Tapulaaia 3/9rebs
The final day of the tournament, one in which an unprecedented number of Premier teams failed to qualify for Nationals, sorted out the remaining qualifying spots for the secondary schools showpiece event in Palmerston North beginning September 25.
Prems teams St Peter’s College, Sacred Heart College and previous winners Westlake Boys and Rangitoto College will not be travelling to the Manawatu at the end of the month.
Congratulations to Dilworth School, Mt Roskill Grammar and Pukekohe High School on securing places alongside Auckland Grammar, St Kentigern College and the two grand-finalists.
Other Results (the top seven teams qualifying for Nationals):
3rd/4th Playoff: Auckland Grammar 87 Dilworth 59
5th/6th Playoff: St Kentigern College beat Mt Roskill Grammar in overtime 88-87
7th/8th Playoff: Pukekohe High beat Northcote College 78-71
Manurewa High School claimed the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Senior A Championship with an exciting 74-71 victory over Rangitoto College at Trusts Arena on Thursday the first defeat of the season inflicted on Rangi.
The game featured two outstanding scoring performances by Bella Manu-Moore (33 points for Manurewa) and Eva Veale (35 points for Rangitoto) although ultimately it was Manu-Moore’s 14 fourth quarter points that decided the contest.
The first half was a tale of contrasting fortunes for both teams. Manurewa scored the first 13 points of the game and led 24-12 at quarter time with Emily Tanira and Shirley Tuilimu in good scoring touch.
The tide turned in the second quarter as Veale found her scoring touch and when Madison Skelton nailed a three-pointer Rangitoto had a 38-32 lead.
The third period was split 24 points apiece with Manu-Moore and Beautiful Campbell doing the damage for Manurewa while Veale and Mela Andrews kept Rangi in the lead.
At the mid-point of the fourth quarter Wai Hetaraka-Brown gave Manurewa their first lead since early in the second period and from there the teams went basket for basket.
Inside the last two minutes Andrews would make it a two point game and then Veale a one-point margin.
However Manurewa’s dominance on the boards was highlighted by their final two scores of the game with Manu-Moore crashing the offensive boards on both occasions for put back baskets – match and championship winning plays.
The Boy’s Senior A Final was equally exciting with Liston College defeating Mt Roskill Grammar School 60-58 in a game that was in the balance until the last play of the game.
Liston edged the opening quarter 14-11 and in a tense opening half increased their advantage to 31-23 at the main break with Dhon Lao scoring 12 points for Liston.
Haisem Osman gave Manurewa a 35-33 lead as they had much the better of the second quarter. With Mitchell Greenaway scoring 11 points in the period Roskill were 43-39 ahead at the three-quarter time mark.
A couple of Daniel Greenaway scores kept Roskill ahead (48-45) but they were outscored through the middle stages of the fourth and trailed 54-53 with under four minutes to play after a Lao basket.
A transition basket from Osman gave Roskill a narrow 55-54 lead before a banked three from Rasheed Ieremia, with 2:45 on the clock, restored the Liston lead (57-55).
A Ronnie Juan free-throw increased the lead to three only for Ngawaka Rakete to cut it to one with 41 seconds to play.
Both teams created scoring opportunities in the closing seconds but it was successful free-throws from Lao and Ieremia that sealed the win and the title for Liston.
Mt Roskill 58 – M Greenaway 17, D Greenaway 10, Osman 9, Rakete 7, Ryan Aramoana 7
Liston 60 – Ieremia 20, Lao 15, Jeydin Ale 8, Juan 7
Westlake Girls High School claimed their third successive Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade Championship with a 92-68 Grand Final victory over Mt Albert Grammar School at Trusts Arena on Thursday.
Amy Pateman scored a game high 31 points with her fellow Westlake starters all making big contributions. Rebecca Moors sailed close to a double-double with 20 points and 8 rebounds, Lily Fotu scored 15 points, Emma Schroeder 12 and Zenthia Stowers 10.
Wai Clarken led the way for MAGS with 20 points, Jorjia Fiu tallied 16 and Phoenix Kaipo chipped in with 9 points.
Westlake got off to a fast start and when Fotu landed from deep MAGS, trailing 16-6 needed a timeout.
Clarken connected from beyond the arc on the resumption but the Westlake lead, with Fotu contributing 8 points, was 24-12 at the quarter mark.
MAGS made a strong move through the early stages of the second period – a steal and layup from Emina Tiatia, following scores from Clarken and Meiya Lemafa meant the Westlake lead was reduced to two points (32-30).
However Westlake would then construct a 16-2 finish to the half as Moors, Schroeder and Fotu scored a brace of baskets apiece – Westlake ahead 48-32 at half-time.
Stowers transition baskets extended the Westlake lead before a smart in bounds play by Fiu and triples from Clarken and Nia Roberts provided the MAGS supporters with some hope.
Pateman and Moors put an end to that as Westlake closed the quarter with a 70-51 lead.
That advantage climbed beyond thirty points early in the fourth and although MAGS pegged back the deficit the Westlake victory was sealed long before the final whistle.
Mt Albert Grammar defeated Rosmini College 79-78 in a nail biting Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grand Final at Trusts Arena on Thursday night.
2022 champions Rosmini and 2023 Regular season champs Mt Albert produced a fitting climax to the Prems season which wasn’t decided until Harri Coker-Grey converted two free-throws with just 7 seconds left on the clock.
The pair of freebies secured MAGS their first premiership title since 2001, much to the delight of their travelling fans.
MAGS had carried a 61-58 lead into the final period but when Zion Anderson (18 points) made an inside basket Rosmini had snaffled a 73-70 lead with 4:30 to play.
Rosmini remained scoreless for a number of possessions and when Kade Cartwright (16 points) nailed a corner three with 61 seconds showing on the clock the scoreline favoured MAGS (76-75).
The reply was instantaneous – Bart Jackowski’s triple giving Rosmini a two-point lead with 39 seconds remaining.
Coker-Grey earned a trip to the foul line to cut the margin to one with 34 seconds to play and after MAGS quelled a Rosmini offence it was HC-G earning another trip to the charity strike.
This time he converted both for the sixth lead change of the quarter and the decisive one.
Earlier 9 first quarter points from Louis Uri, headed for a game high 23 points, propelled MAGS to a 22-18 first quarter lead.
Josh Wyllie scythed through the MAGS defence for a couple of baskets late in the second period but further contributions from Uri and a trey from Logan Wood gave MAGS a 43-34 half-time lead.
Three-point plays from Cartwright and Ethan Lay kept MAGS in the ascendancy but good work from Anderson, Jameer Reed (22 points) and Liam Bates saw the MAGS advantage reduced to those three points with the fourth quarter to play.
Terrific tense, tight entertainment followed!
MAGS 79 – Uri 23/9rebs, Coker-Grey 18 Cartwright 16, Romani Keith-Peraua 8, Wood 7
The Senior A finalists have been found with Mt Roskill Grammar to take on Liston College in the Boy’s Grand Final and Manurewa High School to face Rangitoto College in the Girl’s championship game.
Mt Roskill Grammar, led by Mitchell Greenaway, used a strong third quarter to see off the Dilworth challenge in the first Boy’s semi-final.
Regular points from Ikahui Mahe, Kingston Kailahi-Aso and Ezrah Eagle had enabled Dilworth to establish a 34-30 half-time lead.
That advantage was quickly overturned in the third period as Mitchell and Daniel Greenaway reeled off a collective 19 points. Roskill convincingly won the third period 28-15 to lead 55-51.
Eagle, recently named to the New Zealand U17 team, continued to lead the Dilworth resistance although that wilted in the fourth as Alfred Kerr, Ngawaka Rakete and Mitch Greenaway landed threes to seal the victory.
Mt Roskill 82 – M Greenaway 33, D Greenaway 14, Ryan Aramoana 10, Waka 10, Kerr 6 Dilworth 62 – Ezrah 23, Mahe 10, George Hardie 9, Kingston Kailahi-Aso 8, Nepia Moore 6
In the other semi-final Liston College won a close encounter with Northcote College, prevailing against the regular season champions 74-70.
Aaron Sievert piled on 41 points for Northcote while Rasheed Ieremia led the way for Liston with 28 points.
A tight opening half saw Northcote lead 13-12 at quarter-time and 30-27 at half-time before Liston made their move in the third period.
Ieremia came up with eight points and with Luke Vaipaata, Jeydin Ale and Dhon Lao knocking down threes Liston tuned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead.
Aaron Sievert’s outstanding season continued and with Tane Cook lending support Northcote continued to press for victory. However half a dozen points from Lao and 13 from Ieremia were just enough to book Liston a prized grand-final berth.
Mt Roskill 62 – B Ioane 22, N Ioane 21, Koonwaiyou 10
Manurewa High School will be Rangitoto’s grand-final opponents although it took a big last quarter effort to see off the challenge of Carmel College.
Entering the fourth period the Manurewa lead was only five points (61-56) and an all North Shore final looked a possibility.
However Manurewa would dominate the final stretch 19-6 with Emily Tanira and Bella Manu-Moore combining for 15 points to close out the win.
Manu-Moore scored 11 first quarter points to help Manurewa to a 22-16 lead before Carmel hit back through Ruby Railton and Ella Drake.
A Taisha Tanira triple gave Manurewa a 44-36 half-time lead.
Drake’s third three of the game and Leighton Esera’s first along with 7 points from Zahara Tibbotts meant the Manurewa lead had been trimmed to five points.
An exciting fourth quarter didn’t materialise as Manurewa bossed the final minutes.
Westlake Girls High School and Mt Albert Grammar School, in a repeat of the 2022 final, will contest the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade Grand Final next Thursday.
Westlake had kittle difficulty in powering past Takapuna Grammar School to win their semi-final 102-54, Emma Schroeder leading the way for Westlake with 29 points.
Westlake led 32-15 at quarter time and were up 53-30 by half-time before running away with the tie.
The other semi-final was a much closer affair with Mt Albert Grammar overcoming Epsom Girls Grammar 73-57.
Eleven points from Wai Clarken propelled MAGS to a 24-15 quarter-time lead.
Epsom fell further behind in the second spell as Clarken and Jorjia Fiu put points on the board to take MAGS to a 41-28 half-time advantage.
Epsom got some scoring traction from Maya Fowler and Draun Forbes in the second period although it wasn’t enough to slow the MAGS progress: 60-43 the lead and Mt Albert headed to the Grand Final.
Epsom 57 – Forbes 17, Fowler 13, Kiyara Te Amo 8, Ivy Tino 6
MAGS 73 – Clarken 31, Fiu 14, Nia Roberts 5, Peyton Uri 5
The two highest ranked teams in the regular season will contest the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade Grand Final next week.
In the semi-finals Mt Albert Grammar School defeated St Kentigern College 91-69 with Rosmini College victors over Auckland Grammar School 89-85.
MAGS led from start to finish against St Kent’s establishing a 28-13 first quarter lead which they pushed out to 53-28 by half-time.
The early damage was done by Harri Coker-Grey and Romani Keith-Perau with Lois Uri also chiming in with points.
