LACEY LOWDOWN

Another 40 points (41 points to be precise) from Auckland Grammar centre Anzac Rissetto, his second in four days, accounted for St Kentigern College in Round 12 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Premier competition.

With two rounds of the regular season to play the result locked Grammar into third place on the competition ladder with an 8-4 record.

In the other games played on Monday wins for Mt Albert Grammar and Rosmini College (both have 11-1 records) assured those teams of the top two places with the final standing unlikely to be decided until the final round of games on August 10^th – MAGS currently hold top spot on points differential.

It was a two-point thriller when Auckland Grammar School and St Kentigern College met earlier in the season and it was another ding-dong battle at St Kent’s second time around with Rissetto proving the difference maker as the visitors won 80-76.

The consistent Max Shorter and Zac Chan shared a dozen points as St Kent’s shaded the opening frame 22-21.

Levic Kerr kept the St Kent’s score ticking over in the second quarter but a three from Connor Ngan and the increasing influence of Rissetto and Ilaisa Tela gave Grammar a 46-36 half-time advantage.

St Kent’s trimmed that lead by four points in the third quarter as Shorter, Shalom Broughton and Elliot Watson brought the hosts back into contention trailing 67-61 at the third break.

Defence dominated the closing minutes – Rissetto and Ngan doing just enough to subdue the St Kent’s challenge in a tight finish.

St Kentigern Head Coach Aaron Young was philosophical after the game.

“It was an exciting game and our boys did a great job fighting back in the second half, in the end it came down to a couple of plays.

“Anzac was a beast and had a huge impact on the game especially when Shalom Broughton got into early foul trouble.”

AGS 80 – A Rissetto 41, I Tela 16, C Ngan 7, T McCarthy 6, D Boyd 6

St Kentigern 76 – M Shorter 31, L Kerr 14, S Broughton 13, E Watson

Mt Albert Grammar kept hold of their top spot on the Premier ladder after a tight 63-55 victory at Westlake Boys.

MAGS were indebted to Sataan Tawera (22 points) and Ryan Laumatia (16 points) as the pair combined for 17 points in the final quarter to seal the win.

Josh Kooiman (18 points) continued his good form – a pair of threes taking Westlake to a narrow 12-10 opening quarter lead.

The two teams split 24 points in the second quarter – points from Dallas Clayton handy for Westlake as they retained a two-point lead (24-22) at the break.

Kooiman, Dylan Wilkie and Jackson Port all scored from beyond the arc for Lake in the third but it was MAGS that edged ahead (41-39) through a triple from Tawera and valuable points from Theo Hurdley at the back end of the period.

It remained a dog-fight in the closing minutes but Tawera and Laumatia saw MAGS home for a tenth straight win.

Westlake 55 – J Kooiman 18, C Atkinson 9, D Wilkie 8, J Port 7

MAGS 63 – S Tawera 22, R Laumatia 16, M Dorcil 9, C Aiono 6

Boston Schuster opened the scoring for St Peter’s College and with Jacob Errey and Whitihera Parata causing Rosmini some problems under the boards it was only a Taine Murray jump shot for Rosmini that separated the two teams at quarter time (19-17).

From there it was all downhill for the hosts with transition buckets from Joseph Hylton and Sean Murphy plus inside baskets from Mitch Dance suddenly separating the two sides (44-25).

Schuster broke the Rosmini scoring monopoly but Murray replied with the first three of the game on the stroke of half time – Rosmini ahead 55-27

Sam Glover scored the opening basket of the second half but buckets from Jason Mittef and Reimar Cruz ignited the Rosmini bench.

Point guard Jack Donnelly sparked the St Peter’s offence with a couple of scores but the Rozza lead had ballooned out to 84-40 at three-quarter time.

A Thomas Morgan shooting display – he made five triples – was the highlight of the fourth quarter.

Errey was outstanding in a losing cause but his points and those of his teammates had become a scarce commodity as Rosmini eased to the win that cemented them a top two spot on the table.

