Tobias Cameron was in good scoring touch as Abilene Christian University overcame Utah Valley 82-74 in the second round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. The former junior Tall Black guard finished with 17 points making 6 from 10 from the field including 3 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Tom Webley scored a couple of points as Hartford Hawks exited the America East Conference Tournament at the semi-final stage beaten 80-60 by UMBC.
Louisville University, with former Tall Blacks assistant Ross McMains in their coaching group, pushed Taine Murray’s Virginia all the way before losing a low scoring game 50-51 at the Atlantic Coast Tournament.
Tom Webley scored a couple of points as Hartford Hawks exited the America East Conference Tournament at the semi-final stage beaten 80-60 by UMBC.
Florida International University Panthers bowed out 78-60 to Southern Mississippi in the quarter-finals of the Conference USA Tournament.
Grace Hunter dished a team high 4 assists to accompany 7 points, 3 rebounds and a block in the defeat.
Jessica Moors and Colorado State had to be satisfied with runners-up place at the Mountain West Conference Tournament after losing 75-65 to UNLV in the Grand Final.
Olivia Williams, recently named to the Big West Conference All-Freshman Team scored 2 points as second seeded UC Irvine beat Cal State Fullerton 80-68 in quarter-final play.
For the second successive year Brigham Young University (BYU) have been defeated by Gonzaga in the Grand Final of the West Coast Conference Tournament, this year defeated 71-59.
Tegan Graham had a game high 6 assists but couldn’t get her shooting game going finishing on 5 points. Kaylee Smilerscored 2 points.
Also for the second successive year BYU have been denied direct entry into the NCAA Tournament that a conference championship provides. Instead they will hope to hear their name called out as an at-large bid come the Selection Sunday Show this weekend.
With an overall 26-3 record this season and a national ranking of 15 selection would appear to be a formality but it will still be a nervous wait for Graham, Smiler and the third Kiwi on the BYU roster, Arielle Mackey-Williams.
On the Men’s side of the West Coast Conference Tournament Saint Mary’s College Men suffered the same fate as BYU Women – defeated by Gonzaga in the semi-finals. Downed 82-69, with Dan Fotu scoring 6 points, St Mary’s will have to wait to see if they participate in the National Championships.
Again, the omens are good for Kiwi involvement with St Mary’s putting together a 25-7 record and holding a national ranking of 17.
I was playing devil’s advocate with the headline, I’m sure both players will be suiting up at the National Championships next week.
We can look forward to following four teams at the Junior College National Championships later this month.
Western Nebraska College Cougars are headed to the National Tournament after receiving an at-large selection meaning three women’s teams with a Kiwi connection will be headed to the Women’s Junior College National Champs (March 16-21).
Cougars Rashaan Smith and Izzy Cook are joined by Dejaan Schuler (Casper College T-Birds) and the Southern Idaho Golden Eagles duo Ashlee Strawbridge and Kyra Paniora – the Eagles and T Birds having won Regional Tournaments to clip their qualifying tickets.
Schuler, the ex Te Aroha and Waikato standout scored a team high 15 points (6/10FG) as Casper defeated Eastern Wyoming 71-57 in the Region 9 Tournament Grand Final victory.
College of Southern Idaho beat Snow College 63-57 to win the Region 18 Championship –
Strawbridge finished with a team high 7 rebounds to accompany 4 points and 2 steals while Paniora contributed 2 points and 2 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
Nate Wilson will be the sole New Zealandi representative at the Men’s National Championship (March 14-19) In the Grand-Final of the Region 17 Tournament the South Georgia Tech Jets won an overtime thriller 87-84 to book their ticket. The former Mt Albert Grammar forward scored 7 points on a perfect three-from-three from the floor, corralled 4 rebounds, a steal and a block.
Congratulations to Molly Cockburn, who after a successful two years at Miles Community College, will further her academic and basketball career at Chadron State University. Chadron State Eagles play NCAA Division II basketball in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech Jets are bound for the Junior College (NJCCA) National Championships. In the Grand-Final of the Region 17 Tournament the Jets won an overtime thriller 87-84 to book their ticket. The former Mt Albert Grammar forward scored 7 points on a perfect three-from-three from the floor, corralled 4 rebounds, a steal and a block.
Dejaan Schuler and Casper College are also National Championship bound. Schuler scored 11 points as Casper defeated Laramie County 69-52 in the semi-final of the Region 9 Tournament. Casper followed that with a 71-57 success against Eastern Wyoming in the Grand Final (scorers from that game were not published at the time of posting this story).