The St Kent’s resistance came via George Turner and Hunter Te Ratana as they edged the third period but MAGS with a 20-point cushion were able to safely navigate the final period.
St Kentigern 69 – Turner 21, Te Ratana 17, Cooper Lepou 9
The second semi-final was a much tighter affair with Rosmini College requiring a strong fourth quarter to edge out Auckland Grammar School.
Trailing 58-56 at three quarter time Rosmini found their range from deep via Josh Batty and Liam Bates as they wrestled for momentum. Grammar hit back through Josh Howes, Lawson Pryor and Jackson Kiss but Jameer Reed’s timely points and free-throws down the stretch from Zion Anderson and Bart Jackowski got Rosmini home.
Anderson, Batty and Reed were the main contributors as Rosmini gained a 41-38 half-time lead.
Nine third quarter points from Brigham Hakaraia helped AGS take that three-quarter time take that three-quarter time lead which Rosmini would go on to overturn.
Unfortunately Northcote College were unable to complete their home programme in front of their supporters as Avondale College defaulted the game against the Senior A regular season champions.
Runners-up Mt Roskill Grammar School enjoyed a comfortable 101-65 victory against Selwyn College with the Greenaway’s, Mitchell and Daniel, scoring 45 points.
Mt Roskill 101 – M Greenaway 26, D Greenaway 19, Alfred Kerr 12, Wai Tonga 9
Selwyn 65 – Luka Vietri 14, Ashton Muraahi 13, Jerry Hing 9, Alfred Casiple 8
Dilworth moved up into third spot on the table thanks to an 82-58 win at Kelston Boys High School where Ezra Eagle top scored with 20 points.
Kelston 58 – Sam Tuitopou 14, Real Wheaton 12, Isiah Tulisi 9, Rodman Fuaivaa 7
Liston College slipped down to fourth spot after going down 76-51 at Manurewa High School where Richard Campbell was in great form scoring 34 points.
Manurewa 76 – R Campbell 34, Jarell Tuhega 24, Issachar Pati 10
Liston 51 – Dhon Lao 26, Rasheed Tahiru 9, Manu Tuaere 6, Jeydin Ale 6
The semi-final lineup on Friday will pitch Northcote against Liston with Mt Roskill going up against Dilworth.
The waters are a little muddier in the bottom half of the standings where Selwyn, Kelston and Manurewa have finished with identical 5-9 records.
My sources say Kelston Boys will finish 7th and therefore have the unenviable challenge of playing a promotion/relegation game in 2024. That outcome is yet to be confirmed.
To take advantage of Dynamic Sport’s generous 15% discount offer for Lacey Lowdown readers, use promocode LACEYLOWDOWN at the checkout.
Rangitoto College completed an unbeaten regular season campaign but perhaps not in the fashion they would have desired as Avondale College defaulted the fixture between the two.
Rangitoto’s next outing will be a semi-final meeting with Mt Roskill Grammar who pipped Auckland Grammar for the fourth play-off spot – Roskill winning 56-51 with Nelly Ioane scoring 24 points.
In a forerunner to their semi-final match up on Friday Manurewa High School defeated Carmel College 62-51 with Bella Manu-Moore scoring a game high 21 points.
The Girls Premier Grade regular season wrapped up with victories for Westlake, Epsom, Takapuna and Northcote College.
The results confirmed that the semi-final draw will see Westlake Girls High play Takapuna Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar match up against Epsom Girls Grammar.
Westlake Girls High wrapped up the Prems regular season title with a convincing 87-44 home win against Baradene College.
Westlake charged out of the gate to rattle up 32 points in the first quarter and although there was greater parity in the second period the Westlake lead was a significant 45-23 at half-time with Zenthia Stowers, Amy Pateman and Rebecca Moors doing most the damage for the hosts.
Though resistance came from Ritorya Tamilo, Salie Cormack and Deyna Topia, Westlake continued to dominate proceedings and chalk up win number twelve.
In one of the games of the season Takapuna Grammar beat Mt Albert Grammar 80-79 in overtime with Bailey Flavell scoring 50 points.
The shot making of both teams in the closing stages of regular time and overtime was exceptional as the large crowd were kept on the edge of their seats. – 33 points were scored in the overtime period after the scores were tied at 63 points apiece in normal time.
MAGS seized the initiative at the start of overtime scoring the first seven points – a triple from Nia Roberts and a pair of baskets from Jorjia Fiu.
Takapuna struck back through Mackenzie Mackereth but when opposing captain Wai Clarken landed from deep the MAGS lead was 75-69 with a little over two minutes to play.
That was a signal for Flavell to step up as she made a drive in traffic and an And-1 play to tie proceedings.
Clarken swished a free-throw only for Flavell to score on the next possession – Takapuna ahead 77-76 with 35 seconds to play.
The shoot-out between the New Zealand age-group international guards continued as Clarken nailed a deep three with 18 seconds remaining to give the hosts a 79-77 lead.
With one last possession Flavell drew a foul with 3 seconds to play – the trip to the foul line appeared to be an opportunity to send the game into a second period of overtime.
After making the first free throw, Flavell missed the second but somehow Takapuna skipper Mackereth came up with the play of the game as she secured an offensive rebound and, surrounded by defenders, slotted in a left handed finish to the delight of her teammates.
The win saw Takapuna leapfrog St Kentigern College into fourth place on the ladder in a game that was a fitting climax to the regular season.
MAGS 79 – Clarken 27, Fiu 16, Sienna-Rose Tawera 11, Peyton Uri 6, Roberts 5
Epsom Girls Grammar finished runners-up after an 81-63 win against St Kentigern College – Draun Forbes paced Epsom with 29 points whilst there were other double figure contributions from Leah Patuwairua and Talia Vea.
Ash Tuumaialu top scored for St Kent’s with 28 points while Kilani Tuineau scored 14 and Anamaia Rangihaeata tallied 11 points.
Epsom 81 – Forbes 29, Patuwairua 14, Vea 10, Kiyara Te Amo 7, Ivy Tino 6
Lizzy May turned in the outstanding individual performance at Northcote College as the home team defeated St Mary’s College 94-44.
On her way to a game high 24 points May gave a high quality demonstration of perimeter shooting as she landed 6 triples, including four in a row, in the final quarter!
Skipper Lily Morgan scored 23 points, Nikki Gear 17 points and DJ Hannah 14 points as Northcote dominated from start to finish.
India Nash led the St Mary’s effort with 13 points.
Northcote 94 – May 24, Morgan 23, N Gear 17, Hannah 14, Lisa Gear 7
St Mary’s 44 – Nash 13, Olive Maling 7, Teuila Salesa 7, Christiana Setu 5
Final Standings
12-2 Westlake
11-3 Epsom
10-4 MAGS
7-7 Takapuna
——————————–
6-8 St Kentigern
5-9 Northcote
4-8 Baradene
1-12 St Mary’s
Prem Girls Round 14
The Girls Premier Grade regular season wrapped up with victories for
The results confirmed that the semi-final draw will see Westlake play Takapuna Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar match up against Epsom Girls Grammar.
Westlake Girls High wrapped up the Prems regular season title with a convincing 87-44 home win against Baradene College.
Westlake charged out of the gate to rattle up 32 points in the first quarter and although there was greater parity in the second period the Westlake lead was a significant 45-23 at half-time with Zenthia Stowers, Amy Pateman and Rebecca Moors doing most the damage for the hosts.
Though resistance came from Ritorya Tamilo, Salie Cormack and Deyna Topia, Westlake continued to dominate proceedings and chalk up win number twelve.
In one of the games of the season Takapuna Grammar beat Mt Albert Grammar 80-79 in overtime with Bailey Flavell scoring 50 points.
The shot making of both teams in the closing stages of regular time and overtime was exceptional as the large crowd were kept on the edge of their seats. – 33 points were scored in the overtime period after the scores were tied at 63 points apiece in normal time.
MAGS seized the initiative at the start of overtime scoring the first seven points – a triple from Nia Roberts and a pair of baskets from Jorjia Fiu.
Takapuna struck back through Mackenzie Mackereth but when opposing captain Wai Clarken landed from deep the MAGS lead was 75-69 with a little over two minutes to play.
That was a signal for Flavell to step up as she made a drive in traffic and an And-1 play to tie proceedings.
Clarken swished a free-throw only for Flavell to score on the next possession – Takapuna ahead 77-76 with 35 seconds to play.
The shoot-out between the New Zealand age-group international guards continued as Clarken nailed a deep three with 18 seconds remaining to give the hosts a 79-77 lead.
With one last possession Flavell drew a foul with 3 seconds to play – the trip to the foul line appeared to be an opportunity to send the game into a second period of overtime.
After making the first free throw, Flavell missed the second but somehow Takapuna skipper Mackereth came up with the play of the game as she secured an offensive rebound and, surrounded by defenders, slotted in a left handed finish to the delight of her teammates.
The win saw Takapuna leapfrog St Kentigern College into fourth place on the ladder in a game that was a fitting climax to the regular season.
MAGS 79 – Clarken 27, Fiu 16, Sienna-Rose Tawera 11, Peyton Uri 6, Roberts 5
Epsom Girls Grammar finished runners-up after an 81-63 win against St Kentigern College – Draun Forbes paced Epsom with 29 points whilst there were other double figure contributions from Leah Patuwairua and Talia Vea.
Ash Tuumaialu top scored for St Kent’s with 28 points while Kilani Tuineau scored 14 and Anamaia Rangihaeata tallied 11 points.
Epsom 81 – Forbes 29, Patuwairua 14, Vea 10, Kiyara Te Amo 7, Ivy Tino 6
Lizzy May turned in the outstanding individual performance at Northcote College as the home team defeated St Mary’s College 94-44.
On her way to a game high 24 points May gave a high quality demonstration of perimeter shooting as she landed 6 triples, including four in a row, in the final quarter!
Skipper Lily Morgan scored 23 points, Nikki Gear 17 points and DJ Hannah 14 points as Northcote dominated from start to finish.
India Nash led the St Mary’s effort with 13 points.
Northcote 94 – May 24, Morgan 23, N Gear 17, Hannah 14, Lisa Gear 7
St Mary’s 44 – Nash 13, Olive Maling 7, Teuila Salesa 7, Christiana Setu 5
In the final round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade regular season there were victories for Auckland Grammar, St Peter’s College, Rosmini College and Westlake Boys.
Mt Albert Grammar School’s unbeaten run came to a halt at 12 games after suffering a 62-60 home loss to Rosmini College.
The top two teams on the Premier ladder went toe to toe with never more than six points separating the two sides.
Dante Matakatea opened proceedings with a two handed flush – the NZ U17 rep scored 9 points as MAGS opened up a 16-13 lead.
Threes from Chris Wyllie and Harlan Roudon gave Rosmini their first lead of the game although that drew a quick response from Louis Uri and Kade Cartwright.
With 15 points to his name MAGS unfortunately lost the services of Matakatea, with a shoulder injury, shortly before the interval – a Josh Batty corner three giving Rosmini a 34-33 lead on the stroke of half-time.
Uncompromising defence dominated the third frame with neither side able to find any offensive fluidity. Zion Anderson scored a couple of baskets for the visitors but a pair of trade mark inside buckets from Louis Uri gave MAGS a 46-43 three-quarter time lead.
