LACEY LOWDOWN

The 9th Round wrap of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Senior A games is brought to you in conjunction with Dynamic Sport NZ.

St Peter’s College compiled a massive last quarter to clinch a 94-90 victory at Northcote College.

The exciting contest was one befitting the top two teams in the competition, the result undecided until the final minute of play.

Northcote, paced by Aaron Sievert had a 79-69 lead at three-quarter time but in the closing ten minutes the sharp shooter went scoreless and his team were restricted to just 10 points.

In contrast St Peter’s piled on 24 with Gus Dallow making 8 points including some clutch free-throws. Scott Errey, Milan Tolich and Andrei Manio also made critical plays as the Saints marched away with the win and remain favourites to claim the regular season title.

Northcote started strongly building a 28-20 opening quarter lead – 9 points from Shunta Shinzaki in that tally.

Luke Thompson dropped a handy three for St Peter’s in the second but Sievert rifled in six of his seven triples in the period as the lead ballooned to 56-38.

St Peter’s were much improved after the interval – threes from Tolich, Sula and Dallow punctuating Errey’s 14 points meant the Northcote lead was reduced to 10 points.

The momentum was with St Peter’s and there it stayed through the closing minutes.

Northcote 90 – Sievert 37, Dontaye Sowman-Faaee 15, Shinzaki 13, Tom Bates 11, Tane Cook 9

St Peter’s 94 – Errey 32, Manio 13, Dallow 12, Toby Cox 10, Tolich 7, Bailey Smith 6

In an equally tight game, also won by the away team, Mt Roskill Grammar clawed their way back from a big opening quarter deficit to almost steal the win against Manurewa High School.

Manurewa were up 26-11 at the end of the opening period – Ryan Ancha scored the first 10 of Manurewa’s points, Alex Hughes following that with eight.

Mitchell Greenaway, Haisem Osman and Kees Mataroria stepped up the tempo for the home side in the second but Manurewa were still in control at half-time with a 42-30 lead.

Hughes knocked down a three after the break before Roskill’s Ryan Aramoana, Zachan Kemen and Mitch Greenaway combined for four triples – the Manurewa lead reduced to two points (52-50) at the three-quarter mark.

Aramoana and the Greenaway’s kept the score ticking over for the hosts but it was a massive 14 points from Roskill’s Richard Campbell, in the closing ten minutes, that settled the tie.

Mt Roskill 70 – Greenaway 20, Daniel Greenaway 13, Aramoana 11, Zachan Kemen 7, Osman 6, Ngawaka Rakete 6

Manurewa 74 – Richard Campbell 21, Hughes 17, Ancha 16, Jarell Tuhega 12

* Congratulations to Manurewa High guard William Passi who is currently playing for New Zealand at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Spain.

The result of the Avondale College v Aorere College game is unknown at this stage.

The Dilworth v Macleans College fixture was postponed to a later date.

Standings:

9-0 St Peter’s

7-2 Northcote

6-3 Manurewa

5-3 Avondale

3-5 Aorere

3-6 Mt Roskill

1-7 Dilworth

0-8 Macleans

The 9th Round wrap of the Auckland Schools Girls Premier Grade games, brought to you by Northern Kāhu, saw wins for Baradene College, Saint Kentigern College and Epsom Girls Grammar.

There may have been a late switch of venue, and players absent, but the two teams still put on a thriller – Epsom Girls Grammar getting up 61-60 over Mt Albert Grammar.

MAGS were quickest out the blocks thanks to three triples from Danae Tait – ahead 19-13 at quarter time.

Both Draun Forbes and Leah Patuwairua drained triples in the second quarter although 8 points in the period from April Liu kept MAGS ahead at the break (33-31).

Epsom gained a slight ascendancy in the third frame as Talia Vea and Kiki Reti added to the good work of Forbes and Leah Patuwairua – the visitors 49-46 ahead at three-quarter time.

Tiger-Lily Cocker-Lemalie made shots to reduce the arrears, Liu continued her points haul and Tait dropped her fourth three as MAGS searched for the win. However Forbes and Patuwairua, along with Andrea Ape-Paia, did just enough to claim the win in the tightest of finishes.

The victory does Epsom’s top-4 chances no harm at all.

MAGS 60 – Liu 29, Tait 14, Cocker-Lemalie 11

Epsom 61 – Patuwairua 27, Forbes 22 (6 x 3-pointers), Vea 4

Nine first quarter points from Sharmaine Tapling, on her way to what I think was a career best 31, propelled Saint Kentigern College to a 20-13 first quarter lead against Carmel College.

Opposing captain Jemma Cammell led from the front – her 14 first half points meant Carmel were well in contention at the interval trailing 39-32.

St Kent’s regained the initiative in the third with 22 points as Tapling, Ashleigh Tuumaialu and Anamia Rangihaeata went to work at the offensive end.

Spirited resistance from Cammell, Zahara Tibbotts and Annie Gaylard saw Carmel win the final quarter but it wasn’t enough to claw back the earlier deficit.