The NJCAA Championship Selection Show will be held tomorrow. With Southern Idaho (featuring Ashlee Strawbridge and Kyra Paniora) having booked a spot earlier in the week Western Nebraska (featuring Izzy Cook and Rashaan Smith) will be hoping the Selection Committee looks favourably on their strong regular season performances.
Men’s NCAA Division I
Callum McRae scored 14 points (5/7FG, 4/4FT) and Flynn Cameron 7 points as UC Riverside were pipped 73-72 at Long Beach State. McRae pulled down 10 rebounds to give him his 8th double-double of the season and 4th in the last 5 games ahead of the Big West Tournament.
Sam Mennenga also notched 14 points as Davidson University Wildcats dropped their final Atlantic 10 Conference game to Dayton 82-76. Mennenga also came up with 3 rebounds and a block at the defensive end. Davidson, with a 15-3 record are guaranteed at least a share of the A-10 regular season title.
Yuat Alok had 7 points (3/4FG) as New Mexico State ensured at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season title with a 62-46 win at Utah State.
Sam Waardeburg and Miami University Hurricanes finished off the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season in style beating Syracuse 75-72. Ahead of the ACC Tournament Waaardenburg had 6 points, 5 rebounds, a block and a steal.
Colorado State 71 (James Moors 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) Boise State 68
Abilene Christian 61 (Tobias Cameron 5 points, 2 rebounds 2 assists) Tarleton State 56
Fordham 70 (Zach Riley 2 points) Goeorge Washington 66
In women’s Division I action Lauryn Mapusua had 6 points (2/3 3PG) and 3 rebounds as Houston Baptist defeated McNeese to finish a lofty 12-2 in Southland Conference play.
The win gives the Huskies its first ever Southland Conference regular season title. Queensland educated Mapusua played for New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA U18 Oceania Championship in Guam.
Emme Shearer and Portland University Pilots overwhelmed Loyola Marymount 69-44 in quarter-final action at the West Coast Conference Championship. Portland will now take on top-ranked BYU, boasting Kiwis Tegan Graham, Kaylee Miler and Arielle Mackey-Williams, in the semi-final.
In the East Coast Conference semi-final St Thomas Aquinas were well beaten by Molloy 71-49. Chanel Brodeur-Muirhad 4 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and 2 points in the loss.
Eva Langton and Texas A&M International were beaten 75-56 by top seeded West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference quarters. The Taranaki wing dealt in triples with threes in points, rebounds and assists in the defeat.
Kendell Heremaia couldn’t repeat her scoring heroics of the day before (top scored with 22 points against George Mason) as sixth seeded Fordham Rams exited the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament after a narrow 66-63 loss to Massachusetts. Heremaia still managed to fill the stats line with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.
Wofford lost the semi-final of Southern Conference Championship to Furman 64-59 – Helen Matthews,in her 50thappearance for Wofford Terriers,had a couple of rebounds and a block in the defeat.
St Mary’s California checked out of West Coast Conference play-offs after a 71-64 defeat at the hands of Loyola Marymount. Tayla Dalton had singles in assists, steals and blocks plus 8 points and 6 rebounds. Amy West came up with 5 rebounds and a dime.
Number 7 seeded Georgia Southern lost 85-76 to UT Arlington in the Sun Belt Conference quarter-finals. Cantabrian forward Tsubasa Nisbett had 3 points, 3 rebounds and a steal for Georgia Southern.
Colorado, Colorado Springs were defeated 86-77 by top-seeded Black Hills State in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Conference Tournament. Invercargill native Mac Stodart nabbed a couple of rebounds for Springs.
In Junior College action Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech are into the Grand-Final of the Region 17 Tournament after defeating South Georgia State 78-70.
Kendell Heremaia top scored with 22 points as sixth seeded Fordham Rams beat George Mason 66-50 at the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament to advance to the semi-finals. That takes Heremaia’s career points tally to 1,275 moving her past Rhaiah Spooner-Knight (1,262 points at Monmouth 2017-18 and Utah Valley 2013-16) and up to 5th all-time for New Zealand points scorers in Women’s NCAA Division I basketball.
#2 Wofford advanced at the Southern Conference Championship with a 66-54 victory against East Tennessee State. Helen Matthews had 4 points and 7 rebounds for Wofford who face a semi-final clash with Furman tomorrow.
It wasn’t such good news for Washington State as they were knocked out in the quarter-finals at the Pac-12 Conference Tournament defeated 70-59 by Utah. It was a night when the shots wouldn’t drop for Washington State. Krystal Leger-Walker finished with 4 points, 4 steals, 3 assists and 2 rebounds while Charlisse L-W had 6 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds.
