Sacred Heart College bowed out of the Auckland Secondary Schools Invitational Tournament on Day 3 with a fourth straight loss going down 101-61 to Westlake Boys.
It was a balanced performance from Westlake as seven players scored 8 points or more. Joseph Hunter scored a game high 22 points for Sacred Heart who, despite losing four straight games, played with spirit until the end.
Sacred Heart Head Coach Mike Robinson complimented his team, who were unbeaten in the Auckland Senior A League before Covid shut the competition down, on wanting to test themselves against more accomplished Premier League players and teams.
The opposition don’t come much tougher as between them the four Premier teams taking part have won nine of the last eleven Secondary Schools National Championships.
Westlake 101 – Antonio Leutich 14, Zane Chang 14, Christian Martin 14, Boston Caldwell 12
Sacred Heart 61 – Hunter 22, Brooklyn Vile 10, Rafe Chisholm 9, Michael Stewart 6
St Kentigern College bounced back from their disappointing performance against Westlake on Thursday to dominate Rangitoto College in the other morning game winning 96-66.
Zach Riley scored 22 points for Rangitoto as they became the last Premier Boys team to give up their unbeaten record.
Young St Kent’s guard George Turner was in sublime shooting form knocking down six threes for his 18 points and Kazlo Evans was also in good scoring touch picking up 23 points.
St Kentigern 96 – Evans 23, Levick Kerr 19, Turner 18, Kaea Rangihaeta 10
Rangitoto 66 – Riley 22, Lucas Payne 15, Zeke Priest 9, Ethan Skelton 7
The evening games saw St Kentigern beat Rosmini and Rangitoto beat Westlake meaning that Rosmini finished fourth with a 1-3 record whilst the other three teams boasted an identical 3-1 record at the end of round robin play – St Kentigern earned top spot courtesy of a superior points differential.
Rangitoto were only 2 points ahead at half-time but dominated the second half to beat Westlake 100-77.
Jett Thompson top scored for Westlake with 25 points but Zeke Priest bettered that by one and Ethan Skelton was close behind with 22 points.
Rangitoto 100 – Priest 26, Skelton 22, Zach riley 14, Jacob Fotu 12, Lucas Payne 11
Westlake 77 – Thompson 25, Boston Caldwell 13, Zane Chang 10, Christian Martin 6
It was a similar story in the other game as St Kentigern, up by just five points at the half, pulled away after the resumption to win 78-57.
Dontae Nance (27 points) led the scoring for St Kent’s but it was Levick Kerr that was the big difference maker. The towering centre blocked multiple shots and was a dominant interior presence throughout.
Sean Murphy (17 points) was the only Rosminian in double figures.
St Kentigern 78 – Nance 27, Kaea Rangihaeta 14, Martin Gan 10, Kazlo Evans 9, Kerr 8
Rosmini 57 – S Murphy 17, Tom Beattie 9, Kane Murphy 8
The semi-finals will be a repeat of the last games of the round robin with Westlake looking to turn the tables on Rangitoto and Rosmini looking to do the same against St Kentigern. Both games will be played at Eventfinda Stadium at midday on Saturday.
LACEY LOWDOWN 