In the fourth round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Premier competition there were wins for St Kentigern College, Rosmini College, Auckland Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar.
A large crowd, that included distinguished Lake alumni Matt Freeman and Jack Salt, witnessed a high paced local derby between old foes Rosmini College and Westlake Boys on Friday night.
Marvin-Williams Dunn opened the scoring for the visitors ahead of a prompt Paora Winitana reply for the hosts.
Eight straight points for Westlake from point guard Tom Cowie, including a long three, took them to an early 14-7 lead.
Mennenga chipped in with a pair of triples as Lake moved out to 24-11 extended, much to the delight of the raucous home support, to 30-17 at quarter time.
Kruz Perrott-Hunt dominated the opening bars of the second period, chiming in with eight straight points, as Rosmini closed to within seven points.
Basketball Without Borders bound Taine Murray landed a triple and when Jayden Boucher scored after a trademark steal Rozza were within two (34-32) and Lake Head Coach Zac Fitzgerald required a timeout.
Dylan Wilkie and Ethan Clarke scored after the re-start but the hot hands belonged to Kainoa Lepoa.
The Rosmini guard produced an avalanche of threes – four in quick succession – to give the visitors their first lead of the game, extended to 54-45 at half-time. Cowie and Lepou each had sixteen points in a fast paced first half.
Mitch Dance (10 points in the third quarter), making his first appearance of the season, took the Rosmini lead into double figures early in the third frame, threes from Lepou and Murray pushed their advantage out to 69-53.
Winitana nailed a three late in the third but Rosmini held sway at the three-quarter break with a 78-63 lead.
Joseph Hylton got the travelling Rosmini fans on their feet with a two handed flush early in the fourth – Lepou’s sixth triple holding Westlake at bay.
The impressive duo of Cowie and Mennenga kept Westlake in touch, a 6-0 run dragging it back to a 13 points deficit (90-77) with five minutes to play.
Westlake guard Josh Kooiman made a couple of nice plays but Murray, Dance and Perrott-Hunt kept the pressure on the home defence – 99-82 with three minutes to play.
Mennenga’s dunk sparked a late flourish from the hosts but it was Rosmini that headed back down Taharota Road with the spoils of victory.
Westlake 93 – S Mennenga 34, T Cowie 31, P Winitana 12, E Clark 6
Rosmini 103 – K Lepou 24, K Perrott-Hunt 21, M Dance 20,T Murray 16
A combined 49 points from the guard pairing of Ethan Mandeno and Ethan Skelton wasn’t enough to secure a first win of the season for Rangitoto College – they were beaten 84-74 at Auckland Grammar School.
As last week Rangitoto got off to a slow start and found themselves 21-9 down at the first break – half a dozen points from Ilaisa Tela setting Grammar on their way.
Rangi closed the gap in the second, albeit only by two points, as Skelton torched a trio of treys and Ben Spencer-Powell weighed in with a triple also. Tela and Isara Nua led the Grammar scoring effort as they led 40-30 at the break.
Teacum McCarthy scored six points for Grammar in the third but Tommy Te Puni, Obadaiah Paea and Mandeno led a strong fight-back from Rangi as they closed to within four points at three-quarter time (59-55).
Anzac Rissetto and Nua combined for 18 fourth quarter points as Grammar sealed a third win of the season – Rangitoto still searching for a first win in the 2018 campaign.
Auckland Grammar 84 – I Tela 23, I Nua 20, T McCarthy 16, A Rissetto 10
Rangitoto 74 – E Skelton 26, E Mandeno 23, O Paea 12, T Te Puni 6
Also looking for a first win are Avondale College. Heading into the final quarter of their game at Mt Albert Grammar they trailed 55-38 and would have anticipated making a late charge.
However the exact opposite happened as they were blown away by the hosts, conceding thirty points in the final period, eventually losing 85-43.
Nathan Wilson scored ten of his game high 21 points in the fourth quarter carnage, Dakota Stephens putting the icing on a third MAGS win with a late triple.
The opening quarter was dead even with the two teams splitting 24 points. Jaga Mete and Armand Donaldson shared the Avondale scoring load in the first half but Rishon Royce and Chayse Pinono ensured MAGS entered the half-time break with a 35-28 lead.
MAGS extended their lead in the third although Jack Childs and Donaldson did keep the visitors afloat ahead of the final break.
Hopes of a late Avondale charge well and truly sunk in the last quarter.
Mt Albert 85 – N Wilson 21, C Pinono 20, R Royce 11, R Laumatia 8
Avondale 43 – A Donaldson 15, J Childs 12, J Mete 10
The battle of the ‘Saints’ was won by St Kentigern College as they comfortably beat visitors St Peter’s 92-61 with guard Zach Chan nailing an eye catching eight threes in the process.
Six early points from Shalom Broughton helped the home side to a handy 15-9 first quarter lead.
Whititera Parata (11 first half points) was prominent for St Peter’s but Chan connected with three of his triples in the second stanza to propel St Kent’s to a 34-27 lead.
The third frame was decisive as the home side peeled off 30 points – four more from beyond the arc from Chan and seven points from Max Shorter took the game away from St Peter’s.
A 64-46 advantage to St Kent’s was added to in the fourth – Gabriel Nolan sinking the twelfth triple of the game for the hosts. Phoenix Leupolu battled away for St Peter’s but it wasn’t their night going down for a second loss of the season.
St Kentigern 92 – Z Chan 24, S Broughton 21, M Shorter 17, T Chester 10
St Peter’s 61 – W Parata 19, P Leupolu 17, B Schuster 8, I Franklin 6
League Standings
4-0 Rosmini
3-1 Auckland Grammar, St Kentigern, Mt Albert
2-2 St Peter’s
1-3 Westlake
0-4 Avondale, Rangitoto
Senior A Results
Massey 64 Liston 84
Northcote 80 Pakuranga 55
Western Springs v Macleans result unknown
Kelston 71 Birkenhead 63
LACEY LOWDOWN 