In NCAA Division II play Hannah Wentworth was one of three Eckerd College players to score in double figures as the Tritons were defeated 58-46 by Florida Southern in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament semi-final. Wentworth scored 11 points making 3 from 6 from beyond the 3-point arc.
In Men’s Division I action Tom Webley had 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks as Hartford Hawks were defeated 83-73 by UMass Lowell.
Hartford will line up against Albany in the America East Conference Tournament beginning Sunday.
Flynn Cameron knocked down 4 of 8 three-pointers on his way to 14 points, with 6 rebounds, as UC Riverside won its penultimate regular season game against Cal State Fullerton (75-72). Callum McRae chipped in with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the victors.
Abilene Christian 80 (Tobias Cameron 3 points,2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal) Dixie State 64.
Hawaii at Hilo small forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named to the All-PacWest First Team ahead of the Hawaii at Hilo (#7) Conference Tournament clash with #2 Azusa Pacific.
Impressively, this season Tait-Jones has led Hilo in points (17.4ppg), rebounds (8.1rpg), steals (1.6spg) and blocked shots, his achievements also earning him PacWest Freshman of the Year honours.
Unfortunately the former St Pat’s Town standout couldn’t get going against Azusa finishing with 5 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
“Very special for our programme to be here. We are going to get back to it and we will be here again, commented Tait-Jones on Hilo’s very first appearance at PacWest Tournament.
In Women’s Division II play-off action Chanel Brodeur-Muir had a tidy double of 6 points and 6 rebounds as St Thomas Aquinas College pulled away from District Columbia to win their East Coast Conference Tournament First Round tie 63-49.
NCAA Division I
Miami University strengthened its hold on an Atlantic Coast Conference top-4 spot with an 81-70 win at Boston College. Sam Waardenburg was in fine form with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 pair of steals. The former Rangitoto College standout went 3 from 5 from beyond the arc and 3 from 3 from the charity stripe.
Zach Riley, playing just his tenth game for the Fordham University Rams since joining them mid-season, scored a season high 8 points (3/4FG) as the Rams were tipped 81-73 by Massachusetts in Atlantic-10 play.
Also in the Atlantic-10 Sam Mennenga tallied 9 points and 6 rebounds as Davidson maintained top spot on the conference ladder with a 73-62 win against George Mason – Davidson with a 15-2 record.
The outstanding Division I career of Tera Reed has come to an end after the University of Southern California were bundled out of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament in the first round by UCLA (73-60). Reed finishes her outstanding collegiate career with 1,623 points from 135 games and a remarkable 131 starts.
Number 14 ranked Virginia University Cavaliers fell at the first hurdle at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament beaten 61-53 by #11 Wake Forest. McKenna Dale had a strong game for Virginia, the former Junior Tall Fern filled the stats line with 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
At the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Tsubasa Nisbett and Georgia Southern booked a spot in the next round with an 88-79 victory.
The games below are regular season results.
Grace Hunter scored in double figures for the 11th time in the last 14 games as Florida International beat Florida Atlantic 73-55 in a Conference-USA local derby. The Wellingtonian finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Amiee Book and Fresno State rounded out Mountain West Conference regular season play with a 96-90 overtime loss at Utah State. Book finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds and a steal in the loss.
Houston Baptist 56 (Lauryn Mapusua 5 points) New Orleans 47
Houston remain top of the Southland Conference with an 11-2 record.
Dominique Stephens and Rocky Mountain College Battlin Bears are the Frontier Conference champions after a nail-biting 59-56 win against Carroll. The former St Peter’s School, Cambridge standout scored 3 points in the win, a victory that sees Rocky Mountain progress to the NAIA National Championships in Stephens’ first season at Rocky.
Jackson Smythe and Southern Oregon University were comfortably beaten byCollege of Idaho in the Cascade Conference Final. Smythe, a freshman who played for the Auckland Huskies in 2021 has featured regularly for Southern Oregon
NCAA Division I
Mason Whittaker and 10th seeded American University defeated #7 Holy Cross in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. American are in action again on Friday.
NCAA Division II
Cantabrian Josh Lowe and #3 ranked Lee University ousted #6 West Florida 72-67 in the quarter-finals of the Gulf South Conference Championship.
Former Auckland Grammar forward Conor Flanagan had 7 points (3/4FG), 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists for West Florida.
Another Cantabrian, Mac Stodart contributed 9 points (4/7FG) and 5 rebounds as Colorado Springs edged Colorado School of Mines 74-71 in the quarter-final of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
Hannah Wentworth converted all three of her 3-point attempts as her 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists helped Eckerd College defeat Nova Southeastern in the quarter-finals of the Sunshine State Conference Championship.
