Bailey Flavell scored 68 points as Takapuna Grammar won their Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade Round 5 clash with Rangitoto College. There were also wins for Westlake Girls, Manurewa High and St Kentigern.
Bailey Flavell scored a career high 68 points as Takapuna Grammar School won the North Harbour derby at Rangitoto College 100-79. Flavell’s stunning performance keeps Takapuna inside the top four on the Prems ladder.
With Mela Andrews scoring 6 points Rangitoto trailed by just 21-19 at quarter time. However with Flavell and Manaia Watson in good scoring touch Takapuna began to pull away and led 50-36 at half-time.
A couple of threes from Peyton Laurence and regular scores from Maddy Skelton kept the scoreboard moving for Rangi but Flavell had 20 points on her own in the third and with Natalja Burton and Amy McKenzie chipping in with contributions the Taka lead grew to 79-61.
Takapuna had little trouble protecting their advantage in the closing stages.
Rangitoto 79 – Skelton 21, Andrews 14, Laurence 9, Eva Veale 9, Bella Anderson 9, Sienna Maurice 9
Takapuna 100 – Flavell 68, McKenzie 11, Watson 9
Westlake Girls High maintained their unbeaten record with a 70-46 win at Mt Albert Grammar.
Lara Cocker-Lemalie posted 6 first quarter points although 10 points from Emma Schroeder propelled Westlake to an 18-13 advantage.
Zenthia Stowers did most of the damage in the second period as Westlake eased out to a 39-23 half-time lead.
The scoring dipped in the third, a period won 10-9 by MAGS with Cocker-Lemalie moving into double figures.
Any chances of a MAGS comeback in the final frame were extinguished by Schroeder’s 3-point plays and 8 straight points from Stowers.
St Kentigern College moved to outright second on the Prems ladder with a 73-57 win at Northcote College.
St Kent’s were quick out the gate establishing a 30-14 lead with Gigi Forster nailing a couple of threes and Ash Tuumaialu racing to 10 points.
Northcote responded with DJ Hannah getting to the rack while Lisa Gear and Ema Lavemaau dropped threes – the deficit down to seven points at half-time (42-35).
Scoring dipped in the second half as defence’s held sway, the combination of guard Tuumaialu and forward Kilani Tuineau proving the game breaker as they scored 27 points apiece.
After losing their opening two games Manurewa High School have peeled off three straight wins with their latest success a 58-48 victory at Epsom Girls Grammar.
The victory seemed unlikely early on as Epsom charged to a 20-5 lead with Draun Forbes, Kiyara Te Amo and Savana Feite dropping threes.
Momentum swung dramatically in the second period as Emily Tanira and Alyssa Uluheua made multiple scores before a triple from Taisha Tanira gave Manurewa a 29-26 half-time lead.
The second half was a tight affair. Forbes and Kiki Reti kept the score moving for Epsom but the collective effort of Manurewa – six players scored 6 points or more – proved the difference.
Manurewa now into the top four!
EGGS 48 – Forbes 20, Reti 10, Kingi 6
Manurewa 58 – E Tanira 16, Beautiful Campbell 12, Waimihi Hetaraka-Brown 9, T Tanira 7, Uluheua 6, Shirley Tuilimu 6
Standings:
5-0 Westlake
4-1 St Kentigern
3-2 Manurewa, Takapuna
2-3 Rangitoto, MAGS
1-4 Northcote
0-5 Epsom
With Kings Birthday Weekend coming up the next round of games is scheduled for June 7th.
Round 5 of Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade action saw Auckland Grammar maintain their unbeaten start to the season with Rosmini, St Kentigern and Westlake also registering wins.
Jackson Kiss demonstrated why he is headed to Turkey next month with the New Zealand team to compete at the FIBA U17 World Cup during Auckland Grammar’s 95-65 home win over Sacred Heart.
Kiss poured in a season high 41 points in the win with 16 of those made in the opening quarter won 26-18 by Grammar.
With Sam Snowdon scoring 8 points Sacred Heart achieved parity in the second quarter to turn around 47-37 behind.