St Kent’s 77 – Tapling 31, Tuumaialu 24, Maia Mealamu 8, Rangihaeata 6

Carmel 66 – Cammell 28, Zahara Tibbotts 12, Annie Gaylard 10, Ruby Railton 6, Imogen O’Rourke 6

Mela Andrews knocked down an early three for Rangitoto College but it was visitors Baradene College that took the early lead – Summer Faleafa and Deyna Topia sharing 17 of the 23 in the opening period as the visitors gained an 8-point buffer.

Harriet Burrell was dominating the boards, particularly at the offensive end, and she moved efficiently into double figures (both points and rebounds) as Baradene increased their advantage in the third to lead 57-29.

Tamsin McAsey scored a couple of baskets for Rangi in the second but they faced an uphill battle at half-time trailing 34-21.

Poppy Cavanagh-Briggs joined the Baradene scoring spree in the third before Zaara Sain became Rangi’s leading scorer in the final quarter – Baradene going on to claim a comfortable road win.

Rangitoto 41 – Zaara Sain 10, McAsey 7, Andrews 6

Baradene 72 – Faleafa 20, Topia 18, Burrell 18, Poppy Cavanagh-Briggs 9

The Mt Albert Grammar v Rangitoto College and Westlake v St Mary’s fixtures will be played at a later date.

Congratulations to New Zealand U17 team members Waimanu Clarken (Mt Albert Grammar), Amy Pateman (Westlake) and Ritorya Tamilo (Baradene) who helped NZ to a fourth place finish at the  FIBA Asia Cup in Jordan last week.

The team will now prepare for the U17 Women’s FIBA World Cup to be played in Hungary, July 9-17.

Current Standings:

8-0 Westlake 

8-1 Baradene

5-3 MAGS

5-4 St Kentigern, Epsom

2-6 St Mary’s

1-7 Rangitoto

0-9 Carmel

The Mt Albert Grammar v Rangitoto College fixture will be played at a later date.

Round 9 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier competition, brought to you in conjunction with Dynamic Sport New Zealand saw wins for Auckland Grammar, Westlake Boys High and Rangitoto College.

In the game of the round Auckland Grammar edged Mount Albert Grammar 79-71.

Ahead 59-45 at three-quarter time, and 17 up soon after following Blake Manning’s triple, Auckland appeared to be headed for a comfortable win.

However, led by guard Harri Coker-Grey, Mt Albert stormed back into the contest with a 17-7 run. Louis Uri initiated the comeback, and continued by Ethan Lay, will Leger and Coker-Grey, Mt Albert could sniff victory.

Under pressure Cody Brown and Josh Muggleston made important scores as Auckland held their composure to claim the win and maintain second spot on the Premier ladder.

Auckland had made the better start forging a 21-14 lead in the opening spell with Muggleston the main contributor. 

Coker-Grey, headed for a game high 24 points, made 8 of those in the second quarter although Brown bettered that with 10 as Auckland entered the half-time break with a 38-29 lead.

Threes from Ryan Hunt and Muggleston and further points from Manning increased the margin to double figures ahead of that Mt Albert resurgence.

AGS 79 – Muggleston 21, Brown 19, Jackson Kiss 11, Manning 11, Theo Brothers 9
MAGS 71 – Coker-Grey 24, Kade Cartwright 15, Leger 13 & 21rebs, Uri 7 & 11rebs, Lay 6

In a low scoring defensive tussle Rangitoto College ground out a 55-35 home win against Sacred Heart College.

Unlike many previous games this season Sacred Heart were able to keep pace with their opponent in the opening exchanges.

However the inside presence of Tautoko Wynyard and Jacob Fotu was difficult to contain as Rangi established a 12-point buffer by half-time (32-20).

Threes from Jimmy Kim and Fotu helped stretch the lead to 46-27 by three-quarter time.

Josh Stewart was a beacon of hope for Heart with his team high 16 points. 

Rangitoto 55 – Fotu 19pts & 12rebs, Wynyard 17pts & 20rebs, Joel Brown 10, Cooper Alan 4

Sacred Heart 35 – Stewart 16, Dalton Dennis 6

Logging 34 points in the opening quarter Westlake Boys High went on to defeat Liston College 114-59. Hamza Zahran scored a career high 46 points for Westlake while Dhon Lao tallied a team high 15 points for Liston.

Westlake 114 – Zahran 46, Daniel Ottenhof 19, Rocco Chang 19, Braden Gibb 7, Jonty Strawbridge 7, Andre Bautista 6

Liston 59 – Lao 15, Seb Alan 9, Marvellous Michael 6, Landon Smith 6, Rasheed Ieremia 6

A reminder that St Kentigern beat Rosmini 110-94 in a fixture played earlier in the week.

Current Standings:

8-1 Rosmini

6-2 AGS

6-3 Westlake

5-4 MAGS

4-4 Rangitoto

4-5 St Kentigern

1-8 Sacred Heart

0-9 Liston

*The Rangitoto v AGS fixture will be played in Term three.