Mt Albert Grammar School and Rosmini College remain unbeaten after Round 5 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier Grade competition.
Mt Albert were pushed all the way by St Kentigern College before eventually prevailing 89-87 in a game where fortunes ebbed and flowed throughout.
Midway through the third quarter the home team seemed headed for a comfortable win with a 10-point (59-49) lead but with Hunter Te Ratana bagging 13 points in the period St Kent’s halved the margin to trail 67-62 at three-quarter time.
St Kent’s carried momentum into the last period and quickly erased the deficit completely.
A long three from Merrick Rillstone, on his way to a 45-point haul, meant the scores were again tied with 3 minutes to play at 79 points apiece.
A 7 point swing in favour of the hosts ensued with Harri Coker-Grey and Romani Keith-Perau making telling drives.
However St Kent’s weren’t done as Rillstone and Te Ratana reduced the margin to a single point (87-86) with 13.7 seconds left on the clock.
Coker-Grey drew a foul and converted a pair of freebies to push the gap out to three points but with 2.7 seconds left St Kent’s guard Max Johnson earned himself a trip to the foul line.
He made the first then purposely rimmed the second to give his team the opportunity to gather an offensive rebound. Neither team could gather possession in a mad scramble under the basket – MAGS the victors in a close one.
Early on it was Rillstone and skipper George Turner making the running for St Kent’s with Louis Uri, Coker-Grey, Keith-Peraua, and Dante Matakatea to the fore for the hosts – the dual between junior internationals Rillstone and Matakatea fun to watch.
St Kentigern Coach Aaron Young, named as a Perth Wildcats Assistant Coach this week, will have been happy with the effort of his young charges while opposition coach Daryl Cartwright will be hoping to make it six straight wins in Monday night’s game at home to St Peter’s.
MAGS 89 – Coker-Grey 21, Keith-Peraua 21, Matakatea 16/9rebs, Uri 14/9reb, Kade Cartwright 11/10rebs
St Kentigern 87 – Rillstone 45, Turner 18, Te Ratana 17
Also sitting at 5-0 are Rosmini College who eventually overcame stubborn resistance at Rangitoto College before winning 97-86.
Rosmini won a free flowing opening period 29-27 but Rangi had the better of the second to lead 45-41 at half-time – Arnold Nam with 18 first half points for the hosts.
Rosmini put a brake on the Rangi scoring in the third and with the ‘J-Squad’ of Jameer Reed, Josh Batty and Josh Wyllie finding scoring form it was Rosmini with a handy three-quarter lead of 68-60.
Michael Ropotini, Joel Brown and Elyas Taher, headed to a game high 27 points, kept Rangi in the hunt but Batty’s sixth and seventh threes plus a combined 21 fourth quarter points from Reed and Wyllie eased Rosmini to the win.
Rangitoto 86 – Taher 27, Nam 20, Brown 19, Ropotini 9
Rosmini 97 – Reed 26, Wyllie 25, Batty 21, Liam Bates 16, Noah Johns 7
St Peter’s College remain without a win after falling to a 77-69 home defeat against Westlake Boys High.
The point of attack differed greatly for the opposing teams with Westlake centre Hadi Alshami leading their scoring while point guard Gus Dallow was the focal point of the St Peter’s offence with 25 points.
Alshami scored the first seven points for Westlake as they edged the opening frame 13-6.
The second quarter also went the way of the visitors as Alshami, Troy Supple and Noah Rasmussen extended the Lake lead to 38-21.
St Peter’s fought back in the third with Dallow and Bailey Smith denting the Westlake defence with 13 points and 8 points respectively – however Westlake were still in control ahead 65-52 with ten minutes to play.
The Saints also had the better of the fourth but were left to regret the slow start they made to the game.
St Peter’s 69 – Dallow 25, Smith 17, Bryan Marsters 7, Mario Nola 6
Westlake 77 – Alshami 27, Supple 16, Rasmussen 7, Braden Gibb 6, Harper Wilson 6
Eighty athletes attended the 13th Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp in Abu Dhabi last week with Ryan Hunt from Auckland Grammar School one of ten New Zealand participants.
The Grammar guard returned to domestic action to score 18 points and help his team to a convincing 92-73 home win against Sacred Heart College.
Hunt, Roera Tipene and Mikaere Tait were in the thick of the action as Grammar swept to a 32-15 quarter time lead.
Tyrell Cocker scored 8 second quarter points for Sacred Heart but with Hunt and Roman Ma’afu-Moerua dropping threes Grammar were in control at the main break leading 46-28.
Cocker, Tyler Wilson-Voyce and Preston Tuaputa kept Heart’s scoring on the move although George Milburn and Charl Hirschfield ensured the Grammar lead hovered around the 20-point lead through the third frame.
Little changed in the fourth – Hunter Balle and Tait exchanging threes to close proceedings.
AGS 92 – Milburn 20, Hunt 18, Howes 11, Ma’afu-Moerua 10, Tait 9, Tipene7
Sacred Heart 73 – Cocker 16, Tuaputa 14, Wilson-Voyce 10, Sam Snowdon 8, Jerome Jakeman 7, Matt Fautuaalii-Taia 7
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Standings
5-0 MAGS, Rosmini
3-2 St Kentigern, AGS
2-3 Westlake,
1-4 Sacred Heart, Rangitoto
0-5 St Peter’s
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