Scores from Uri and Romani Keith-Peraua enabled MAGS to open up a six point lead before a Rosmini 9-0 run, initiated by Liam Bates, clawed back the lead.
An And-1 play from Harri Coker-Grey was countered by a Wyllie three – Rosmini 56-55 ahead.
Again Wyllie and Coker Grey exchanged baskets, ahead of Roudon and Keith-Peraua doing the same – the scores locked at 60 points apiece with 2:10 to play.
Both sides had scoring opportunities in the final seconds but it was Anderson that produced the winning play to deny MAGS a 13th straight win.
Auckland Grammar School locked in third spot on the ladder with an 83-73 win at Rangitoto College.
Grammar opened up a 16-12 lead before Rangitoto College went on a spirited run, either side of the quarter time break, to lead 30-18 in the second quarter. Joel Brown was into double figures for Rangi, George Milburn and Jackson Kiss likewise for Grammar.
Grammar closed the half strongly to claim the narrowest of leads (40-39) at half-time.
Jaren Reiri joined Brown in double figures although Grammar would go on to boss the third period as Milburn racked up 19 points in the quarter. Kalid Petzer and Ryan Hunt waded in with points to carry Grammar to a 73-55 lead.
Rangi had the better of the closing frame with Max Mudford and Arnod Nam amongst the points.
Grammar now prepare for a final regular season meeting with Mt Albert Grammar on Monday.
Rangitoto 73 – Brown 15, Reire 13, Nam 12, Elys Taher 10, Cooper Allen 8, Mudford 7
On the back of a strong fourth quarter showing St Peter’s College earned their second win of the season with a 103-99 home victory against St Kentigern College.
Trailing 74-69 at three-quarter time St Peter’s sailed home in the final term amassing 34 points. Gus Dallow and Bryan Marsters made key scores in the period although it was a dozen points from Spencer Carr, including a pair of threes, that tilted the tie the way of St Peter’s.
Earlier 12 points from George Turner gave St Kent’s a 27-25 quarter time lead.
Double figures from Merrick Rillstone, and a triple late in the frame from Cooper Lepou kept St Kent’s ahead (54-53) at the end of a high scoring first half – Dallow and Ralph Ocfemia in double digits for St Peter’s.
Turner and Rillstone combined for 14 points as St Kentigern shaded the third stanza before Carr drove St Peter’s home in the final period.
St Peter’s 103 – Dallow 26, Carr 16, Ocfemia 13, Bailey Smith 11, Milan Tolich 8, Marsters 8
In another high scoring encounter Westlake Boys High proved too strong for Sacred Heart College winning 112-80 with Noah Rasmussen scoring 29 points and Hadi Alshami bagging 23.
Westlake also enjoyed double figure scoring from Max Riechelmann, Malachi Book, Braden Gibb and Harper Wilson. Tyrell Cocker top scored for Sacred Heart with 17 points while Sam Snowdon, Preston Tuaputa and Matt Fautuaalii-Taia were also major contributors.
A couple of threes from Book helped Westlake run up 39 first quarter points. There was little let up in the second as Lake took a 65-44 lead into half-time.
The scoring frenzy continued in the second half – four triples from Rasmussen one of the highlights.
Westlake 112 – Rasmussen 29, Alshami 23, Riechelmann 15, Wilson 15, Gibb 11, Book 10
Aaron Sievert scored a scarcely believable 67 points as Northcote College wrapped up the Auckland Secondary Schools Senior A regular season title by defeating Manurewa High School 117-62.
Sievert has posted numerous 50-plus scores in the past two seasons but his haul against Manurewa sets a new Northcote record and one that your editor doesn’t recall been bettered by any player in recent years.
In other games Mt Roskill Grammar (10-3) wrapped up runners-up spot with a convincing 73-58 win over Liston College who are now tied with Dilworth School in third spot – both teams boasting 8-5 records.
If games go with form in the final round on Friday the semi-final match-ups will be Northcote v Dilworth and Mt Roskill v Liston.
Richard Campbell and Jarell Tuhega led the Manurewa effort at Northcote but nothing was getting in the way of the Sievert bombardment.
Manurewa 62 – R Campbell 21, Tuhega 17, Issacher Pati 6
In the head to head between the second and third placed teams Mt Roskill proved too good for Liston College winning 73-58 with Mitchell Greenaway posting 27 points.
Rasheed Ieremia put up 16 points for Liston but Roskill, coming off a very good win against Northcote, carried that form into this clash.
Mt Roskill 73 – M Greenaway 27, Ngawaka Rakete 12, Haisem Osman 11, Daniel Greenaway 11
Also in good form are Dilworth. With a 2-4 record after six games they have won six of their last seven games to steadily climb up the ladder. Their latest success was a 77-61 defeat of Selwyn College with George Hardie and Ezrah Eagle putting together 20-point games.
The consistent Ashton Muraahi scored a team high 23 points for Selwyn.
Selwyn 61 – Muraahi 23, Alfred Casiple 11, Luca Vietri 9, Jerry Hing 8
In the final game of the round Kelston Boys High had a come from behind victory against Avondale College winning 95-74 with Sam Tuitupou, Rodman Fuaivaa and Alec Phillips combining for 65 points.
With AJ Tsukada and Liam Takenaka-Wesley in good form Avondale led 44-42 at half-time but were run down in the second half.
Avondale 74 – AJ Tsukada 23, Takenaka-Wesley 23, Akram Al Wakeel 9, Jacob Holmes 8
Unfortunately the news from the Girls Senior A competition is scarce. Rangitoto College defeated Manurewa High School to remain unbeaten but we don’t have a final score and Auckland Girls Grammar beat One Tree Hill College 60-51 but no further details are available.
In the other game Carmel College beat Mt Roskill Grammar School in a thriller 65-63.
Eight points from Bree Ioane edged Roskill ahead 14-11 before Carmel enjoyed the better of the second period. Ella Drake knocked down three triples in the spell and with Annie Gaylard also connecting from deep the Carmel lead at half-time was 36-28.
The third stanza belonged to Roskill (19-11) as Adra Kaufusi and Bree pushed the visitors ahead -a triple from Nelly Ioane tying the scores at 47 points apiece.
There was little to choose between the two teams down the stretch. The Ioane’s combined for a dozen points in the fourth but threes from Drake (she made six in the game) and 8 points from Gaylard proved just enough to get Carmel the victory.
In the final round on Friday the winner of the Auckland Girls Grammar v Mt Roskill Grammar tie will claim the fourth semi-final berth – the winner to take on Rangitoto College.
Avondale had the bye.
Senior A Girls Standings
11-0 Rangitoto
8-3 Manurewa, Carmel
5-6 Mt Roskill, AGGS
3-9 One Tree Hill
0-11 Avondale
*Massey High School have withdrawn from the competition
Westlake Girls High bounced back from their defeat against Epsom Girls Grammar with a resounding 91-61 win against Takapuna Grammar School on Monday, the victory taking Westlake back to the top of the Prems table with one regular season game remaining.
Amy McKenzie scored 7 first quarter points but Westlake made a strong start to lead 25-15 on the back of 17 combined points from Amy Pateman and Rebecca Moors.
A three from Manaia Watson and ten points from Bailey Flavell progressed the Taka score but Moors and Pateman were bossing proceedings as the Westlake lead stretched to 48-31 by half-time.
Following a Katie Moors basket Takapuna replied with an 11-3 run to reduce the deficit to 11 points. That was as close as it got as Westlake stretched the advantage to 70-51 at the three-quarter mark before dominating the final spell to run out comfortable winners.
Takapuna 61 – Flavell 33, McKenzie 12, Watson 5
Westlake 91 – Pateman 29, R Moors 24/12rebs, Stowers 16, K Moors 16, Elin Vincent 5, Lily Fotu 3/7assists
Epsom Girls Grammar, four days after completing the double over Westlake Girls came back to earth with a thud – defeated 85-53 by Mt Albert Grammar School.
Epsom were caught on the hop as they gave up 26 first quarter points to trail by 14 at the first break – 8 points for Nia Roberts in the period.
Nine points from Maya Fowler helped Epsom in the second period although Wai Clarken scored 8 points as MAGS carried a 41-26 lead into the main break.
The third stanza was another even affair – Draun Forbes and Fowler doing good work for Epsom – MAGS 58-40 ahead.
Emina Tiatia and Sienna-Rose Tawera produced most of the scoring in the final period as MAGS eased to the win, a victory that means both teams have an identical 10-3 record with one game to play.
Epsom 53 – Forbes 20, Fowler 17, Ivy Tino 6
MAGS 85 – Clarken 21, Tiatia 10, Tawera 8, Roberts 8, Peyton Uri 8, Jorjia Fiu 8, Phoenix Kaipo 7
Northcote College defeated Baradene College 71-66 with the the result meaning the two teams now having identical 4-9 records. Significantly Northcote hold the head-to-head advantage, therefore a win against St Mary’s on Friday will see them avoid the promotion/relegation play-off game in 2024.
For their part Baradene will need to beat league leaders Westlake and hope for an upset at Northcote.
It was a nervous opening quarter from both teams, one edged 9-7 by the hosts. Northcote also had slightly better of the proceedings in the second period. Nikki Gear and DJ Hannah shared 14 points for Northcote with Ritorya Tamilo, headed for a career high 41 points, making 16 in the spell as Baradene trailed 32-27 at the interval.
Baradene closed the gap by a single point in the third (47-43) meaning a nervy fourth quarter ensued.
A triple from skipper Deyna Topia and growing numbers from Tamilo threatened the Northcote lead but the hosts held their nerve down the stretch – Hannah and Lizzy May making crucial free-throws in the closing minutes.
Northcote 71 – N Gear 22, Hannah 18, Lily Morgan 10, May 9, Lisa Gear 6, Emma Lavemaau 6
Baradene 66 – Tamilo 41, Topia 6, Odile Dolon 6
In the other game St Kentigern College defeated St Mary’s College 67-35*
*The result is correct but the score is awaiting confirmation.
The final round on Friday will determine the order of finish for the top five places.
In the penultimate round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade regular season the most significant result came at Rangitoto College where the host were pipped 90-88 by Sacred Heart College.
The two teams entered the contest with identical 2-10 records with the winner pulling out of the bottom two with just a game to play.
Details are sketchy as the scoresheet hasn’t been forwarded but we do know that Sacred Heart recovered from a poor start after falling behind by nearly twenty points.
They recovered to lead by single figures at half-time, and three-quarter time, before holding on for the vital win.
Rangi will play Auckland Grammar in their final game with Heart visiting Westlake Boys. If those games go to form it will be Rangitoto involved in a play-off game in 2024 to remain in Prems.
For the second time in as many games St Kentigern College were pipped at the post. Having been beaten in overtime by MAGS on Friday the Saints were defeated 71-70 at Auckland Grammar School.
St Kentigern made the better start easing to a 23-16 quarter time lead and were still in control at half-time (ahead 40-34) with George Turner, headed for a game high 23 points, and Merrick Rillstone in good form.