Wentworth sits third on the conference 3-point shooting list having made 44 from 103 at 42.7%.
Next up for number 3 ranked Eckerd is a semi-final clash with #2 Florida Southern on Friday.
Junior College
Jenna-Rose Mafua posted 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and an assist but Dodge City were beaten 72-52 by Hutchinson in the Region 6 quarter-finals.
Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech are through to the semi-finals of the Region 17 play-offs after an 89-76 victory over Southern Crescent Tech.
Kiani Saxon and Louisiana State Eunice won an overtime thriller against East Mississippi 76-63 at the Region 23 Tournament.
NB The box scores for the two men’s games were unavailable at the time of posting this story.
The Tall Blacks return home with three valuable FIBA World Cup Qualifying victories safely secured from the Philippines.
As expected the passage in the two games against India was reasonably serene (101-46 and 95-60 victories) but the contest against the hosts in Manila had the look of a potential ‘banana skin’ given the youth and inexperience of the New Zealand squad. Even the name of the home stadium, the Araneta Coliseum, sounded rather foreboding.
The Filipinos were well in the contest early in the third quarter trailing 40-33 but the Kiwis dominated the remainder of the game to run out comfortable 88-63 victors – Prewster, Loe, Samuel and Vodanovich were outstanding.
The Philippine’s connection.
For Taane Samuel and Richie Rodger, making their Tall Blacks debut in the Philippines added an extra dimension to the thrill of the occasion given both players had two-year stints on basketball scholarships in the Philippines not that long ago.
Rodger, recently signed with the Taranaki Airs, played at the University of the East in 2019 and 2020.
Samuel, currently a Development Payer with the Brisbane Bullets attended De La Salle University.
“I just wanted to showcase what I can do because people didn’t really have faith in me when I was here and especially playing for La Salle, one of the biggest schools in the Philippines,” said Samuel post game.
“This game was big for me, It’s so exhilarating for me to play here again,” he added.
Loe and behold.
Unloved by the Breakers coaching staff Rob Loe demonstrated he still has game, compiling back-to-back-to back double doubles.
Having not featured in the last five Breakers games, with Dan Shamir appearing to have put his 101 game veteran out to pasture, the 30 year-old demonstrated his value in no uncertain terms.
He averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and a couple of assists across the three games shooting the three-ball at a healthy 35% (6/17) and now has 530 points in 89 games for the Tall Blacks.
Debutants.
In addition to the afore mentioned Samuel and Rodger, Auckland Tuatara wing Taki Fahrensohn played all three games in Manila as did Bay Hawks forward Hyrum Harris. New Franklin Bulls signing Jayden Bezzant and Canterbury Rams guard Joe Cook-Green had two outings while Brayden Inger played the final game against India.
The Southland Sharks wing marked his debut by knocking down his only shot – a corner three!
Potency at point guard.
The accomplished performances of Canterbury Rams point guard Taylor Britt raises the question, has the men’s national team ever been blessed with such depth in this position?
Tai Webster, Shea Ili and Jarrod Kenny are all proven performers on the international stage and Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa, who appears to be the next cab off the rank, is in sparkling form for South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Britt will probably have to bide his time before regular opportunities occur – perhaps trips away with the New Zealand 3×3 team to the Asia Cup and Commonwealth Games may be the 25 year-old’s next international assignments.
Rising stocks
Not too many of the squad that went to the Philippines would make a full strength Tall Blacks 12 if named tomorrow but Tom Vodanovich and Dion Prewster, in particular, certainly enhanced their reputations.
Over the three games Vodanovich scored the most points (61) and was second highest in rebounds (24), assists (10) and steals (5). He also demonstrated his improved accuracy from the three-point line making a team high 9 from 17 at 53%.
Prewster, who captained the team in Manila, was reliability and composure personified playing a team high 89 minutes, averaging 5 assists per outing and rock solid on defence.
The fate of Korea?
South Korea failed to arrive in Manila citing a Covid case(s) in their camp prior to departure. Given they were the only team not to show up in the World Cup Qualifying window, that involved 79 national teams playing across four continents the chances are FIBA will come down harshly on them.
Although no official word has come from FIBA the fact that on their website the Asia Qualifiers Group A table shows Korea as disqualified is not a good omen for the South Korean administration in Seoul.
We’ll meet again…..
The Tall Blacks won’t have to wait long before locking horns again with India and the Philippines.
The draw for the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup pits New Zealand in Group D alongside Lebanon, India and the Philippines.
Postponed from last year the stand-alone Asia Cup will be held in Indonesia from July 12-24 with another World Cup qualifying window earlier that month.
LACEY LOWDOWN 