Round seven of the Auckland Secondary Schools Premier League on Friday marked the halfway mark of the regular season. It also saw victories for Mt Albert Grammar, St Peter’s College, Westlake Boys and Rosmini College.
Tall Black Tohi-Smith Milner was in attendance at Carmel College to see his former college Rosmini win an entertaining encounter against St Kentigern College 89-76.
The win was built around a polished performance from point guard Marvin Williams-Dunn who scored a team high 23 points.
Rosmini had the better of the opening exchanges leading 15-9 at the mid point of the opening period and 21-15 at quarter time.
Forward Reihana Maxwell-Topia scored the first four points of the second quarter – Shalom Broughton (24 points) replied with a brace of baskets for St Kentigern.
Jayden Boucher gave Rosmini a double digit lead but Max Shorter (31 points) reduced that with a triple plus an And-1 play (33-27).
Broughton was causing Rosmini plenty of problems under the boards, his put back making it a one point game, before Shorter’s third triple of the opening half gave St Kentigern their first lead of the game (37-35).
A pair of Williams-Dunn threes repaired some of the damage before his jump shot gave the hosts a narrow 47-46 lead at half-time. The Rozza guard had 16 points at the break – Shorter 20 points for St Kent’s.
Rosmini peeled off a brisk 13-0 run (seven points from Kainoa Lepou) to open the second half necessitating a timeout from St Kent’s coach Aaron Young.
The run was halted at fifteen points when Broughton scored a brace of baskets. A tumbling drive from Boucher made the Rozza lead 66-50 but then earned a prolonged rest as he fouled out with thirteen minutes to play.
St Kent’s guard Zac Chan landed a trey on the three-quarter time buzzer but his team trailed 72-57 at the last break.
Sean Murphy scored with a high arching floater and Taine Murray from a drive to extend the lead to 78-60 before Shorter, the game’s leading scorer, took his personal tally into the thirties for the fourth time this season.
Joseph Hylton took the Rozza lead into the twenties before St Kent’s forward Levic Kerr made a couple of nice inside buckets
Point guard Alex McNaught typified the St Kentigern commitment with his poise and non-stop effort but it was Rosmini that emerged with the win to stay top of the table.
Rosmini 89 – M Williams-Dunn 23, K Lepou 18, R Maxwell-Topia 16
St Kentigern 76 – M Shorter 31, S Broughton 24, L Kerr 12
Mt Albert Grammar remain hot on the heels of Rosmini after beating Auckland Grammar 68-50.
Chayse Pinono and Clarke Aiono got Mt Albert off to a good start as they led 16-10 at quarter time.
Auckland struggled at the offensive end only able to muster 21 points by half-time. MAGS weren’t at their fluent best either but did have a ten-point advantage at the interval.
Athletic forward Ilaisa Tela, coming off a thirty points game in the previous round against Rosmini, scored ten points for Auckland in the third period. Ryan Laumatia scored half a dozen for MAGS to keep his team ahead 50-37 at the three-quarter point.
Pinono and Laumatia scored six points each in the final period and although Tela matched that he had little support on the night as MAGS eased to their sixth win in seven outings.
MAGS 68 – R Laumatia 16, C Pinono 15, T Hurdley 12, S Tawera 7
AGS 50 – I Tela 22, T McCarthy 7, I Nua 7, D Boyd 6
A season high 28 points from Luke Buckingham propelled St Peter’s College to a convincing 89-64 win at Avondale College.
St Peter’s made a flying start forging a healthy 22-11 opening quarter lead – Buckingham and Whititera Parata prominent.
Keanu Eteru and Armand Donaldson provided some Avondale resistance but triples from Buckingham and Isaiah Franklin pushed the visitors advantage to a substantial 45-22 at half-time.
Preston Karatau and Donaldson (both with 19 points) made a double figure contribution to Avondale’s improved performance in the third but three straight baskets from Parata maintained the St Peter’s advantage at the three-quarter mark (65-43).
In the final frame Buckingham took his tally of threes to five, Sam Glover also landed from beyond the arc and Phoenix Leupolu scored eight of his 22 points as St Peter’s had little problem protecting their lead to record a third win of the season.
Avondale 64 – P Karatau 19, A Donaldson 19, K Eteru 11, K Hiini-Neilson 8
St Peter’s 89 – L Buckingham 28, P Leupolu 22, W Parata 14
In the northern derby Rangitoto guard Harry Payne scored 14 points in the opening quarter but visitors Westlake Boys were well served by Paora Winitana and led 24-21 after ten minutes.
Rangi were outscored 27-12 in the second period as Josh Kooiman made 11 points, including three baskets from beyond the arc, to give Westlake a 51-33 lead at half-time.
The home team came back strongly in the third with Hanseul Nam knocking down a couple of triples. Sam Mennenga and Winitana, who scored a season best 19 points, kept the score moving for Lake but their lead was reduced to 67-54 at three-quarter time.
Rangi guard Logan McIntosh scored a dozen fourth quarter points but a couple of triples from Dylan Wilkie and eight points from the southpaw Mennenga saw Westlake home for a fourth win of the season.
Rangitoto 74 – H Payne 24, L McIntosh 18, H Nam 10, E Mandeno 5
Westlake 87 – P Winitana 19, S Mennenga 19, D Wilkie 12, J Kooiman 11, T Cowie 9
League Standings
7-0 Rosmini
6-1 Mt Albert
4-3 St Kentigern, AGS
3-4 Westlake, St Peter’s
1-6 Rangitoto
0-7 Avondale
Senior A Results
Massey 96 Macleans 90
Western Springs 80 Birkenhead 61
Pakuranga v Kelston – result not known
Liston 91 Northcote 62
LACEY LOWDOWN 