Josh Howes scored 9 third quarter points and with Jackson Kiss and George Milburn chipping in with points Grammar turned a six points deficit into a one-point lead (53-52) by three-quarter time.
Triples number four and five in the game from Turner plus points from Hunter Te Ratana posed problems for the hosts but Kiss and skipper Ryan Hunt did just enough to edge Grammar to victory.
AGS 71 – Kiss 19, Howes 15, Hunt 11, Roera Tipene 8, Milburn 6, Roman Ma’afu-Moerua 6
St Kent’s 70 – Turner 23, Rillstone 17, Te Ratana 13, Max Johnson 6
The other games in the round were won convincingly by the top two teams on the ladder.
Unbeaten Mt Albert Grammar defeated St Peter’s College 106-65 thanks to 24 points from Harri Coker-Grey and double-doubles from Louis Uri (18pts/10rebs) and Dante Tapulaaia (15pts/10rebs). Gus Dallow scored 20 points for St Peter’s.
MAGS 106 – Coker-Grey 24, Uri 18, Tapulaaia 15, Natu Amanuel 13, Jayden Eaton 7
At Rosmini College the home team enjoyed double figure contributions from six players as they eased past Westlake Boys High School 112-67.
Guards Chris Wyllie and Harlan Roudon had 18 points and 16 points respectively while Jameer Reed top scored with 22. Noah Rasmussen top scored for Westlake with 15 points.
Though there is a round still to play, plus a make-up game between Auckland Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar to take place, the semi-final line-up looks almost certain to be MAGS v St Kentigern and AGS v Rosmini.
Rosmini 112 – Reed 22, Wyllie 18, Roudon 16, Zion Anderson 15, Josh Batty 12, Noah Johns 12
Mt Roskill Grammar produced an impressive performance to defeat previously unbeaten Northcote College 100-75 with Mitchell Greenaway scoring 31 points.
The prodigious Aaron Sievert was once again amongst the points tallying 48 points.
With two rounds of the regular season remaining both Mt Roskill and Northcote are assured semi-final berths as are Liston College after Rasheed Ieremia (32 points) paced them to an 87-71 win against Selwyn College.
Dilworth are almost assured of the fourth play-off spot and can definitely prepare for the semi’s if they defeat Selwyn College on Monday. On Friday they were paced by George Hardie’s 21 points in the 85-41 win against Avondale College.
In the final game of the round there were fine individual scoring performances from Richard Campbell (36pts), Jarell Tuhega (27pts) and Real Wheaton (35pts) as Manurewa High beat Kelston Boys 92-82.
Mt Roskill 100 – M Greenaway 31, Daniel Greenaway 15, Josh Wadams 11, Ryan Aramoana 10
Northcote 75 – Sievert 48, Tane Cook 8
Liston 87 – Ieremia 32, Dhon Lao 25, Luke Vaipaata 12, Jeydin Ale 9
Selwyn 71 – Ashton Muraahi 19, Luca Vietri 14, Jerry Hing 13, Charlie Banfield 7
Following the Girls Senior A Round 12 action Rangitoto College remain unbeaten after defeating Mt Roskill Grammar 82-68 with Eva Veale dropping 40 points.
Nelly Ioane scored 31 for Roskill who appear to be in a battle with Auckland Girls Grammar for the fourth and final semi-final berth.
AGGS, with Faith Hurt scoring 28 points, had a great tussle with Carmel College before going down 70-66.
Ruby Railton top scored for Carmel with 19 points – Carmel assured of a semi-final spot and still in contention for a top-two finish.
Also in the same situation as Carmel are Manurewa High who had the bye on Friday. The two teams meet in the final round of the regular season next Friday!
Epsom Girls Grammar completed the double over Westlake Girls High with a narrow 73-69 road win. The victory means that Epsom now have the head-to-head split on Westlake should the two teams have an equal win-loss record when the regular season concludes.
A tight contest throughout Epsom made the marginally better start to lead 22-18 with 9 points from Draun Forbes cancelling out the same number from Zenthia Stowers.
The scoring slowed in the second period – Forbes and Rebecca Moors the most prominent as the teams turned around at half-time with Epsom 34-31 in the lead.
Moors reeled off 13 third quarter points as the scores became locked at 50 points apiece with ten minutes to play.
Moors and Amy Pateman scored all 19 of Westlake’s fourth quarter points but they couldn’t hold off the visitors. Maya Fowler nailed a brace of threes before she, Leah Patuwairua, Savana Feite and Forbes held their collective nerve at the foul line to close out an exciting Epsom win.
Takapuna Grammar, paced by Bailey Flavell’s 38 points, emerged as genuine top four contenders after a strong fourth quarter showing earned them a 76-57 win against Shore neighbours Northcote College.
Northcote led 35-31 at half-time and were still in front 48-47 after a Lisa Gear drive and finish deep into the third quarter.
However back-to-back baskets from Flavell and a buzzer beater from Manaia Watson saw Takapuna take a 53-48 lead into the three-quarter time break.
The Watson and Flavell combination worked again on the resumption ahead of DJ Hannah and Nikki Gear scores – the Taka advantage 56-52 with 6 minutes to play.
From there it was all Takapuna as they closed the contest with a 20-5 run. Fifteen of those points went the way of Flavell who shifted through the gears in the final quarter.
Also in good touch for Takapuna were Amy Mckenzie (12 points), Watson (10 points) and newcomer Nahikari Illarramendi who contributed 13 points and a good dose of game awareness.
Lily Morgan led the way for Northcote with 18 points while Nikki Gear was also in double figures with a dozen.
Northcote 57 – Morgan 18, N Gear 12, L Gear 8, Lizzy May 7
Wai Clarken scored 28 points as Mt Albert Grammar continued their pursuit of a top-two finish with a 57-49 win at St Kentigern College.
Despite 8 points from Ash Tuumaialu triples from Clarken and Phoenix Kaipo helped MAGS establish a 20-15 lead after ten minutes.
Anamia Rangihaeata nailed a three for the hosts but 6 points from Clarken saw MAGS through to a narrow 26-23 half-time lead.
The difference was still just three points at the end of the third period (45-42). Nia Roberts scored 7 points in the quarter for MAGS while Maia Bennett tallied 9 for St Kent’s.
An exciting fourth quarter looked in prospect but the St Kent’s challenge faded as they were held to just 5 points in the closing frame. Siena-Rose Tawera and Gianna Tiatia combined for a dozen points to close out win number nine for MAGS.
St Kentigern 49 – Tuumaialu 17, Bennett 12, Rangihaeata 10
Baradene College suffered few alarms as they overcame St Mary’s College 76-35.
Christiana Setu led the way for St Mary’s with 10 points while for Baradene Ritorya Tamilo, Deyna Topia, Amelia Nathen and Poppy Cavanagh-Briggs were each in double figures.
The top four places have been confirmed following the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade Round 12 results. Come semi-finals time Mt Albert Grammar, Rosmini College, St Kentigern College and Auckland Grammar will contest the semi-final play-offs although the match-ups are yet to be decided.
Mt Albert Grammar School preserved their unbeaten record but it was a close run thing as they recovered from being 70-62 down with 72 seconds to play to take St Kentigern College into overtime before eventually winning 85-80.
Ahead 50-49 at three-quarter time St Kent’s built an advantage through the final period with Cooper Lepou, George Turner and Hunter Te Ratana making contributions – when Merrick Rillstone made it an 8-point game with 1:12 on the clock a home victory looked on the cards.
However MAGS had other ideas as Louis Uri and skipper Kade Cartwright made scores before in the hectic finish Harri Coker-Gray tied proceedings from the foul line.
Rillstone made 6 points in the extra period for St Kent’s but the combined efforts of Cartwright, Coker-Gray, Uri, Stepan Kosenko and their “Get out of Jail” card earned MAGS their twelfth straight win and an almost certain regular season title.
MAGS had the better of the opening salvo carving out a 20-16 lead – six points each from Cartwright and Coker-Grey.
Ten points from Lepou in the second helped St Kent’s share the spoils in the period – their deficit 39-35 at the main break.
The game swung the way of St Kent’s after the interval as they kept their rivals to 10 points in the third period to edge ahead 50-49. The momentum stayed with the hosts until that crazy seventy-odd seconds played out.
St Kent’s 80 – Te Ratana 20, Rillstone 20, Turner 18, Lepou 15
A career high 27 points from Jackson Kiss propelled Auckland Grammar to an 86-76 win at Sacred Heart College.
Kiss scored 10 points in the opening spell and with Lawson Pryor adding half a dozen Grammar were 20-13 ahead.
Eleven points from Ryan Hunt kept the Grammar score ticking along but Heart were humming in the second – 7 points from Matt Schuler and 6 from Jamie Vile meant the hosts trailed by just a point (41-40) at half-time.
It remained tight after the resumption before scores late in the third from Preston Tuaputa and Tyler Wilson-Voyce gave Heart a 64-63 lead.
Matt Fautuaalii-Taia and Tuaputa scored all of Heart’s fourth quarter points but they weren’t enough to hold off a fast finishing Grammar with Roera Tipene and Kiss carrying the visitors to victory.
Sacred Heart 76 – Fautuaalii-Taia 17,Vile 13, Tuaputa 12, Matt Schuler 11, Sam Snowdon 10
Making the most from snaffling offensive rebounds Max Mudford posted 6 first quarter points as Rangitoto kept pace with Rosmini through the opening minutes trailing by just a single point at quarter time (18-17).
A Josh Batty three opened the second quarter scoring, a period where Rangi struggled for points – a Chris Wyllie triple meant the half-time score was 36-24 in favour of the hosts.
Joel Brown, headed to a game high 26 points, Mudford and Elyas Taher pegged bag the deficit to seven points early in the third before a Bart Jackowski three and jumpers from Zion Anderson and Josh Wyllie restored Rosmini’s double figure lead.
A Harlan Roudon finish in traffic propelled Rosmini to a 56-40 three-quarter time lead.
Taher, Mudford and Kyle Buenaflor put together a 9-0 Rangi run before Batty and Jackowski took the game away from their opponents – the Rosmini duo combined for 13 points in three minutes to extinguish the Rangi challenge.
The home support were on their feet in the final two minutes as Nikau Robertson and Kevin Goldstein scored late baskets to close out the win.
Paced by 26 points from Troy Supple Westlake Boys High made the most of home court advantage to defeat St Peter’s College 104-91.
Gabriel Ames scored 7 points in the opening stanza for Westlake but St Peter’s benefitted from 8 points from Spencer Carr to forge a 27-19 lead.
In contrast the second spell went almost entirely the way of Westlake. Braden Gibb tallied 7 points and Malachi Book 6 as Westlake enjoyed scoring contributions from seven players in the spell to carry a 50-43 lead into the half-time break.
The pace of scoring didn’t let up after the interval. 50 points were scored in the third period as Westlake increased their advantage to 77-66. Supple dominated the period with 16 points – Caleb Afeaki keeping the visitors in touch with 9 points.
Gus Dallow and Bryan Curtis-Marsters attempted to reduce the deficit in the closing ten minutes but Noah Rasmussen and Book closed the page on win number five for Westlake.
