Headed into the school holiday break Northcote College kept their Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Senior A unbeaten record intact with an 81-72 win at Kelston Boys High School.
There were other Round 9 victories for Dilworth School, Manurewa High School and Mt Roskill Grammar School.
Kelston pushed the league leaders Northcote all the way but will rue their poor free throw shooting making just 10 from 31 from the charity stripe.
A couple of threes from each team in the opening frame went the way of Real Wheaton and Isiah Tulisi for the hosts and Shunta Shinzaki and Tyler Aitchison for Northcote who led 23-22.
Northcote also won the second period but in a more decisive fashion. Aaron Sievert’s 11 points and half a dozen from Tane Cook saw them to a 44-34 half-time lead.
Kelston came out strong in the third as Wheaton, Rodman Fuaivaa, Alec Phillips and Sam Tuitupou came up with scores – the deficit 68-56 at three-quarter time.
Fuaivaa and Co kept the pressure on in the fourth but those missed free throws and 7 fourth quarter points from Cook were too big a hurdle to overcome.
Kelston 72 – Wheaton 18,, Fuaivaa 18, Tuitupou 14/14rebs, Tulisi 8, Phillips 6, Exodus Tupai 6
Northcote 81 – Sievert 31, Cook18, Shinzaki 10, Tzion Manoa 6
Dilworth School were beaten by a single point in overtime in Round 8 but bounced back in Round 9 to win an equally tight encounter against Liston College 73-70.
Trailing 59-54 at three-quarter time Dilworth upped their defensive effort keeping Liston to 11 points in the fourth quarter.
At the offensive end Ezrah Eagle did most the heavy lifting scoring 13 points in the fourth, and with Kingston Kailahi-Aso adding valuable points the hosts won the final stanza 19-11 to claim the win.
It was all square in the first quarter at 16 points each – Liston’s Jeydin Ale with a couple of triples while George Hardie, on debut, had 10 points for the hosts.
Liston enjoyed the richer pickings in the second – Rasheed Ieremia and Ronnie Juan the main suppliers in a 19-point quarter that carried Liston to a 42-37 lead.
Hardie, headed to a game high 26 points, made half of those in the third while Dhon Lao’s 10 points kept Liston in front at three-quarter time (59-54).
In a game of fluctuating fortunes it was Eagle that had the major impact in the fourth – Dilworth soaring to win number three on the season.
Dilworth 73 – Hardie 26, Eagle 19, Mahe 12, Nepia Moore 9, Kailahi-Aso 9
Liston 70 – Ieremia 21, Lao 14, Ale 13, Juan 10
Manurewa High School got a much needed win defeating Selwyn College 62-59.
It was a game in which the lead changed on a number of occasions – the closeness of the contest was well illustrated by the quarter time scores (14-14: 26-28: 43-44).
Manurewa had problems containing Ashton Muraahi – his inside/outside game earning him a game high 23 points. Strong contributions for the hosts also came from James MacDonald and Elijah Vaealiki.
One point down at three-quarter time Muraahi scored 8 fourth quarter points. However Manurewa had 6 points in the fourth from Richard Campbell and 4 points each from Isachar Patti and their leading scorer Jarell Tuhega to edge them to a much needed win.
Selwyn 59 – Muraahi 23, MacDonald 9, Vaealiki 8, Luca Vietri 6
Manurewa 62 – Tuhega 19, Campbell 16, Pati 12, Annun Leng 7
Mt Roskill Grammar, with double figure contributions from five players ran away with the contest against Avondale College recording a 120-36 victory.
The opening salvo from Roskill created a 22-7 lead which was extended to a match defining 52-18 by half-time.
Mt Roskill 120 – Daniel Greenaway 31, Josh Wadams 16, Haisem Osman 13, Wai Tonga 13, Mitchell Greenaway 13
Avondale 36 – AJ 9, Nate 7, Liam 5
To take advantage of Dynamic Sport’s generous 15% discount offer for Lacey Lowdown readers, use promocode LACEYLOWDOWN at the checkout.
View the outstanding Dynamic Sport online catalogue here: https://dynamicsport.co.nz
Boy’s Senior A Standings
9-0 Northcote
7-2 Mt Roskill
6-3 Liston
4-5 Kelston, Selwyn
3-5 Dilworth
2-7 Manurewa
0-8 Avondale
LACEY LOWDOWN 