St Peters 54 – J Errey 18, I Franklin 14. W Parata 6, B Schuster 6

Rosmini 118 – T Murray 24, T Morgan 17, M Dance 14, M Williams-Dunn 12, J Hylton 10

The Rangitoto College versus Avondale College fixture was postponed to August 6^th.

Premier Standings

11-1 Mt Albert, Rosmini

8-4 Auckland Grammar

5-6 Westlake

5-5 St Kentigern

3-9 St Peter’s

2-9 Rangitoto

0-10 Avondale

There were just two games played when the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier competition resumed on Friday.

In a top four match up Mt Albert Grammar needed a fourth quarter fight back to overcome Massey High before winning 74-68.

The two teams were shorn of a Shauna and a Sharne with both on New Zealand international duty at the U17 World Cup in Belarus.

Mt Albert, without Sharne Pupuke-Robati, made the better start ending the first quarter 17-13 ahead thanks to a brace of baskets apiece from Jada Manase and Moanekah Va’ai.

Massey edged a little closer in a free flowing second period as Ramona Fuiavaa, Terina Aratangi and Alyesha Schuster kept the score ticking over. Tessa Talo-Tomokino and Raykesha Fiatau were doing the same for MAGS – they led 38-36 at the interval.

Massey appeared not to be missing Shauna Povey as they outscored their visitors 20-10 in the third frame. Aratangi knocked down three triples in the period and Laticia Jost added a fourth as the hosts carried a 56-48 lead into the three-quarter break.

Fuiavaa scored 8 points for Massey in the final period but their scoring dried up from other sources. In contrast MAGS found scoring a good deal easier – with Manase scoring ten points and Talo-Tomokino six – Massey were outscored 26-12 in the final ten minutes.

The loss leaves Massey two wins behind third placed Westlake but two clear of fifth placed Rangitoto, the only other team with a realistic chance of claiming a semi-final spot. MAGS remain second, one win ahead of Westlake.

Massey 68 – R Fuiavaa 24, T Aratangi 14, L Jost 11, A Schuster 11

MAGS 74 – J Manase 22, R Fiatau 18, T Talo-Tomokino 17, M Kelly 8

Also in action at the U17 World Cup is Tayla Dalton and her presence was sorely missed by Carmel College who were well beaten by close neighbours Westlake 105-28.

The writing was on the wall early on as Westlake charged to a 24-9 opening quarter lead extended to 41-11 at half-time.

Emily Broomfield and Georgia Green scored all the Carmel points in the third stanza but they trailed 71-20 at the end of the period.

Westlake, led by 26 points from Emme Shearer, also had Makenzee Boucher, Jess Moors, Rosie Dil and Simone Barnard in double figures as they cruised to an eighth win of the season with only one game dropped in their last nine outings.

Carmel 28 – E Broomfield 10, G Green 9

Westlake 105 – E Shearer 26, M Boucher 14, J Moors 12, R Dil 12, S Barnard 10, S Woolford 10

The Rangitoto College versus Auckland Girls Grammar fixture was played before the school holiday break with AGGS winning 88-52.

The St Kentigern College against St Mary’s game was postponed until a later date.

Premier Standings

11-0 AGGS

9-2 MAGS

8-3 Westlake

6-5 Massey

4-7 Rangitoto

2-8 St Mary’s

2-9 Carmel

1-9 St Kentigern

The Auckland Secondary School’s Premier competition got underway again with a full round of games on Friday. The top three teams all recorded victories as St Kentigern College joined them in semi-final contention.

Anzac Rissetto was wearing singlet number thirteen and scored Auckland Grammar’s first thirteen points – it proved to be an unlucky omen for Rangitoto College. The New Zealand international centre powered his way to 40 points as Grammar won 95-69.

Grammar took a firm grasp of proceeding in the opening period to lead 26-8 and effectively sealed the deal in the second frame to lead 50-21 at half-time.

Ilaisa Tela complimented Rissetto with 17 points and Caleb Landon chipped in with nine.

Led by 31 points from Harry Payne and double figure contribution from Ethan Skelton and Ethan Mandeno, Rangi made a better showing in the second half but Rissetto had already done lasting damage.