Westlake 104 – Supple 26, Rasmussen 18, Gibb 14, Book 11, Max Riechelmamm 10, Ames 7
In the Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Senior A competition Rangitoto College made it nine consecutive victories with an 85-61 win at Carmel College in the North Harbour derby.
In an even first half Rangi led 21-17 at quarter time helped by a couple of threes from Mela Andrews.
Andrews was up to 13 points by half-time with Eva Veale on 10. Leighton Esera scored 9 points for Carmel who were just five points adrift at the interval (37-32).
Ella Drake scored 6 points after the resumption but that was matched by Sienna Maurice as Rangi moved ahead 62-48 with ten minutes to play.
Zahara Tibbotts took her contribution into double figures but Rangi were able to stretch their advantage further in the final stanza as Maia Pirie and McAsey added to their tallies.
Rangitoto 85 – Andrews 17, McAsey 17, Pirie 14, Veale 11, Madison Skelton 9, Maurice 8, Esther Roberts 7
Auckland Girls Grammar kept their top four hopes alive with a 66-42 home win against Avondale College.
The opening quarter went the way of Grammar 23-19 while in stark contrast Avondale won the second period 19-7. Avondale’s Hayley Abbott led all scorers at half-time with 13 points.
Ryn Nikoia scored the first 6 points after the interval and with Faith Hurt also scoring half a dozen the Grammar lead ballooned to 48-32 at three-quarter time.
From there it was plain sailing for the hosts.
AGGS 67 – F Hurt 20, R Nikoia 14, Harmony Hurt 10, Grady Nikoia 10, Zara Avaulii 6,
Avondale 42 – Abbott 14, Shiloh Caffery 13, Zion Mann 5
A strong first half performance laid the platform for Manurewa High School’s 83-61 home win against One Tree Hill College.
Shirley Tuilimu scored 10 points in the opening quarter as Manurewa built a 22-12 lead. With Beautiful Campbell doing the same in quarter two the Manurewa advantage was 47-26 at half-time.
One Tree Hill fought back strongly in the third quarter winning the period 20-13 with Harriate Heta and Kizyra Thompson in good scoring form.
Six points apiece in the fourth quarter from Alyssa Uluheua and Tuilimu closed out the Manurewa victory.
In a top of the table clash Northcote College recorded an 84-78 come from behind victory against Liston College to preserve their unbeaten record.
Northcote trailed 62-57 at three-quarter time but outscored their opponents 32-16 in the closing stages to move a step closer to claiming the Senior A regular season title.
Aaron Sievert scored 16 of his 39 points in those closing minutes and with Taine Cook and Shunta Shinzaki lending good support Northcote were able to run past Liston down the stretch.
Liston had made the better start getting out to a 25-19 first quarter lead – 7 points for Dhon Lao in that spell.
The six point lead was improved marginally to eight points by half-time. Lao and Rasheed Ieremia combined for 14 points as Liston carried a 44-36 advantage into the third period.
Giovanni Helu knocked down three triples in the third for Liston but 8 points from Sievert plus contributions from Tzion Manoa and Shinzaki meant the Northcote deficit had been trimmed to 5 points (62-57) at the last break.
Helu sunk his fourth triple of the game but the tide turned in Northcote’s favour allowing Sievert to orchestrate an eleventh win on the bounce.
Liston 78 – Lao 24, Helu 16, Ronnie Juan 14, Ieremia 11
A decisive second quarter from Selwyn College led them to a 90-65 win against Avondale College.
Selwyn had shaded the opening period 18-13 but put their foot to the floor in the second speeding to a 50-23 lead as they drained six threes in the period.
Selwyn went on to make 14 triples in the contest with Somin Mohit, Ashton Muraahi, Luca Vietri, Archie Elliot, Finn Bogaert, Alfred Casiple and Lui Pukeiti all contributors from beyond the arc.
Akram Al Wakeel and Deuel Lelaulu led the Avondale resistance with 19 and 13 points respectively.
Mt Roskill Grammar School defeated Kelston Boys High 106-69 with Mitchell Greenaway tallying 31 points for the victors.
There was little between the two teams in the opening half. Wai Tonga landed a couple of threes for Roskill in the opening exchanges with Real Wheaton bagging 8 points for Kelston as they trailed 24-20 at quarter time.
Rodman Fuaivaa and Alec Phillips shared 13 points in the second with a balanced Roskill scoring effort carrying them to a 48-39 half-time lead.
Roskill would break the game open in the third period outscoring their hosts 29-9 with Greenaway, Alfred Kerr and Ngawaka Rakete doing most the damage.
The win restores Roskill’s second place position on the Senior A ladder.
In a game in which two players produced 40-point performances Takapuna Grammar School beat Baradene College 86-79.
In a sign of things to come Deyna Topia and Ritorya Tamilo combined for all of Baradene’s 24 first quarter points while Bailey Flavell nabbed 17 of Takapuna’s 25.
Flavell would go on to tally 48 points with Tamilo totaling 43. The pair weren’t without support however as Baradene point guard Deyna Topia came up with a season high 31 points and Takapuna’s Amy McKenzie tallied 20 points while Nahikari Illarramendi chipped in with 9 points.
The two teams went toe to toe throughout with Takapuna leading by just five points (49-44) at half-time and six points at three-quarter time (62-56).
That pattern continued in the final spell as Takapuna shaded the period 24-23 with Flavell’s 17 fourth quarter points moving Takapuna closer to a top-four finish.
Northcote 56 – Morgan 14, Nikki Gear 11, May 10, DJ Hannah 9, Lisa Gear 8
Mt Albert Grammar kept their hopes of a top-two finish alive with a comfortable 99-29 win against St Mary’s College.
Opening up an initial 28-5 lead they were never troubled as six players scored eight points or more. Tamzin Jakeman top scored for St Marys with 10 points.
After some near misses St Peter’s College chalked up their first Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Grade win of the season, an 80-74 home win against Rangitoto College, with Spencer Carr and Gus Dallow producing 20-point performances.
Trailing 59-56 at three-quarter time the Saints powered home in the fourth quarter outscoring Rangi 24-15 in the final ten minutes.
Five points from Arnold Nam was cancelled out by Carr before Bryan Marsters, Caleb Afeaki and Bailey Smith made crucial scores.
Joel Brown and Elyas Taher put points on the board for Rangi but they couldn’t stave off a resurgent St Peter’s – Dallow scoring their last 8 points to seal the win.
Eight points from Max Mudford got Rangitoto off to the better start as they built a 23-18 quarter time lead.
However St Peter’s were on level terms by half-time with the scores locked at 35 points apiece. A couple of Smith triples and 10 points from Mudford serving St Peter’s well.
Brown, headed for a game high 22 points, had 8 points for Rangi in the third as they again took the lead. It wouldn’t last long – the long wait for that win finally over for St Peter’s thanks to their strong finish.
St Peter’s 80 – Carr 21, Dallow 20, Marsters 13, Smith 10, Afeaki 6
Rangitoto 74 – Brown 22, Mudford 15, Nan 13, Taher 8, Jackson Mills 8
A dominant opening half from Rosmini College set up a 104-85 home win over Sacred Heart College.
Zion Anderson scored 10 points as Rosmini raced to a 27-14 lead in the opening ten minutes.
Sam Snowdon replied with 12 points for Heart in the second frame but he and his colleagues were struggling to stem the Rosmini scoring tide as they piled up 56 first half points to lead by 21.
Josh Batty and Anderson were doing most the damage – a late three from Bart Jackowski capping off a strong showing from the hosts.
Preston Tuaputa got the score ticking over for Heart in the third frame but again it was a spell dominated by Rosmini, and Batty in particular.
The shooting guard nailed four threes in the period and with Liam Bates and Jackowski also successful from deep the Rosmini lead went beyond the 30-point mark.
Heart enjoyed the better of the closing minutes but the damage had already been done.
Rosmini 104 – Batty 21, Anderson 20, Chris Wyllie, 14, Josh Wyllie 13, Jackowski 10, Bates 8
Westlake guard Malachi Book scored 9 first quarter points but it was St Kentigern that made the better start – ahead 24-18 at the first break.
Despite 8 points from Westlake centre Hadi Alshami St Kent’s increased their advantage to 45-37 by half time thanks to 11 second quarter points from George Turner.
It was back and forth after the interval with Merrick Rillstone prominent for the visitors while Book and Noah Rasmussen were the key contributors for Westlake – the St Kent’s lead still 8 points (68-60) at the three-quarter mark.
Alshami and Book combined for 14 points in the fourth but Rillstone, Cooper Lepou and Hunter Te Ratana came up with points to make it win number eight for St Kent’s.
Westlake 77 – Book 24, Alshami 18, Rasmussen 13, Max Riechelmann 6
St Kentigern 88 – Rillstone 22, Turner 19, Lepou 15, Te Ratana 12, Jacob Neary 6
The Auckland Grammar v Mt Albert Grammar fixture has been postponed until August 14th.
To take advantage of Dynamic Sport’s generous 15% discount offer for Lacey Lowdown readers, use promocode LACEYLOWDOWN at the checkout.
Whilst Northcote College are sailing along with an unbeaten record at the top of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Senior A competition, the scrap for the other three top four spots is heating up with only Avondale College out of the running.
Dilworth School’s bid for one of those top four spots received a huge boost following their 79-74 win over Mt Roskill Grammar School.
15 first quarter points from George Hardie gave Dilworth a 23-19 lead and with Finlay Edwards chipping in with useful points the advantage was 38-31 at half-time.
Mitch Greenaway, on his way to a game high 26 points, had 14 points at the main break for Roskill.
The second half was extremely tight. Roskill won the third by a single point while Dilworth returned serve to win the fourth quarter by one – 8 points from Ikahui Mahe critical down the stretch.
Mt Roskill 74 – M Greenaway 26, Ryan Aramoana 13, Haisem Osman 13, Josh Wadams 8
In the “Wrestle in the West” Liston College made no race of it against Kelston Boys High. On the back of 36 points from Dhon Lao and 25 points from Rasheed Ieremia Liston triumphed 110-59.
Liston set the tone early on with 28 opening quarter points – fifteen dropping the way of Lao.
Leading by 15 points at quarter time the margin ballooned to 37 points (60-23) by the main break as Lao and Giavanni Helu bossed proceedings.
Kelston produced a better showing in the third period as Rodman Fuaivaa and Real Wheaton found some scoring touch.
Ronnie Juan and Ieremia protected the Liston advantage – the win moving them to equal second on the league ladder.
Liston 110 – Lao 36, Ieremia 25, Helu 17, Ronnie Juan 14, Jeydin Ale 6, Tatenda Chataira 6
On the back of a stunning 46 points haul from Richard Campbell Manurewa High School outlasted Avondale College to win 91-77.
Avondale began the game in style opening up an 11-point advantage with Liam Takenaka-Wesley scoring 12 first quarter points.
Despite Tommi Lautaimi and Takenaka-Wesley continuing to trouble their defence Manurewa High did managed to claw a few points back to close the gap to 8 points at half-time (45-37).
Despite sitting out a large chunk of the third due to foul trouble Jarell Tuhega scored 8 points in the period as Manurewa rallied to tie proceedings at 56 points apiece.