Grammar enjoyed the better of the third as Kiss received support from Roera Tipene and Lawson Pryor in extending the lead – one they steadily increased throughout the second half.
AGS 95 – Kiss 41, Pryor 13, Tipene 10, Ryan Hunt 9, Jackson Couper 6
Sacred Heart 65 – Snowdon 17, See Ieremia 12, Max Hakarai 8, Jamie Vile 6
Also headed to Turkey with the NZ U17’s are Gus Dallow and Jameer Reed and the duo featured prominently for their respective teams as Rosmini College won a thriller in front of a boisterous crowd at St Peter’s College 83-81.
Rosmini led 59-56 at three-quarter time and although never headed St Peter’s drew level on three occasions in the final three minutes.
A Mario Nola And-1 levelled at 77’s before Gus Dallow drives twice tied the scores. His second effort made it 81 points apiece with just 10 seconds to play and when St Peter’s stole the inbounds pass a come from behind victory looked on the cards.
However two resulting shots rimmed out giving Rosmini the chance to win the game with a break-away layup – Bart Jackowski obliged on the buzzer (pictured above).
Dallow finished with 29 points receiving good support from Nola and Bryan Marsters with 13 apiece. Reed led the Rosmini effort with 28 while Liam Bates and the Wyllie’s, Josh and Chris, also made double digit contributions.
St Peter’s 81 – Dallow 29, Nola 13, Marsters 13, Spencer Carr 7, Montana Ekeroma
On the back of 29 points from Troy Supple Westlake Boys bounced back from Monday’s defeat to record a comfortable 112-68 victory at Mt Albert Grammar.
Supple was into double digits by quarter time as Westlake established a 30-16 lead and was joined in double figures by Noah Rasmussen and Oscar Neville as the lead stretched to 63-31 by half-time.
The MAGS duo of Lucas Cartwright and Dayton Simpkin sunk 9 threes between them as they compiled 42 points while for Westlake, that won each quarter, the Wilson brothers Harper and Lincoln combined for 22 points.
Westlake 112 – Supple 29, Neville 14, L Wilson 13, Noah Rasmussen 12, Tai Rhodes 11, H Wilson 9
It was only in the final quarter that St Kentigern College were able to pull away from Mt Roskill Grammar to record an 85-77 win.
Paced by 20 points from Tino Seuiavatele Roskill were 46-45 behind at half-time and 63-61 in arrears at the three-quarter mark.
Wai Tonga and Seuiavatele combined for a dozen points in the fourth period but St Kent’s won the frame 23-16 to claim the spoils – a couple of threes in the closing minutes from Cooper Te Ratana tipping the scales in favour of the visitors.
The Te Ratana’s Cooper and Hunter combined for 34 points and Jamie Griffin tallied 16 for St Kent’s who also enjoyed a 10-point outing from Year 9 player Kolo Liku.
Zachan Kemen and Ezra Ogbuze joined Tonga and Seuiavatele in double figures for Roskill.
The win propels St Kent’s into the top four on the Prems ladder.
In Round 4 of Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier Grade action on Monday night we saw three games decided by 10 points or less with the closest match being at Mt Albert Grammar School where the home side edged Epsom Girls Grammar School 73-70.
A much improved performance from Epsom Girls, with Draun Forbes scoring 33 points, came close to a first win of the season before eventually going down 73-70.
Epsom were ahead 41-39 at half-time but trailed 58-57 at the three-quarter mark.
Forbes and Savanna Feite kept Epsom in the hunt in the fourth but two triples from Peyton Uri and 7 points from Meiya Lemafa saw MAGS to the win. Lemafa finished with a double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds while Gianna Tiatia posted 14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 steals.
MAGS 73 – Lemafa 28, G Tiatia 14, Uri 13, Emina Tiatia 8, Te Arini Roberts 7
There was also a close encounter further south where Manurewa High School pulled away in the closing minutes to defeat Northcote College 72-66.
