In a Senior A Round 8 catch up game on the north shore, Northcote College defeated Aorere College 84-66 to stay withing touching distance of league leaders St Peter’s College – the two meet in a top of the table clash on Friday.
Northcote made a fine start rattling up a 28-17 lead courtesy of Aaron Sievert’s 14 points.
Franklyne Gordon scored 13 first half points for Aorere but also managed to foul out before the break which saw Northcote ahead 45-32 at the interval; Shunta Shinzaki scored 13 of his 19 points in the second quarter.
Chris Gordon picked up his fifth foul in the third to join his brother on the bench leaving the bulk of the scoring in the hands of Moroki Tauhara. He responded in style with 11 third quarter points but half a dozen from Tom Bates and a couple of threes from Shinzaki meant the hosts had a 17-point buffer (70-53) headed into the last period.
The scoring dipped in the fourth but there was time for Tanielu Taito and Marley Rennie to exchange threes.
Northcote 84 – Sievert 21, S Shinzaki 19, T Bates 13, Rico MacPherson 7, Tzion Manoa 6, Ethan Ring 6
Aorere 66 – M Tauhara 20, F Gordon 13, C Gordon 12, T Taito 12, E Eletise 6
Just a single point ahead at three-quarter time (78-77) St Kentigern College dominated the final period to inflict a first defeat of the season on Rosmini College, winning 110-94.
An Auckland Secondary School Prem’s Round 9 game, brought forward from Friday, saw St Kent’s make a heady 15 from 31 (48%) three-point shots.
Dontae Russo-Nance scored 15 points in the final period with a pair of threes apiece from Cooper Lepou and George Turner capping off the win.
Turner, headed to the FIBA U17 World Cup with the New Zealand U17 team this week, scored 11 points, Merrick Rillstone scored 17 while Russo-Nance scored his customary 50 points – well 55 actually. Big ups for Lepou who demonstrated his potential by making 6 from 8 threes for a Premier best 20 points.
For Rosmini, Kane Murphy made eight triples on his way to a career high 42 points, Charlie Dalton notched 24 points with Tom Beattie wading in with 23.
St Kent’s won the opening period 22-21 and extended their lead to 53-48 at the break – Murphy making 16 points on the bounce, including four treys, for Rosmini.
Lepou made 8 third quarter points for the hosts but more damage from Murphy helped the visitors to move within a point at the three-quarter mark.
Dalton and Beattie made scores in the final period but it was one that Russo-Nance and St Kent’s had much the better of.
Dontae Russo-Nance posted his second 50-point game of the week, and his third of the season, but it wasn’t quite enough to secure St Kentigern College the win, beaten 98-96 in overtime by Mt Albert Grammar School.
In a Round 5 Auckland Prems makeup game MAGS looked destined to secure the win in regulatory time as they held an 88-82 lead with a shade under a minute to play. However a turnoves and missed scoring opportunities opened the door for the hosts. Merrick Rillstone drilled a couple of free-throws before Russo-Nance scored in traffic and then unleashed a pass to give Rillstone an open layup to tie the ball game.
A similar scenario ensued in overtime. Luke Matthews only scored four points in the game but critically they were scored in the extra five minutes, his two free-throws giving MAGS a 98-91 lead. When a Will Leger put back found the net MAGS were 7 points ahead with 1:07 to play and surely the win assured.
Not conceding defeat without a fight Rillstone made a triple to reduce the margin and when Russo-Nance scored his 54th and 55th points there were 38 seconds to play and the margin just two points (98-96).
MAGS sensibly ran down the clock on the next possession but couldn’t add to their lead giving the St Kent’s time to conjure up a game winner.
They almost succeeded getting off two attempts in the closing seconds but both hit the back of the ring to deny the hosts a second get out of jail performance.
Earlier MAGS had won a high scoring opening quarter 28-24 with three triples from Victor Keil helping them to a 47-43 half-time lead.
Harri Coker-Grey and Kade Cartwright combined for 18 points in the third as MAGS stretched their advantage to 72-61.
Jack Foley scored the first points of the final quarter for St Kent’s but thereafter it was the Rillstone & Russo-Nance show as they combined for the host’s remaining 33 points and very nearly steal the win.
St Kentigern 96 – Russo-Nance 55, Rillstone 28, Foley 6, Cooper Lepou 5
MAGS 98 – Coker-Grey 28/6assists, Keil 24, Cartwright 17/10rebs, Leger 11/19rebs, Louis Uri 10
Current Premier Grade Standings:
8-0 Rosmini
5-3 Westlake
5-2 AGS
5-3 MAGS
4-3 Rangitoto
3-5 St Kentigern
1-7 Sacred Heart
0-8 Liston
*The Rangitoto v AGS fixture will be played at a later date.
