LACEY LOWDOWN

Rangitoto College is aiming for a three-peat in the Senior Boys section of the Secondary Schools 3×3 National Slam being held in Tauranga. However Rongotai College, having qualified both teams for the quarter-finals, looks the biggest threat to this ambition.

Rongotai Gold beat the Dan Fotu led Rangitoto Blue 21-18 on day two although Palmerston North Boys High topped Pool A courtesy of a crucial 14-10 win against Rongotai. All three teams ended pool play with an 8-1 record but the points scoring record favoured PNBHS.

In Pool B the top two teams were Rongotai Blue and Westlake Boys High School, both with 8-1 records. Rongotai head the pool courtesy of a 15-13 victory over last year’s finalists. Long Bay College (7-2) upset Rongotai 18-12 to clinch third spot with Fielding High School rounding out the top four. Westlake’s James Moors finished day two in a moon boot and his non availability will cause Lake some serious problems in the play-offs.

St Peter’s College Cambridge Red remains favourites in the Senior Girls competition. Led by Charlisse Leger-Walker, Ella Bradley and Jayzelee Waihi, they dominated all opposition in Pool B inflicting a 15-7 defeat on closest rivals Melville High (6-1). Westlake Girls (5-2) and Rotorua Girls High (4-3) also qualify for the quarters.

Massey High School Teams One (6-1) and Three (5-2) advanced from Pool A along with Hamilton Girls High School (6-1) and local favourites Aquinas College (5-2). HGHS beat Massey High 1 14-9 in the final pool game to clinch top spot in the section having surprisingly lost 9-8 to Massey 3 earlier.

Rosmini College and St John’s College both remain unbeaten in the Junior Boys competition.

St John’s (6-0) top Pool A followed by defending champions Rongotai College (5-1); they are followed by Te Aroha College (4-2) and St Kentigern’s (2-4).

Pool B is headed by Rosmini Blue (7-0) closely followed by the handy Rotorua Boys High School team (6-1) who went down narrowly to Rozza 13-11. St Thomas of Canterbury College (5-2) and St Peter’s Cambridge (4-3) also progressed to the last eight.

The Junior Girls competition is already at the semi-final stage. In the quarters Melville High School beat Westake Girls High Green 15-9, whilst Hamilton Girls High was defeated by Westlake Red 8-5.

On the other side of the draw St Mary’s College Ponsonby accounted for Rangitoto College 11-4 and Kavanagh College outlasted Rotorua Girls High 9-4.

Sixty-three teams will compete at the 2017 Secondary Schools 3×3 National Slam being played in Tauranga over three days this week, beginning on Thursday.

In all four grades the 2016 champions will be defending their titles. Who might challenge the holders click here

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The final of the Rangitoto College Invitational Tournament (RIT), that involved eight Auckland high school teams, was won by the hosts Rangitoto beating Rosmini College 74-66 in the final on Sunday at NSEC.

The scores were locked at 35 apiece at half-time but Rangi quickly opened a double-digit lead early in the second and were able to hold off their local rivals for a deserved win.

Leading Scorers in the final:

Rangitoto 74 – Zack Te Puni 20, Dan Fotu 15, Logan Anderson 12, Jared Thornton 11

Rosmini 66 – Will Heather 20, Marvin Williams-Dunne 13, Mitch Dance 12

Earlier in the semi-finals Rosmini comfortably accounted for St Peter’s 81-32. The other semi was a much tighter affair with Rangitoto winning 66-61 against Westlake after the scores were tied 61-61 with 2:07 to play.

Leading scorers in the semi-finals:

Rosmini 81 – Mitch Dance 17, Will Heather 16, Peter Jenkins 12, Kruz Perrott-Hunt 10

St Peter’s 32 – Gerard Boersen 11, Toffer Espinosa 8

Rangitoto 66 – Zack Te Puni 13, Logan McIntosh 11, Dan Fotu 11, Cam Stone 8

Westlake 61 – James Moors 32, Reuben Fitzgerald 11, Jesse Winter 7

For a number of the teams it was a perfect build up towards the 20 team Premier Qualifying Tournament being played early next month (April 8-11). NB there will be an 11 team Girls Qualifying tournament held at the same time.

St Peter’s College is one of the teams with high hopes of gaining qualification to Premier Grade.

Coach Leyton Haddleton felt his team had made progress at the RIT.

“The players have had a tough week with school commitments and two pre-season friendly games earlier in the week. However this has given us a good opportunity to build combinations against tough opposition. We ran Westlake close, before losing 73-68 on day one – the last time we played them we lost by over 50 points.

“It’s also given us an opportunity to test players resolve when tired and under pressure,” Haddleton added.

Haddleton believes there are a number of teams with a real opportunity of joining Rangitoto, Rosmini, Auckland Grammar, Westlake, Mt Albert and Kelston in the top echelon of Auckland Secondary Schools boy’s basketball.

“St Kentigern College, MacLeans College and Massey High are all looking strong and we are yet to find out what the relegated teams from last year, Liston College and Onehunga High, will look like,” said Haddleton.

Despite being without some starters due to other commitments St Kentigern second year coach Aaron Young also thought the Rangitoto Invitational was of value.

“The experience against top quality players gives us great prep for the RIT.”

Young agreed with Haddleton that there are a number of schools with a good chance of playing Prem’s in 2017.

“Liston will have a good chance of qualifying with their experience from last year and a solid junior programme.

“I would like to think our chances are also good especially with home court advantage. I’m hoping the five seniors in our team and much the same group as last year will stand us in good stead,” said Young.

St Kent’s fell one game short of qualifying in 2016 losing to MAGS in the semi-final. They will be hoping 2017 is their year.

But then again so will 19 other teams.

Rangitoto Invitational Final Standings

1 Rangitoto College

2 Rosmini College

3 Westlake Boys

4 St Peter’s College

5 St Kentigern

6 Macleans College

7 Avondale College

8 Rosmini Senior A