Northcote, with DJ Hannah, Lily Morgan, Lisa Gear and Abby Allan in double figures, were well in contention throughout before Manurewa edged home in the final minutes.
Three points ahead (49-46) at three-quarter time Manurewa held off the Northcote challenge with 23 points in the final ten minutes – scores from Taisha Tanira, Waimihi Hetaraka-Brown and Shirley Tuilimu down the stretch sealing victory.
Manurewa 72 – T Tanira 24, E Tanira 15, Tuilimu 13, Beautiful Campbell 11
Northcote 66 – Hannah 19, Gear 17, Morgan 13, Allan 11
There was an upset on the cards at Westlake when on the back of a Bailey Flavell three Takapuna Grammar led the hosts 43-39 at the back end of the third period.
An Imani Rasmussen block and rebound enabled Westlake to score in transition on the next possession before the rangy forward then scored herself to put the defending champions back in front.
Soon after Amy McKenzie knocked down a three from all of two metres beyond the arc meaning Takapuna were still in the hunt at three-quarter time trailing 56-50.
The chances of an upset result faded in the final period as Westlake found fourth gear for the first time in the match pulling 19 points clear with Zenthia Stowers scoring 11 points in the frame.
Flavell, Carmen Selby and Adeline Lee reduced the arears – a 10-point loss a truer reflection of the commendable Takapuna performance.
In the final game of the round St Kentigern College returned to winning ways with a 91-69 home win against Rangitoto College.
The catalyst for the St Kent’s win were the performances of Kilani Tuineau and Ashleigh Tuumaialu who posted 29 points and 34 respectively – both I think were career high scoring performances.
Both players were in double figures by half-time – Tuumaialu scoring 21 consecutive points at one stage – as St Kent’s racked up 55 points to lead by 22 at the interval.
Eva Veale led something of a Rangitoto recovery as they were able to share the spoils in the second half (36-36) ahead of a North Shore derby against Takapuna Grammar.
St Kentigern 91 – A Tuumaialu 34, Tuineau 29, Charlie Yock 13, Jorja Dixon 12
Rangitoto 69 – Veale 21, Maddy Skelton 12, Mela Andrews 11, Kyree Rakena 8, Sienna Maurice 8
Round 4 of Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade action on Monday night saw wins for Rosmini College, Sacred Heart and St Kentigern College. Auckland Grammar moved to outright first on the Prems ladder without playing – their clash with Mt Albert Grammar is being played on Tuesday night.
At Westlake Boys, with Troy Wentworth scoring 11 points, the home side made a solid start against Rosmini College although the same number from Jameer Reed had the visitors ahead 28-23 at the first break.
Rosmini increased their advantage by half-time pushing out to a 54-42 lead.
Threes reigned, and rained down, in the third quarter as Westlake made their first five scores of the period from deep with Troy Supple, Andre Bautista and Noah Rasmussen successful.
Rosmini were not shy from behind the arc either with Bart Jackowski (6 x 3-pointers on the night), Chris Wyllie and Reed productive from distance – Rosmini ahead 74-65.
Rosmini found points harder to come by in the fourth and when Daley Pohio made Westlake’s tenth three of the night the hosts were just 5 points behind (82-77) with five minutes to play.
Josh Wyllie and Reed stretched the lead into double figures again and although Rasmussen and Bautista were able to claw the arears back to 6 points Rosmini held their nerve down the stretch to match Westlake’s 3-1 start to the season.
A terrific all-round performance from Hunter Te Ratana and some sharp shooting from Ollie Bainbridge helped propel St Kentigern College to a narrow 92-86 home win against St Peter’s College.
Bainbridge was a perfect 7 from 7 shooting in making 13 points while Te Ratana amassed 22 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks. Jamie Griffin and the Cooper’s Lepou and Te Ratana were also double figure contributors for St Kent’s.
Mario Nola was the mainstay of the St Peter’s effort scoring a game high 27 points with Spencer Carr tallying 21 points, Gus Dallow 14 and Bryan Marsters 11.