The 8th Round wrap of the Auckland Schools Girl’s Senior A games, brought to you in conjunction with Northern Kāhu saw wins for Massey High, Mt Roskill Grammar, Takapuna Grammar and Manurewa High School.
Massey High won the dual of two top-four teams defeating Northcote College 66-58.
Opponents Allyah Leusogi-Ape and Lizzie May dropped a pair of threes apiece as the opening period was tied 19-all.
Zhoey Tilby-Woods got in on the 3-point action in the second but Lily Morgan and Nikki Gear edged Northcote to a 33-32 half-time lead.
Massey had the better of the third – 8 points each from Kortni Waikiki and Allyah L-A gave them a 51-46 advantage.
Nikki Gear was the main points provider for Northcote in the final period but Cyntalia Schuster and Tahlya Waikiki kept Massey in the ascendancy.
Massey 66 – Leusogi-Ape 24, K Waikiki 15, Schuster 14, T Waikiki 7
Northcote 58 – May 15, N Gear 14, Morgan 14, DJ Hannah 8, Lisa Gear 6
Amy McKenzie (24 points) and Bailey Flavell (26 points) were at their destructive best as Takapuna Grammar retained pole position on the Senior A ladder with a 72-46 victory over Auckland Girls Grammar.
The pair had all but two of Takapuna’s points in the opening quarter as they established a 20-12 lead.
The duo also did the bulk of the damage in the second as the advantage advanced to 36-25.
Fuschia Traill, Harmony Hurt and Faith Hurt provided the major resistance for AGGS but with Manaia Watson and Mariah Parker adding scoring punch Takapuna added to their lead in every quarter.
Shiloh Caffery scored the first 12 points for Avondale and had 17 by half-time as the visitors trailed 35-23. Nellie Ioane had 13 at the break for Roskill.
Bree Ioane nailed a couple of threes in the third frame but Avondale enjoyed the better of the exchanges – Caffery and Hayley Abbott helping trim the deficit to single digits (47-38).
Six fourth quarter points from Adra Kaufusi and a stingy defence ensured Mount Roskill would claim the win.
Mt Roskill 62 – B Ioane 22, Kaufusi 17, N Ioane 16, Havana Laea 4
Avondale 44 – Caffery 27, Hayley Abbott 8 *The scoresheet showed Avondale #6 scored 6 points. Unfortunately no player is listed as wearing that number.
With Shirley Tuilimu (19 points) the biggest beneficiary, Manurewa High School profited from their transition offence to defeat One Tree Hill College 81-34.
The strong inside presence of Sela Uluheua and Mykah Togiatu enabled Manurewa to lead 42-16 at half-time and 63-20 at three-quarter time before closing out the win.
Manurewa 81 – S Tuilimu 19, S Uluheua 15, Alyssa Uluheua 13 (3x3PG), M Togiatu 12
One Tree Hill 34 – Jesse-Lee Upu 7, Milla Eckford 6, Rosetta Kivalu 6, Melaia Tuisuva 6
The 8th Round wrap of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Senior A games, brought to you in conjunction with Dynamic Sport NZ, saw wins for Manurewa High, Avondale College and St Peter’s College.
Jimitose Iosia-Sipeli continued his good scoring form, amassing 33 points as Avondale College edged Mt Roskill Grammar 62-60.
He scored 14 points in the opening quarter to take Avondale to an 18-13 lead.
Alfred Kerr nailed threes either side of quarter time, the scores tied a 31 apiece at half-time.
Mitchell Greenaway scored 11 points in the third period although Kabir Bhargava and Iosia-Sipeli kept Avondale in touch, trailing 50-49 with a quarter to play.
That quarter was a tense, low scoring affair. Alfred Kerr, Mitchell and Daniel Greenaway made scores for Roskill but it wasn’t quite enough as a triple from Connor Gleeson and further points from Kuldeep Khakh, Bhargava and that man Iosia-Sipeli edged Avondale to victory.
Despite being without William Passi, away with the Asia cup medal winning NZ U17 national team, Manurewa High School secured a 94-62 home win against Macleans College at Bruce Pulman Arena on Monday night.
Six points apiece from Richard Campbell and Alex Hughes enabled Manurewa to jump out to a 25-15 lead.
Levi Smyth tallied the same number in the second as Macleans fought back – 39-32 down at half-time.
Gavin Lin and Declan Puffy dropped threes, and with Smyth scoring another half dozen, Macleans were well in the hunt at the three quarter mark trailing 63-51.