From there Manurewa ran riot in the fourth quarter as they amassed 35 points – Richard Campbell with twenty of those and Gordon Campbell with eight.
Avondale 77 – Takenaka-Wesley 20, Deuel Lelaulu 12, Lautaimi 12, Akram Al Wakeel 9, Jaycob Holmes 8, AJ Tsukada 8
Manurewa 91 – R Campbell 46, Tuhega 14, Gordon Campbell 13, Joseph Helu 9
While all below them on the ladder are scrapping for semi-final berths Northcote College moved serenely to a tenth win on the bounce defeating Selwyn College 93-55.
Once again shooting guard Aaron Sievert did most of the damage amassing 39 points with 13 of those in the first quarter as Northcote opened up a 31-12 advantage.
Shunta Shinzaki (13 points) and Tane Cook (15 points) provided good support as ‘Cote rattled up 55 first half points.
Selwyn rallied in the third as James MacDonald, Archie Elliot and Jerry Hing scored a brace of baskets apiece but it wasn’t enough to trouble Aik Ho and his charges.
Unfortunately there is not a lot to report from the Senior A Girl’s competition as two of the three games had teams default.
Avondale College defaulted against Manurewa High School and Auckland Girls Grammar did the same against unbeaten Rangitoto College.
In the one game that was played Mt Roskill Grammar defeated One Tree Hill College 63-59 with Nelly Ioane scoring 20 points.
Ten of those points came in the opening quarter – one won 18-11 by Roskill.
The second quarter was split 18 points apiece by the two sides. Syriah Muipu, on her way to a game high 24 points had 6 points in the period and Melaia Tuisuva 7 points.
Emphasising the closeness of the game the third period was also tied – 15 points each. A triple from Havana Iaea preventing Roskill from losing the quarter.
OTH would go on to win the final stanza (15-12) meaning that slow start ended up being costly – one they couldn’t quite recover from.
Westlake Girls High School returned to the top of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Premier Grade ladder after a 67-58 victory at Mt Albert Grammar School.
It was far from a straight forward victory as Wai Clarken dropped 42 points to keep the MAGS team in the contest.
The first quarter was shaded 14-13 by Westlake before a personal dual between Clarken and Rebecca Moors unfolded in the second.
The MAGS captain scored 13 points while Moors, recently returned from the NBA Academy Men’s and Women’s Games in Atlanta, Georgia scored a dozen for Westlake – their lead 36-32 at half-time.
Clarken & Co were held to 10 points in the third period while Emma Schroeder, on her way to a team high 20 points, scored 11 of those in the spell.
Clarken, Jorjia Fiu and Lara-Poppy Cocker-Lemalie kept the pressure on the visitors but the combined scoring efforts of Zenthia Stowers, Lily Fotu, Katie Moors and Schroeder in the fourth saw Westlake to the win.
Ritorya Tamilo returned to high school basketball following a successful Asia Cup campaign with the Tall Ferns in Sydney earlier in the month to post 32 points as Baradene College defeated Epsom Girls Grammar School 84-55.
In dominant form throughout Tamilo posted 8 points in the first, Deyna Topia added 9 points while Poppy Cavanagh-Briggs chimed in with 6 points. Baradene were out to a 26-18 quarter time lead despite 9 points from Leah Patuwairua.
Maya Fowler made a couple of baskets for Epsom in the second period although a triple from Amelia Nathan and 6 points from Topia saw Baradene to a 42-31 half-time lead.
The third period determined the outcome with Epsom held to just 8 points. Tamilo had 12 points in the quarter as Epsom were outscored by 13 points.
Ahead 63-29 at the start of the fourth frame Baradene cruised to a third win of the season.
Epsom 55 – Fowler 18, Patuwairua 16, Kiyara Te Amo 5
After helping the New Zealand team claim bronze at the U16 Asia Cup in Jordan last week Bailey Flavell was back in familiar territory on Friday to help Takapuna Grammar School to a comfortable 79-39 home win against St Mary’s College.
The New Zealand guard scored 7 first quarter points to compliment Amy McKenzie’s 12 and when Arabella Neville landed a triple Takapuna were 28-7 ahead.
Neville repeated the trick to start the next period and with McKenzie up to 20 points the hosts were in total command at half-time leading 50-13.
The third quarter favoured Taka again allowing Coach Katelin Noyer to empty the bench in the fourth period. St Mary’s pounced to enjoy their best spell of the game – India Nash and Layla Aholelei moving into double figures.
After the conclusion of Round 10 fixtures the top four, and therefore semi-finalists, of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier Grade have almost been finalised.
Mt Albert Grammar and Rosmini College are assured of semi-final berths with St Kentigern College and Auckland Grammar just a win away from joining them.
The St Kentigern College post Aaron Young era got off to a successful start as they eased to a 97-56 win at Rangitoto College.
Young’s successful eight year tenure as Head Coach – one that included the 2019 Secondary Schools National Championship crown – has come to an end due to his assistant coach appointments with the Tall Blacks and Perth Wildcats.
St Kent’s got off to a flyer with a 28-15 opening salvo – 9 points for George Turner amongst the rush of points.
Arnold Nam and Joel Brown were soon into double figures for Rangi but were powerless to stop the flow of points at the other end. Hunter Te Ratana and Charlie Hughes helping St Kent’s forge a 54-27 half-time lead.
Rangi made a much improved showing in the third with Jackson Mills and Nam threes complimenting half a dozen points from Brown.
The visitors reasserted their dominance in the final quarter as Noah Heke and Frankie Groves rounded out a strong St Kent’s performance.
Incoming St Kent’s Head Coach Val Te Ratana has win number one on the board!
Rangitoto 56 – Brown 22, Nam 14, Elyas Taher 10, Mills 6
St Kentigern 97 – Turner 18, Merrick Rillstone 18, Te Ratana 15, Groves 12, Heke 9, Hughes 9
With the triumvirate of Dante Matakatea, Louis Uri and Harri Coker-Grey enjoying 20-point outings Mt Albert Grammar School remain unbeaten after an 89-68 win against Westlake Boys High.
Max Riechelmann scored 8 first quarter points for Westlake although Matakatea notched 11 for MAGS who edged the opening period 20-17.
It was equally as close in the second stanza. Three point plays from Kade Cartwright and Coker-Grey were countered by Troy Wentworth and Gabriel Ames as Westlake refused to go away, trailing by just five points at half-time (40-35).
Harper Wilson and Noah Rasmussen helped the Westlake cause although a flurry of points from Matakatea and Coker-Grey – the pair combined to score the last 16 points in the quarter for MAGS as they led 64-54 ahead of the last quarter.
Hadi Alshami made a couple of inside baskets for Lake but a dozen points from Uri in the fourth, ensured a tenth straight wins for MAGS.
A blistering opening quarter at Sacred Heart College saw the home team put on 31 points to set the tone for an emphatic 93-70 win – their second win of the campaign – against St Peter’s College. A dozen of those points were scored by Preston Tuaputa while Tyrell Cocker chimed in with eleven.
Sixteen points adrift, St Peter’s were much improved in the second period – 17 points from Spencer Carr meant they turned around 53-38 adrift at half-time.
In a low scoring third quarter a couple of scores from Bryan Marsters were trumped by 7 points from Sam Snowdon as Heart carried a 66-50 lead into the last frame.
Bailey Smith, Luke Thompson and Caleb Afeaki knocked down threes for the visitors but 13 fourth quarter points from Matt Fautuaalii-Taia, the leading scorer in the game, ensured there were no late dramas for Heart.
St Peter’s 70 –Carr 22, Thompson 11, Gus Dallow 11
In the closest contest of the round Rosmini College eked out an 85-75 home victory against Auckland Grammar School despite a game high 23 points from Ryan Hunt.
The Grammar skipper had 7 points in the opening period and with Jackson Kiss nabbing 8 points the visitors led 26-24 at quarter time.
A couple of triples from Chris Wyllie were much needed for Rosmini to counter 8 points from Hunt – Grammar ahead 43-39 at half-time.
Rosmini advanced their score by threes in the third as Josh Batty, Noah Johns, Josh and Chris Wyllie all converted from deep. However Roera Tipene, Kiss and Hunt combined to keep the scoreboard ticking for the visitors, their lead still four points (66-62) with ten to play.
A scoring burst initiated by Zion Anderson and Liam Bates pushed Rosmini into the lead, one they protected successfully down the stretch.
A contest that saw 61 fouls called, and six players foul out, eventually went the way of Rosmini as they made the most of frequent trips to the free throw line.
Rosmini 85 – J Wyllie 18, C Wyllie 17, Anderson 13, Bart Jackowski 11, Batty 8
AGS 75 – Hunt 23, Kiss 16, Kalid Petzer 8, Tipene 7, Roman Ma’afu-Moerua 7
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St Kentigern College took a big step towards securing a play-off spot in the Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Premier Division with a hard fought 43-38 victory at Takapuna Grammar School on Wednesday night.
The Round 8 make-up game started in promising fashion for the hosts as they forged a 16-9 quarter time lead – a left handed running hook shot from Bailey Flavell, Asian Championship bound with the New Zealand U16 team next week, the highlight move of the period.
Amy McKenzie scored the first points of the second stanza and when Flavell splashed
a triple the Takapuna lead was 14 points (24-10).
However that proved to be the high point for Taka as St Kentigern set about wrestling control with some hard nosed defence. Maia Bennett reduced the deficit marginally before a Sophie Jones triple on the stroke of half-time trimmed the Taka lead to seven points (24-17).
Ash Tuumaialu opened the second half scoring although that provoked a response from Taka guard McKenzie who stroked home a triple.
St Kent’s further tightened the defensive screws in the third, the work of Jones and Tuumaialu particularly impressive as they denied the Taka shooters the time and space to be effective.
That defensive efficiency stimulated an 18-6 run with 6 points each from Anamia Rangihaeata and Tuumaialu helping St Kent’s to a 37-33 three-quarter time lead.
Scores from opposing forwards Kilani Tuineau and Mackenzie MacKereth cancelled each other out in the fourth period – a quarter where points were of a premium.
Trailing 43-36 Takapuna’s chances were dealt a double blow as Flavell and Mania Watson fouled out in quick succession.
The victory gives St Kent’s a buffer over the chasing pack looking to secure a top four play-off spots. They still have the top three teams to play in their last five games but two more wins may be enough to lock-in a semi-final berth.
Headed into the school holiday break Northcote College kept their Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Senior A unbeaten record intact with an 81-72 win at Kelston Boys High School.
There were other Round 9 victories for Dilworth School, Manurewa High School and Mt Roskill Grammar School.
Kelston pushed the league leaders Northcote all the way but will rue their poor free throw shooting making just 10 from 31 from the charity stripe.
A couple of threes from each team in the opening frame went the way of Real Wheaton and Isiah Tulisi for the hosts and Shunta Shinzaki and Tyler Aitchison for Northcote who led 23-22.
Northcote also won the second period but in a more decisive fashion. Aaron Sievert’s 11 points and half a dozen from Tane Cook saw them to a 44-34 half-time lead.
