In the final round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade regular season there were victories for Auckland Grammar, St Peter’s College, Rosmini College and Westlake Boys.
Mt Albert Grammar School’s unbeaten run came to a halt at 12 games after suffering a 62-60 home loss to Rosmini College.
The top two teams on the Premier ladder went toe to toe with never more than six points separating the two sides.
Dante Matakatea opened proceedings with a two handed flush – the NZ U17 rep scored 9 points as MAGS opened up a 16-13 lead.
Threes from Chris Wyllie and Harlan Roudon gave Rosmini their first lead of the game although that drew a quick response from Louis Uri and Kade Cartwright.
With 15 points to his name MAGS unfortunately lost the services of Matakatea, with a shoulder injury, shortly before the interval – a Josh Batty corner three giving Rosmini a 34-33 lead on the stroke of half-time.
Uncompromising defence dominated the third frame with neither side able to find any offensive fluidity. Zion Anderson scored a couple of baskets for the visitors but a pair of trade mark inside buckets from Louis Uri gave MAGS a 46-43 three-quarter time lead.
Scores from Uri and Romani Keith-Peraua enabled MAGS to open up a six point lead before a Rosmini 9-0 run, initiated by Liam Bates, clawed back the lead.
An And-1 play from Harri Coker-Grey was countered by a Wyllie three – Rosmini 56-55 ahead.
Again Wyllie and Coker Grey exchanged baskets, ahead of Roudon and Keith-Peraua doing the same – the scores locked at 60 points apiece with 2:10 to play.
Both sides had scoring opportunities in the final seconds but it was Anderson that produced the winning play to deny MAGS a 13th straight win.
MAGS 60 – Matakatea 15, Coker-Grey 14/4steals, Uri 10, Cartwright 9
Rosmini 62 – Wyllie 17, Roudon 14, Anderson 13, Reed 10
Auckland Grammar School locked in third spot on the ladder with an 83-73 win at Rangitoto College.
Grammar opened up a 16-12 lead before Rangitoto College went on a spirited run, either side of the quarter time break, to lead 30-18 in the second quarter. Joel Brown was into double figures for Rangi, George Milburn and Jackson Kiss likewise for Grammar.
Grammar closed the half strongly to claim the narrowest of leads (40-39) at half-time.
Jaren Reiri joined Brown in double figures although Grammar would go on to boss the third period as Milburn racked up 19 points in the quarter. Kalid Petzer and Ryan Hunt waded in with points to carry Grammar to a 73-55 lead.
Rangi had the better of the closing frame with Max Mudford and Arnod Nam amongst the points.
Grammar now prepare for a final regular season meeting with Mt Albert Grammar on Monday.
Rangitoto 73 – Brown 15, Reire 13, Nam 12, Elys Taher 10, Cooper Allen 8, Mudford 7
AGS 83 – Milburn 29, Kiss 16, Petzer 13, Hunt 12, Roere Tipene 8
On the back of a strong fourth quarter showing St Peter’s College earned their second win of the season with a 103-99 home victory against St Kentigern College.
Trailing 74-69 at three-quarter time St Peter’s sailed home in the final term amassing 34 points. Gus Dallow and Bryan Marsters made key scores in the period although it was a dozen points from Spencer Carr, including a pair of threes, that tilted the tie the way of St Peter’s.
Earlier 12 points from George Turner gave St Kent’s a 27-25 quarter time lead.
Double figures from Merrick Rillstone, and a triple late in the frame from Cooper Lepou kept St Kent’s ahead (54-53) at the end of a high scoring first half – Dallow and Ralph Ocfemia in double digits for St Peter’s.
Turner and Rillstone combined for 14 points as St Kentigern shaded the third stanza before Carr drove St Peter’s home in the final period.
St Peter’s 103 – Dallow 26, Carr 16, Ocfemia 13, Bailey Smith 11, Milan Tolich 8, Marsters 8
St Kentigern 99 – Turner 29, Rillstone 28, Lepou 14, Frankie Groves 9
In another high scoring encounter Westlake Boys High proved too strong for Sacred Heart College winning 112-80 with Noah Rasmussen scoring 29 points and Hadi Alshami bagging 23.
Westlake also enjoyed double figure scoring from Max Riechelmann, Malachi Book, Braden Gibb and Harper Wilson. Tyrell Cocker top scored for Sacred Heart with 17 points while Sam Snowdon, Preston Tuaputa and Matt Fautuaalii-Taia were also major contributors.
A couple of threes from Book helped Westlake run up 39 first quarter points. There was little let up in the second as Lake took a 65-44 lead into half-time.
The scoring frenzy continued in the second half – four triples from Rasmussen one of the highlights.
Westlake 112 – Rasmussen 29, Alshami 23, Riechelmann 15, Wilson 15, Gibb 11, Book 10
Sacred Heart 80 – Cocker 17, Snowdon 16, Fautuaalii-Taia 15, Tuaputa 12, Tyler Wilson-Voyce 7
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Standings
12-1 MAGS
12-2 Rosmini
10-3 AGS
8-6 St Kentigern
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6-8 Westlake
3-11 Sacred Heart
2-12 Rangitoto, St Peter’s
NB The AGS v MAGS catch-up game is scheduled for Monday August 14.
LACEY LOWDOWN 