St Peter’s started the stronger establishing a 26-19 first quarter lead before St Kent’s had the better of the second – a couple of triples from Hunter Te Ratana helping – to lead 47-44 at half-time.
In a see-sawing contest St Peter’s wrestled back the initiative in the third quarter, courtesy of Nola’s 11 points to carry a 72-70 advantage into the final ten minutes.
St Peter’s were held to 14 points in that final period while the Te Ratana’s combined for 15 to ease the home side over the line.
St Kentigern 92 – H Te Ratana 22, C Te Ratana 20, Griffin 16, Lepou 15, Bainbridge 13
St Peter’s 86 – Nola 27, Carr 21, Dallow 14, Marsters 11, Montana Ekeroma 6
In another close game Sam Snowdon compiled 28 points, Tyler Taffs added some timely threes and Max Hakaraia battled well in the paint to help Sacred Heart College secure a 79-71 home victory over Mt Roskill Grammar School who were led by a 15-point outing from Tino Seuiavatele.
Taffs hit a brace of threes in the opening period won 28-17 by the home side before timely scores from Wai Tonga and Alfred Kerr brought Roskill back into the picture.
That picture became even rosier for Roskill in the third – multiple scores from skipper Zachan Kemen and Josh Wadams eased them to a 55-54 lead.
Seuiavatele scored 7 points in the fourth but it was a big 15-point quarter from Snowdon – plus half a dozen from Jamie Vile – that eventually saw off the Roskill challenge.
Round 4 of Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade action on Monday night saw wins for Rosmini College, Sacred Heart and St Kentigern College. Auckland Grammar moved to outright first on the Prems ladder without playing – their clash with Mt Albert Grammar is being played on Tuesday night.
At Westlake Boys, with Troy Wentworth scoring 11 points, the home side made a solid start against Rosmini College although the same number from Jameer Reed had the visitors ahead 28-23 at the first break.
Rosmini increased their advantage by half-time pushing out to a 54-42 lead.
Threes reigned, and rained down, in the third quarter as Westlake made their first five scores of the period from deep with Troy Supple, Andre Bautista and Noah Rasmussen successful.
Rosmini were not shy from behind the arc either with Bart Jackowski (6 x 3-pointers on the night), Chris Wyllie and Reed productive from distance – Rosmini ahead 74-65.
Rosmini found points harder to come by in the fourth and when Daley Pohio made Westlake’s tenth three of the night the hosts were just 5 points behind (82-77) with five minutes to play.
Josh Wyllie and Reed stretched the lead into double figures again and although Rasmussen and Bautista were able to claw the arears back to 6 points Rosmini held their nerve down the stretch to match Westlake’s 3-1 start to the season.
A terrific all-round performance from Hunter Te Ratana and some sharp shooting from Ollie Bainbridge helped propel St Kentigern College to a narrow 92-86 home win against St Peter’s College.
Bainbridge was a perfect 7 from 7 shooting in making 13 points while Te Ratana amassed 22 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks. Jamie Griffin and the Cooper’s Lepou and Te Ratana were also double figure contributors for St Kent’s.
Mario Nola was the mainstay of the St Peter’s effort scoring a game high 27 points with Spencer Carr tallying 21 points, Gus Dallow 14 and Bryan Marsters 11.
St Peter’s started the stronger establishing a 26-19 first quarter lead before St Kent’s had the better of the second – a couple of triples from Hunter Te Ratana helping – to lead 47-44 at half-time.
In a see-sawing contest St Peter’s wrestled back the initiative in the third quarter, courtesy of Nola’s 11 points to carry a 72-70 advantage into the final ten minutes.
St Peter’s were held to 14 points in that final period while the Te Ratana’s combined for 15 to ease the home side over the line.
St Kentigern 92 – H Te Ratana 22, C Te Ratana 20, Griffin 16, Lepou 15, Bainbridge 13
St Peter’s 86 – Nola 27, Carr 21, Dallow 14, Marsters 11, Montana Ekeroma 6
In another close game Sam Snowdon compiled 28 points, Tyler Taffs added some timely threes and Max Hakaraia battled well in the paint to help Sacred Heart College secure a 79-71 home victory over Mt Roskill Grammar School who were led by a 15-point outing from Tino Seuiavatele.