Kelston came out strong in the third as Wheaton, Rodman Fuaivaa, Alec Phillips and Sam Tuitupou came up with scores – the deficit 68-56 at three-quarter time.
Fuaivaa and Co kept the pressure on in the fourth but those missed free throws and 7 fourth quarter points from Cook were too big a hurdle to overcome.
Dilworth School were beaten by a single point in overtime in Round 8 but bounced back in Round 9 to win an equally tight encounter against Liston College 73-70.
Trailing 59-54 at three-quarter time Dilworth upped their defensive effort keeping Liston to 11 points in the fourth quarter.
At the offensive end Ezrah Eagle did most the heavy lifting scoring 13 points in the fourth, and with Kingston Kailahi-Aso adding valuable points the hosts won the final stanza 19-11 to claim the win.
It was all square in the first quarter at 16 points each – Liston’s Jeydin Ale with a couple of triples while George Hardie, on debut, had 10 points for the hosts.
Liston enjoyed the richer pickings in the second – Rasheed Ieremia and Ronnie Juan the main suppliers in a 19-point quarter that carried Liston to a 42-37 lead.
Hardie, headed to a game high 26 points, made half of those in the third while Dhon Lao’s 10 points kept Liston in front at three-quarter time (59-54).
In a game of fluctuating fortunes it was Eagle that had the major impact in the fourth – Dilworth soaring to win number three on the season.
Manurewa High School got a much needed win defeating Selwyn College 62-59.
It was a game in which the lead changed on a number of occasions – the closeness of the contest was well illustrated by the quarter time scores (14-14: 26-28: 43-44).
Manurewa had problems containing Ashton Muraahi – his inside/outside game earning him a game high 23 points. Strong contributions for the hosts also came from James MacDonald and Elijah Vaealiki.
One point down at three-quarter time Muraahi scored 8 fourth quarter points. However Manurewa had 6 points in the fourth from Richard Campbell and 4 points each from Isachar Patti and their leading scorer Jarell Tuhega to edge them to a much needed win.
Round 9 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Senior A competition saw wins for Manurewa High School, Carmel College and Mt Roskill Grammar School.
Manurewa High School secured a 73-37 victory at Auckland Girls Grammar School to further enhance their prospects of a semi-final berth in the end of season play-offs.
Faith Hurt’s 13 first quarter points meant Grammar, although trailing 22-16, were well in contention at quarter time.
Tanisha Tanira scored 11 first half points for Manurewa, and Zhendy Li 7, as the visitors carved out a 35-24 half-time lead.
Manurewa bossed the second half as made threes from Alyssa Uluheua, Emily Tanira and Beautiful Campbell helped them to a comfortable victory.
AGGS 37 – F Hurt 19, Harmony Hurt 6
Manurewa 73 – T Tanira 15, Bella Manu-Moore 15, E Tanira 14, B Campbell 11, Li 7, Uluheua 7
Melaia Tuisuva dropped straight threes to open the One Tree Hill college scoring but it was Carmel College with the stronger overall start as they opened up a 27-18 lead at quarter time.
In a free scoring game Carmel were enjoying scoring production from multiple sources – Ella Drake, Millie Lloyd, Annie Gaylard and Zahara Tibbotts propelling Carmel to a 54-38 half time lead.
Harriate Heta and Tuisuva kept the One Tree Hill scoring ticking over after the interval although a triple from Drake, and 6 points from Ruby Railton, meant the Carmel advantage was extended to 69-49 at the three-quarter mark.
Carmel enhanced their lead further in the fourth – a sixth win keeping them firmly inside the top four on the ladder.
One Tree Hill 57 – Heta 19, Tuisuva 18, Arise Maliepo 7, Kizyra Thompson 7
Shiloh Caffery was outstanding for Avondale College in a losing cause. Caffery scored 29 of her team’s points as they went down 73-37 to Mt Roskill Grammar School.
Allie O’Callaghan was in terrific shooting form for Mt Roskill making six triples in her 22 points.
Bileeana Koonwaiyou and Tamara Viviana also made valuable double figure contributions for Roskill.
In Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Premier Grade Round 9 action there were wins for Epsom Girls Grammar, Mt Albert Grammar, Westlake Girls High School and St Kentigern College.
Northcote College were beaten 78-73 at Mt Albert Grammar School, their fourth defeat of the season by ten points or less.
Northcote made a terrific start to the game as Lily Morgan peppered the MAGS defence to the tune of 16 points as her team climbed to a 32-18 lead.
The tables were turned in the second period. Peyton Uri and Gianna Tiatiamade threes to compliment Wai Clarken’s 10 points – MAGS trailing by just two (46-44) at half-time.
On her way to a career high 30 points Morgan added a further 10 points in the third quarter although Clarken edged that with 12 as MAGS carried a narrow 60-57 advantage into the fourth.
Jorjia Fiu and Lara-Poppy Cocker-Lemalie kept MAGS in the ascendancy but when DJ Hannah landed a triple the scores were tied at 69 points apiece with three minutes to play.
Nikki Gear and Morgan made scores for the visitors but threes from Clarken and Emina Tiatia took MAGS into the lead before Fiu sealed the deal from the foul line.
MAGS 78 – Clarken 37, Fiu 11, Uri 8, G Tiatia 6
Northcote 73 – Morgan 30, Hannah 20, N Gear 13, Lisa Gear 7
Triples from the trio of Draun Forbes, Maya Fowler and Leah Patuwairua propelled Epsom Girls Grammar School to an 18-11 lead against visitors Takapuna Grammar School.
Amy McKenzie nailed a brace of threes for Taka but a further 7 points from Patuwairua eased Epsom to a 35-22 half-time lead.
The scoring tempo increased after half-time as both sides found better offensive rhythm. Fowler and Forbes shared 15 points for Epsom while Bailey Flavell and McKenzie combined for 16 for Taka. With Manaia Watson chipping in with points the visitors had cut the deficit to ten points (55-45) at three-quarter time.
Epsom were in no mood to be charitable – 8 further points from Forbes closing out win number eight of the campaign for EGGS.
Already without the services of Ritorya Tamilo (with the Tall Ferns in Sydney at the Asia Cup) Baradene College were further hampered by the absence of Deyna Topia and Poppy Cavanagh Briggs for their visit to St Kentigern College.
The hosts capitalized on Baradene’s inexperienced lineup racing to a 22-4 lead with Sophie Jones nailing a couple of deep threes.
The lead continued to grow in the second – St Kent’s ahead 42-13 at half-time.
Baradene’s problems were compounded in the second half by a couple of injuries and Daisy Parke hitting the bench after fouling out.
Saint Kentigern encountering few problems as they moved to .500 on the season with a 4-4 record.
NB The individual scorers from the game are not totally accurate as the scoresheet received was unclear in parts.
St Kent’s 79 – Sophie Jones 15, Ashleigh Tuumaialu 14, Kilani Tuineau 11, Gigi Forster 8, Charlie Yock 8, Anamia Rangihaeata 8, Maia Bennett 6
There was a mass exodus from the North Shore on Friday evening as all three Harbour schools ventured south for Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier Grade Round 9 fixtures. It was almost a clean sweep for the city dwellers as after Mt Albert Grammar and Auckland Grammar recorded victories St Peter’s were only pipped by Rosmini College in the closing 90 seconds.
In the other game St Kentigern College proved too strong for Sacred Heart College winning 96-80.
St Peter’s College are still searching for their first win of the season but paced by the ever reliable Gus Dallow came within a whisker of upsetting last season’s champions.
Dallow had 10 points in the opening frame although 8 points from Jameer Reed steered Rosmini to a narrow 18-17 advantage.
More points from the influential Reed and threes from Josh Batty and Harlan Roudon propelled the visitors to a 38-31 half-time lead.
The third quarter was all St Peters as they turned the seven points deficit into a four point advantage (57-53). Dallow was in the thick of the action and found scoring allies in Spencer Carr and Bailey Smith as the hosts grabbed the initiative.
A Carr triple excited the home support before Chris and Josh Wyllie landed some counter punches.
Dallow and Smith looked capable of carrying St Peter’s to victory but it was seven consecutive points from Chris Wyllie and a couple of key makes in the dying stages from Josh Batty that got Rosmini over the line.
St Peter’s 72 – Dallow 28, Carr 14, Smith 11, Milan Tolich 8
Mt Albert Grammar School remain at the head of the pack after defeating Rangitoto College 105-70.
Roman Keith-Peraua landed 8 points as MAGS edged the opening frame 16-15.
Michael Ropotini scored 6 second quarter points for the visitors but the period was dominated by MAGS to the tune of 29-13. There were 8 points from Dante Matakatea in the quarter as well as triples from Kade Cartwright and Ethan Lay. MAGS ahead 45-28 at half-time.
The three-point flavour caught on further in the second half as Hari Coker-Grey (3 from 3 on the night), Matakatea and Cartwright bumped the MAGS score up in threes on their way to a 76-51 three-quarter time lead.
Rangi forward Joel Brown demonstrated that he is no slouch from beyond the arc. Either side of three-quarter time he delivered on no fewer than five occasions from beyond the arc.
Logan Wood joined in the triple delight for MAGS while Arnold Nam did likewise for Rangitoto. It’s now nine straight wins for MAGS ahead of the mid-season break.
MAGS 105 – Matakatea 22/12rebs, Louis Uri 17, Keith Peraua 15, Coker-Grey 15, K Cartwright 14, Lay 8
Rangitoto 70 – Brown 20, Ropotini 17, Max Mudford 9, Nam 9, Elyas Taher 8
A three-point play late in the opening period from Roman Ma’afu- Moerua stretched the Auckland Grammar quarter time lead to 18-11 in their home tie against Westlake Boys High.
Ryan Hunt came up with the same mode of scoring to open the second frame – the Westlake riposte being a three from Andre Bautista.
A transition basket from Max Riechelmann was countered by an inside basket from Kalid Petzer as the two teams traded scores for much of the period.
Westlake appeared to make a decisive move in the shadows of half-time – scores from Riechelmann and Troy Supple taking the visitors on a 6-0 run to close the half just three points in arears (31-28)
The second half began with another 6-0 run although this one was in favour of Grammar – Roera Tipene and Ryan Hunt the providers.
Troy Wentworth broke the Westlake drought before Brigham Hakaraia’s scooped layup concluded another 7-1 AGS run.
The third went the way of Grammar 24-15 as they carried a 55-43 lead into the final ten minutes.
Any prospect of Westlake challenging the hosts in the final frame evaporated when AGS scored the first 9 points of the fourth. George Milburn was a constant menace on the offensive glass – he scored 12 fourth quarter points, claimed 28 in the game, and assured Grammar of a fifth straight win.
St Kentigern College began their contest against Sacred Heart College like a proverbial “house on fire” amassing 37 points with Merrick Rillstone (17 points) and George Turner (11 points) doing most of the damage as they combined to make seven threes in a similar number of minutes.
The 21-point advantage established by St Kent’s would prove too great a deficit for Sacred to overcome but to their credit they fought back to move within 10-points at one stage in the fourth quarter.
In addition to Turner and Rillstone, Hunter Te Ratana and Charlie Hughes made double figure contributions for the hosts.