Manurewa found another gear in the fourth – 12 points from Campbell, plus threes from Ryan Ancha and Jarell Tuhega, enabled the hosts to establish clear water between the two teams and ease Manurewa to a fifth win of the season.
The Aorere College vNorthcote College fixture will be played on Monday June 27.
Congratulations to William Passi (Manurewa High School), a member of the New Zealand U17 Men’s National Team that won a bronze medal at the Asian Champs in Doha at the weekend. In addition, they have qualified for the U17 Men’s FIBA World Cup to be played in Spain in July.
The 8th Round wrap of the Auckland Schools Girls Premier Grade games, brought to you by Northern Kāhu, saw wins for Westlake Girls High, Baradene College and Epsom Girls Grammar.
At Westlake Girls the 99-52 scoreline suggests a lop-sided contest. However, it doesn’t do justice to the Saint Kentigern effort, the visitors causing the league leaders some problems, particularly in the first half.
Maia Bennett gave St Kent’s an early lead as the home side, combating the enthusiastic defense of Ashleigh Tuumaialu, Maia Mealamu and Sharmaine Tapling, were forced into errors.
Westlake overcame their initial hesitancy to lead 24-12 at quarter time.
Tapling was the first player into double figures but Izzy Pugh and Mackenzie Chatfield soon followed suit as the Lake advantage stretched to 48-29 at half-time.
Rebecca Moors enjoyed an excellent third quarter, the Westlake forward added steals, blocks and rebounds to 9 points in the period.
The tireless Tuumaialu scored 8 final quarter points for St Kent’s but it was Chatfield that had the final say – a pair of threes took her to a season best 36 points.
On her way to a season high 35 points Deyna Topia posted 15 in the opening quarter as Baradene College thundered to a 23-10 first quarter home court lead against Carmel College.
Carmel skipper Jemma Cammell took her tally to double figures but the free scoring Topia, Harriett Burrell and Summer Faleafa took Baradene to a 46-20 half-time lead.
Millie Lloyd scored a couple of baskets for Carmel after the break before Baradene resumed their dominance. A triple from Amelia Nathan, plus multiple scores from Emily Burrows and Faleafa, stretched the Baradene lead further.
Kodee Williams-Sefo scored a season best 36 points for St Mary’s College but that outstanding performance was trumped by Epsom Girls Grammar who enjoyed a 31-point debut effort from Leah Patuwairua, to carve out a 79-63 victory.
Patuwairua had 18 points by half time, Williams-Sefo 15 for the hosts who trailed 27-23 at half-time.
Epsom put their collective foot down in the third scoring 34 points in the period – Maya Fowler leading the way with 15 of those.
Tamzin Jakeman moved into double figures for St Mary’s but Ivy Tino played a good hand as Epsom recorded a fourth win of the season.
The Mt Albert Grammar v Rangitoto College fixture was postponed to a later date.
Best of luck to New Zealand U17 team members Waimanu Clarken (Mt Albert Grammar), Amy Pateman (Westlake) and Ritorya Tamilo (Baradene) who head off to the FIBA Asia Cup in Jordan this week.
Current Standings:
8-0 Westlake
7-1 Baradene
5-2 MAGS
4-4 St Kentigern, Epsom
2-6 St Mary’s
1-6 Rangitoto
0-8 Carmel
The Mt Albert Grammar v Rangitoto College fixture will be played at a later date.
The Round 8 roundup of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier competition, brought to you in conjunction with Dynamic Sport New Zealand saw wins for Mt Albert Grammar, Auckland Grammar, Rosmini College and a remarkable encounter between Westlake Boys and St Kentigern College.
With time expiring and the scoreboard showing the Westlake lead at 98-94 you could be forgiven thinking a high scoring thriller had finished. In fact, that was the three-quarter time score and another 69 points would be scored in a pulsating final ten minutes – St Kentigern College winning an epic dual 132-129.
It’s a scoreline usually reserved for All-Star games and for much of the contest that is what the game resembled. Questionable defence possibly – but eye catching shot making definitely!
Rocco Chang, Hamza Zahran and Daniel Ottenhoff for the hosts, Merrick Rillstone and Hunter Te Ratana, for the visitors drilled shots from all angles but nothing quite matched the efforts of Dontae Russo-Nance as he racked up a staggering 57 points.
Step-backs, put backs, fadeaways, the St Kent’s guard displayed his full arsenal of scoring options – the most absurd a three-quarter court Hail-Mary on the half-time buzzer that didn’t appear to travel more than 10 feet off the ground until it found the net.