Rangitoto 69 – H Payne 31, E Mandeno 12, E Skelton 11

AGS 95 – A Rissetto 40, I Tela 17, C Landon 9, I Nua 6, T McCarthy 6

Although both teams were deprived of a couple of starters the Rosmini College versus Westlake local derby was still a full-blooded affair played in front of the biggest crowd of the season at the Tom Gerrard Gym.

Taine Murray opened the scoring with a pair of baskets, Joe Wuthrich replied with a brace for the visitors.

Mitch Dance scored off a delightful pass from Kainoa Lepou, Rosmini out to a 15-4 lead and Westlake coach Zac Fitzgerald require a timeout.

Kooiman landed a three on the resumption but Sean Murphy answered with the same number. Kooiman landed another trey prior to further triples from Marvin Williams-Dunn and Lepou – Rosmini ahead 29-14 at quarter time.

Transition baskets from Murray and Lepou followed a Paora Winitana score – 38-20 the lead for the hosts.

Kooiman was having an outstanding first half – 15 points to lead all scorers at the break – his back-to back threes repaired some of the damage inflicted by Lepou and Reimar Cruz but Rozza were in control at half-time leading 53-35.

Rosmini maintained their 20+ points buffer ahead 65-43 six minutes into the third. Jackson Port and Kooiman dropped threes and Campbell Atkinson a spinning inside move to trigger a Westlake mini-revival but they still trailed 72-55 at the end of the frame.

Lepou and Williams-Dunn pounced on a couple of sloppy Westlake turnovers – 81-59 three minutes into the fourth period – the result never in doubt despite late scores from Dylan Wilkie and Winitana.

Rosmini 88 – M Dance 18, T Murray 16, M Williams-Dunn 14, K Lepou 12

Westlake 70 – J Kooiman 18, J Wuthrich 13, P Winitana 13, D Wilkie 9

The battle of the Saints was won by St Kentigern College, Max Shorter (32 points) going past the thirty points mark for the fifth time to pace his team to an 80-63 win at St Peter’s College after they had trailed early on.

Boston Schuster made ten first quarter points for St Peter’s who made a promising start to lead 19-15 after ten minutes.

Tom Chester made a triple late in the first half for St Kent’s but Schuster and Whititera Parata gave the hosts a 35-28 half-time lead.

St Kent’s made a move after the interval as Shorter reeled off 13 points to take his team into the lead (49-48).

Another move, this one of greater significance, came in the final ten minutes as St Kent’s outscored the home team 31-15. Jacob Errey and Max Halpin did their best to stem the tide but St Kent’s forwards Shalom Broughton and Levic Kerr shared 23 points to dominated the closing minutes.

The victory moves St Kentigern into equal fourth place on the ladder with Westlake – the two teams with five wins apiece.

St Peter’s 63 – J Errey 18, B Schuster 18, M Halpin 7, L Buckingham 7, W Parata 7

St Kent’s 80 – M Shorter 32, S Broughton 19, L Kerr 11, Z Chan 8

A balanced scoring effort highlighted Mt Albert Grammar’s 86-70 win at Avondale College as seven players contributed six points or more.

Preston Karatau, on his way to a game high 23 points, knocked down a couple of early triples for Avondale but 10 points from Sataan Tawera gave MAGS a 22-13 lead at quarter time.

Armand Donaldson scored eight second quarter points for the hosts but Ryan Laumatia and Manu Dorcil helped MAGS stretch out to a 49-31 lead at half-time.

Avondale were kept to 11 points in the third quarter, Clarke Aiono adding to their troubles as the MAGS lead reached 67-42 at the last break.

Karatau made his fifth three of the game and Javhir Toyer contributed handy points as Avondale finished strongly although never threatening the lead of the Premier table toppers.

Avondale 70 – P Karatau 23, A Donaldson 16, T Toyer 16

MAGS 86 – R Laumatia 17, S Tawera 17, M Dorcil 14, C Aiono 12

Premier Standings

10-1 Mt Albert, Rosmini

7-4 Auckland Grammar

5-5 Westlake

5-4 St Kentigern

3-8 St Peter’s

2-9 Rangitoto

0-10 Avondale