Matt Fautuaalii-Taia led the way for Heart with a team high 22 points. He received good support from Preston Tuaputa, Sam Snowdon and Jerome Jakeman but ultimately that slow start cost Heart dearly.
The victory was a fitting way for St Kent’s Head Coach Aaron Young to sign off his home coaching duties before heading to his new assignment with the Perth Wildcats later next month. His last two matches at the helm will be at Westlake Boys and his alma mater Rangitoto College.
St Kent’s 96 – Rillstone 25, Turner 20, Te Ratana 16, Hughes 15
The Boy’s Senior A Round 8 game of the round saw Northcote College preserve their unbeaten record, but only just, as they won at Dilworth School 79-78 in overtime.
The individual standout performances belonged to Ezrah Eagle who compiled a new career high 39 points for Dilworth with the dependable Aaron Sievert, averaging 37.6 points per game, mustering 42 for Northcote.
The opening period went the way of the visitors 19-18, a couple of scores from Tyler Aitcheson helping the visitors cause.
Despite 6 points in the second from Ikahui Mahe to compliment Eagle’s double figure haul the Northcote lead was 58-54 at the interval. Tane Cook had 10 points for Northcote at the half – Sievert 29 points to his name.
Dilworth shaded the third (22-20) to set up an exciting final period.
Kingston Kailahi-Aso and Finlay Edwards made scores to supplement Eagle’s strong work while Sievert received able assistance from Cook. However at the end of regulation the two teams couldn’t be separated – locked at 73 points apiece.
Eagle’s overtime three threatened to derail Northcote’s unbeaten run but it was Sievert who had the final say – his 301st point of the season, from the foul line, proving to be the winner.
Northcote 79 – Sievert 42, Tane Cook 17, Shunta Shinzaki 6, Tyler Aitchison 5, Ethan Ring 5
Mt Roskill Grammar School strengthened their hold on a top four play-off spot with an emphatic 113-63 win against Manurewa High School – the twin threat of Daniel and Mitchell Greenaway doing most the damage.
Mt Roskill 113 – Daniel Greenaway 28, Mitchell Greenaway 19, Ryan Aramoana 15, Ezra Ogbuze 14
The top three teams in the Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Senior A competition all enjoyed success in the Round 8 games played on Monday night.
Rangitoto College, paced by 31 points from Maddy Skelton, remain unbeaten after a 75-44 win at One Tree Hill College.
Manurewa High School and Carmel College remain joint second on the table after recording their fifth wins of the season.
Manurewa had to come from behind to eventually run down Mt Roskill Grammar. Bella Manu-Moore (25 points) was outstanding in the win.
Carmel College also had to come from behind to secure the win. Avondale College led 16-13 at quarter time before Carmel went on to decisively win the second and third periods.
One Tree Hill College 44 – Milla Eckford 11, Harriate Heta 9, Arise Maliepo 6, Melaia Tuisuva 5, Jesse-Lee Upu 5
Rangitoto 75 – Maddy Skelton 31, Eva Veale 15, Mela Andrews 13, Sienna Maurice 10, Maia Pirie 6
Round 8 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade competition saw comfortable wins for Westlake Girls High, Epsom Girls Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar School.
Twenty-point hauls from Emma Schroeder and Rebeca Moors ensured Westlake Girls High would prevail 98-54 against Northcote College.
Westlake debutant Zenthia Stowers was handed a starting berth and responded immediately with the opening basket of the game.
Northcote gave Westlake plenty of headaches in the opening game of the season and when Kaitlyn Haliday (twice) and Ema Lavemaau (on three occasions) made inside baskets another challenging night for the hosts looked on the cards.
However the back end of the opening period was dominated by Westlake as they carried a 25-14 lead into the break.
Nikki Gear scored 6 points for Northcote in the second but with Moors, Schroeder and Elin Vincent into their scoring stride the gap was over 20 points at half-time (49-28).
Both teams enjoyed scores from multiple players in the second half but from Northcote’s perspective the pace of scoring from their opponents was problematic – Westlake matching Epsom’s 7-1 record with the win.
Northcote 54 – N Gear 10, Lizzie May 9, Lily Morgan 8, L Gear 6, DJ Hannah 6, Haliday 6, Lavemaau 6
2022 New Zealand U17 teammates Ritorya Tamilo and Wai Clarken were in number crunching form in Mt Albert Grammar’s 67-47 victory against Baradene College.
Baradene centre Tamilo is the youngest member of the Tall Ferns squad headed, later this week, to the FIBA Asia Cup in Sydney. She signed off this term’s school commitments with a haul of 25 points, 16 rebounds and 7 blocks.
MAGS captain Clarken was also in double-double territory amassing 40 points, 13 steals and 7 rebounds.
Clarken scored all 13 of MAGS first quarter points but Daisy Parke and Tamilo ensured Baradene would have an 18-13 lead.
It all changed in the second quarter as MAGS piled on 32 points – three triples from Peyton Uri supplementing Clarken’s good work – MAGS ahead 45-30.
In contrast the pace of scoring in the third quarter slowed to a dawdle – just 15 points scored with the MAGS lead increased by one.
Clarken and Tamilo continued their dualling in the final period with both completing impressive personal performances.
A season high 24 points from Maya Fowler paced Epsom Girls Grammar to a comfortable 77-33 victory against St Mary’s College.
The Epsom lead was just 9-5 at quarter time before blowing out to 38-9 by half-time.
Led by India Nash and Layla Aholelei St Mary’s put up an improved showing in the second half. However with Talia Vea and Leah Patuwairua joining Fowler in double figures the result was never in doubt. There was also an opportunity for Epsom’s Year 9 rookie Olivia Edhouse to score her first Premier points.
Epsom 77 – Fowler 24, Vea 15, Patuwairua 10, Kiyara Te Amo 9, Rosa Todd-Pemerika 8, Ivy Tino 7
St Mary’s 33 – Nash 9, Aholelei 8, Christiana Setu 4, Tamzin Jakeman 4
The Takapuna Grammar School v St Kentigern College game has been postponed until next week.
In arguably the most exciting and craziest finish of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier season Westlake Boys High scored a last gasp 75-74 win against North Shore rivals Rangitoto College.
With a touch over four minutes to play a Michael Ropotini And-1 play had taken Rangitoto to a 72-63 lead and the very real prospect of avenging their opening round loss to the same opponents.
Despite a corner three from Troy Wentworth and an inside bucket from Noah Rasmussen, Ropotini’s free throws meant the Rangi lead was 73-68 with less than 90 seconds to play.
Westlake centre Hadi Alshami scored inside before Rasmussen’s free-throws were cancelled out by foul line makes from Ropotini and Arnold Nam – Rangi ahead 74-72.
Malachi Book then made one of two free-throws to precede 18 seconds of chaos.
From consecutive inbounds plays Rangi turned the ball over – Westlake did the same – then Rangi again lost possession courtesy of a held ball situation.
On the final possession of the contest the ball ended up in the hands of Westlake skipper Book. He made a left handed layup down main street as time expired, to edge his team to a one-point win.
Book ended up being mobbed by a jubilant home team while watching supporters were in a state of excitement or disbelief depending on the team they were following.
Earlier, the contest between the opposing centres Joel Brown (19 points) and Alshami (21 points) was one that caught the eye.
Westlake got out to an early 24-13 lead before being pegged back in the middle stages as they were outscored 19-14 and 26-14 in quarters two and three.
A 56-52 three-quarter time lead favoured Rangi as did that 72-63 advantage but ultimately counted for little amidst that chaotic finish.
Westlake 75 – Alshami 21, Wentworth 18, Gabriel Ames 11, Rasmussen 10, Book 7
Rangitoto 74 – Ropotini 24, Brown 19, Jimmy Kim 11, Max Mudford 9
In the only game featuring two top four teams St Kentigern College earned a valuable 78-67 victory at Rosmini College.
St Kent’s led by one point at half-time (33-32) and by four at the three-quarter mark (54-50) to set up the prospect of an exciting finale.
Despite baskets from Jameer Reed and Chris Wyllie that expectation quickly evaporated. From trailing 59-54 Rosmini gave up the next 11 points as George Turner, Merrick Rillstone and Charlie Hughes combined to take the game away from the hosts.
Broughton Weenink took the St Kent’s lead out to a damaging 18-points before a late rally put a slightly better look to the scoreline from a Rosmini perspective.
Early on six points from Noah Johns had the home support in good voice although the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the introduction of debutant Harlan Roudon – his score late in the first gave Rosmini a 20-12 lead.
The second spell favoured the visitors – seven points from Rillstone taking them ahead at half-time.
Opposing number eight’s prospered in the third – Reed for Rosmini and Rillstone for St Kent’s. Another debutant, Noah Heke, made a pair of freebies for St Kent’s as we were left wondering if that four point buffer at three-quarter time would be enough.
Eight points from Turner and 10 from Rillstone provided the answer – an emphatic yes.
St Kent’s 78 – Rillstone 31, Turner 18, Hunter Te Ratana 9, Frankie Groves 5, Luke Franish 5
Mt Albert Grammar School continued their unbeaten season with a 100-75 win at Sacred Heart College. Taking advantage of Heart’s depleted front court Dante Matakatea scored a season high 37 points.
Undaunted facing the table toppers Heart made the better start forging a 22-19 lead – 9 points to Matt Fautuaalii-Taia.
The second period told a different tale. Tyler Wilson-Voyce joined Matt Fautuaalii-Taia in double figures but MAGS demonstrated their superiority running up 32 points as Matakatea moved to 18 points at the half with his team 51-38 ahead.
More MAGS dominance ensued in the third as Romani Keith-Peraua and Kade Cartwright helped push the visitors out to a commanding 81-51 advantage at three-quarter time.
Heart improved in the fourth, with Cameron Stewart and Jerome Jakeman to the fore, but it was a MAGS debutant who had the final say.
Lucas Cartwright has spent over a decade watching on from the sideline at MAGS games – finally getting the opportunity to make his Prems debut he got on the scoresheet in the closing moments – you imagine he’ll score a few more in the coming seasons.
Sacred Heart 75 – Fautuaalii-Taia 20, Wilson-Voyce 13, Sam Snowdon 12, Jakeman 10, Jamie Vile 8
MAGS 100 – Matakatea 37, Louis Uri 15, Harri Coker-Grey 13, Keith-Peraua 13, K Cartwright 11
In the fourth game of the round visitors Auckland Grammar had the better of the early stages to lead St Peter’s 27-22 at quarter time and 44-35 at the main break – Josh Howes with 20 first half points for AGS.
Gus Dallow, headed to a game high 25 points, had 8 third quarter points and Bailey Smith 5 as St Peter’s had marginally the better of the period. Ryan Hunt and George Milburn kept the score ticking over for AGS – their lead 65-58 with ten minutes to play.
Again St Peter’s kept the AGS defence honest – Dallow nailed a pair of threes – but Milburn and Brigham Hakaraia ensured AGS moved through to win number six.
St Peter’s 77 – Dallow 26, Bryan Curtis 8, Smith 8, Milan Tolich 7
LACEY LOWDOWN 