Round 5 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier competition, brought to you in conjunction with Dynamic Sport New Zealand, produced wins for Auckland Grammar, Sacred Heart College and Rosmini College. The Saint Kentigern College v Mt Albert Grammar game was postponed to a later date.
In the battle between the two winless teams Sacred Heart College were able to hold off Liston College to record a first win of the season (86-74).
Sacred Heart got off to a strong start behind the scoring of Joshua Stewart, Adam Davies and Matthew Fautuaalii, ending the first spell 32-16 ahead. Heart continued to build on their lead in the second finishing the half 54-30 ahead and appearing to be cruising to victory.
However Liston, with Manu Tuaere, Deon Helu and Rasheed Ieremia leading the charge, had other ideas. The trio scored all but three of Liston’s third quarter points as the deficit was reduced to 70-51.
Liston still had unfinished business, a late charge trimming the Heart lead to just 6 points. However, Joshua Tengblad made critical plays at both ends of the court to enable Heart coach Mike Robinson and his charges to celebrate a deserved first Prems win.
Sacred Heart 86 – Stewart 24, Davies 14, Fautuaalii 13, Tengblad 10, Preston Tuaputa 7, Dalton Dennis 6
Liston 74 – Tuaere 20, Ieremia 17, Marvellous Michael 10, Landon Smith 9, Dhon Lao 7, Deon Helu 6
Down 13 points with seven minutes to play Auckland Grammar produced a blistering 29-9 finish to beat Westlake Boys 81-74 on their home court.
Josh Muggleston, headed to a game high 28 points, Cody Brown and Blake Manning were each major contributors as the hosts dominated the closing minutes in a topsy-turvy encounter.
AGS took the opening 10 minutes, Muggleston’s late three giving them a 25-19 advantage.
That preceded a dominant second spell from Westlake – Hamza Zahran’s 8 points propelling the visitors to a 39-36 half-time lead.
That lead was extended further in the third as Daniel Ottenhoff, Rocco Chang and Zahran went to work – Lake up 57-50 with ten minutes to play.
Malachi Book pushed the lead out into double figures early in the fourth but from there it was all Grammar.
AGS 81 – Muggleston 28, Brown 21, Manning 15, Jackson Kiss 7, Theo Brothers 6
Westlake 74 – Chang 20, Zahran 19, Ottenhoff 13, Ned Shearer 7, Book 6
The closest game of the night was at Rosmini College where in an attritional defensive battle the hosts defended their home court to edge Rangitoto College 62-59.
The contest went down to the last possession of the game. Sideline possession, with 5 seconds left on the clock, Rangitoto were unable to get off a clean shot enabling Rosmini to secure the rebound and record a fifth straight win.
A low scoring opening ten minutes was edged 14-12 by Rangitoto – Kaia Kemp with 8 of those.
The outstanding Charlie Dalton, on his way to a game high 25 points, had 14 points by the interval but Kemp was also in double figures and Ropotini very close – Rangi ahead 31-26 at the main break.
Kane Murphy landed triples either side of half-time and when he nailed another late in the third Rosmini had its first lead of the game. Kemp ensured that was short lived – Rangi 46-45 to the good at three-quarter time.
There were six lead changes in the first five minutes of the final period, a corner three from Arnold Nam prompting a Rosmini timeout with Rangi 58-54 ahead.
Murphy connected with his fourth triple on the resumption and with Zion Anderson scoring inside on consecutive possessions Rosmini were three ahead inside the final two minutes. Jacob Fotu earned a trip to the foul line but Rangi were held to just a single point in the final four minutes as they slipped to a second consecutive three-point defeat.
Rosmini 62 – Dalton 25, Murphy 14, Zion Anderson 8, Noah Johns 7
Rangitoto 59 – Kemp 16, Ropotini 14, Nan 7, Jacob Fotu 6
The New Zealand U17 Men’s National Team are playing at the FIBA Asia Cup in Doha, Qatar this week. The 13-team Tournament, postponed from 2021 due to Covid, doubles as a Qualifying Tournament for the U17 Men’s FIBA World Cup to be played in Spain in July – the top four teams in Doha will qualify for the Word Cup.
There is strong Auckland representation playing for New Zealand with
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) donning the black singlet.
The boys play their first game on Sunday June 12 (8.15pm NZT) against Kazakhstan. Live streaming and stats will be available on this link:
https://www.fiba.basketball/asia/u16/2022
Current Standings:
5-0 Rosmini
4-1 Westlake
3-1 AGS
2-2 Rangitoto
2-1 St Kentigern, MAGS
1-4 Sacred Heart
0-5 Liston
*The Rangitoto v AGS and St Kentigern v MAGS games will be played later in June.
LACEY LOWDOWN 