The score at that stage favoured St Kent’s (70-66), little did we know the pace wasn’t to slacken.
Westlake’s ploy to double-team Russo-Nance paid dividends for a while – they regained the initiative to lead 87-78 in the middle of the third and 98-94 at its conclusion.
A Ned Shearer put back followed by a Chang drive gave the home side a 127-119 lead with just over two minutes to play but within a flash Rillstone and Russo-Nance trimmed the margin to two points with 1:13 on the clock.
A heads up play saw Te Ratana tie the scores at 129 apiece with 50 seconds to play.
Westlake failed to score on the next possession enabling Russo-Nance to draw a foul and score the go-ahead points from the foul-line.
Westlake still had 6 seconds to tie or win the game but a botched in-bounds play allowed Rillstone to garner a rebound and convert a following a foul.
A remarkable 261 points scored – Prems basketball’s version of T20 cricket could catch on!!
St Kentigern 132 – Russo-Nance 57, Rillstone 34, Te Ratana 18, Max Johnson 10, Cooper Lepou 8
Kade Cartwright produced a career best 30 points to catapult Mount Albert Grammar to a 66-62 home win against Rangitoto College.
Eight points from Tautoko Wynyard enabled Rangitoto to jump out to a 17-13 lead in the first ten minutes but with MAGS edging a low scoring second by the same margin the scores were tied at 24 points each at half-time.
The scoring picked up after the break – Baxter Riley made 9 third quarter points for Rangi.
However, the MAGS shooters began to find their range – Harri Coker-Grey dropped a triple in a prelude to Cartwright making a trio of treys as the home team edged the third frame 20-16 in a spell that would prove decisive.
Wynyard scored a further ten points in the fourth but another barrage of threes from Cartwright, with assistance from Louis Uri, saw MAGS home.
The result means that MAGS join Rangitoto in fourth spot on the Prems ladder with an identical 4-3 record.
MAGS 66 – Cartwright 30 (7/16 3PG), Coker-Grey 14/7assists, Uri 7, Will Leger 6/8rebs Rangitoto 62 – T Wynyard 20, Jimmy Kim 10, Riley 9, Michael Ropotini 9, Jed Barlow 6
A customary slow start hindered Sacred Heart College as they fell behind 20-10 at quarter time against Rosmini College.
Zion Anderson, on his way to a season best 20 points, was in double digits by the second quarter. A pair of threes from Tom Beattie, and a single from Charlie Dalton helped the visitors kick on to a 45-29 half-time advantage.
Six straight points from Josh Tengblad, and a pair of scores from Dalton Dennis, highlighted an improved showing from Sacred Heart in the third quarter although they still trailed 63-46 ahead of the fourth after Josh Batty had landed a triple for Rozza.
Beattie an Anderson converted from beyond the arc before the consistent Josh Stewart took his personal haul past 20 as Heart made a small, but not match defining, dent in the Rosmini lead.
Sacred Heart 66 – Stewart 24, Tengblad 13, Dennis 12, Matt Fautuaalii 10
Rosmini 79 –Beattie 24, Anderson 20, Dalton 15, Kane Murphy 9, Jameer Reed 6
Sebastian Alan made a couple of early scores for Liston College before Cody Brown and Josh Muggleston took charge of proceedings for Grammar.
Rasheed Ieremie and Jackson Kiss provided double figure contributions for their respective teams – Mikaere Tait’s brace of threes putting the finishing touches to a solid Grammar victory.
AGGS 84 –Muggleston 30, Jackson Kiss 17, Cody Brown 8, Mikaere Tait 6
Congratulations to Aucklanders Julius Halaifonua (Rosmini College), Dante Matakatea (Mt Albert Grammar), William Passi (Manurewa High School), Brody Perry (Pukekohe High), George Turner (St Kentigern College), Kalid Petzer and Will Shortt (both Auckland Grammar)
All are members of the New Zealand U17 Men’s National Team that won a bronze medal at the Asian Champs in Doha. In addition, the team have qualified for the U17 Men’s FIBA World Cup to be played in Spain in July.
Current Standings:
8-0 Rosmini
5-3 Westlake
5-2 AGS
4-3 MAGS, Rangitoto
3-4 St Kentigern
1-7 Sacred Heart
0-8 Liston
*The Rangitoto v AGS and St Kentigern v MAGS fixtures will be played at a later date.
Carmel College defaulted the fixture against Westlake Girls.
Best of luck to New Zealand U17 team members Waimanu Clarken (Mt Albert Grammar), Amy Pateman (Westlake) and Ritorya Tamilo (Baradene) who head off to the FIBA Asia Cup this week.
LACEY LOWDOWN 