Taffs hit a brace of threes in the opening period won 28-17 by the home side before timely scores from Wai Tonga and Alfred Kerr brought Roskill back into the picture.
That picture became even rosier for Roskill in the third – multiple scores from skipper Zachan Kemen and Josh Wadams eased them to a 55-54 lead.
Seuiavatele scored 7 points in the fourth but it was a big 15-point quarter from Snowdon – plus half a dozen from Jamie Vile – that eventually saw off the Roskill challenge.
There were dominant wins for Northcote College and Westlake Girls High in Round 3 of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls Premier competition.
It was a third straight victory for Westlake whereas it was a first victory of the season for Northcote. There was also a first win for Manurewa High School and a second success for Takapuna Grammar.
Zenthia Stowers (U18) and Kodee Williams-Sefo (U17) were named earlier in the week to New Zealand age group teams and both were in good form as Westlake logged a century at St Kentigern College to claim a 100-47 win.
Williams-Sefo added 6 steals to 19 points while Stowers had 8 points 7 rebounds and a couple of blocks. Other strong performers for Lake were Lily Fotu, Emma Schroeder, Mia John and Imani Rasmussen.
St Kent’s guard Ash Tuumaialu scored 11 points in the opening half but by then Westlake had established a winning position – ahead 49-21.
St Kentigern 47 – Tuumaialu 13, Kilani 9, Charlie Yock 8, Jorja Dixon 7, Gigi Forster 6
Westlake 100 – Fotu 19, Williams Sefo 19, Schroeder 16/8 rebs/8 assists, Mia John 10, Rasmussen 9/7rebs/ 5 assists, Stowers 8
Northcote College proved too good for Epsom Girls Grammar winning 83-47.
DJ Hannah scored 14 points to propel Northcote to a 27-6 quarter time lead, an advantage they were able to build through the opening three periods.
Hannah went on to total a game high 30 points – with Lisa Gear scoring 23 and Ema Lavemaau adding a dozen Northcote were always in control.
Without their Year 13 players Epsom were ably led by Olivia Edhouse who scored 24 points.
Bailey Flavell, named earlier in the week to the New Zealand to compete at the U17 World Cup in Mexico in July scored a game high 35 points as Takapuna Grammar held off Mt Albert Grammar School to win 78-68.
Takapuna led 45-35 at half-time and with Flavell in dominant form were 58-44 ahead with a quarter to play.
Meiya Lemafa scored 8 of her team high 24 points in the fourth although 9 points in the spell from Amy McKenzie ensured a Takapuna victory.
Natalja Burton for Takapuna and Peyton Uri and Lara Cocker-Lemalie for MAGS put in strong performances for their respective teams.
The entertainment continued until the last play of the game when a Hale Mary effort from her own half from MAGS guard Waimare Te Runa found nothing but net.
The two promoted teams met at Rangitoto College where Manurewa College defeated the hosts 66-53.
Mela Andrews was outstanding for Rangitoto as she amassed 25 points while Sienna Maurice put together a notable stats line of 11 points (5/10FG), 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
Andrews scored a dozen first half points for Rangi but 11 from Beautiful Campbell helped Manurewa to a 31-20 half-time lead.
Manurewa broke the game open in the third as three triples from Emily Tanira and one from Shirley Tuilimu propelled them to a 51-33 advantage.
Rangitoto 53 – Andrews 25, Maurice 11, Maddie Skelton 8
The two unbeaten teams had contrasting wins in Round 3 action in the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier competition. Auckland Grammar were comfortable winners against Mt Roskill Grammar while Westlake Boy’s had to scrap all the way to come away with a victory at St Kentigern College.
Auckland Grammar flew out to a 29-14 first quarter lead and extended that to 52-26 at the half as they dominated the scoring on their home court against Mt Roskill Grammar before going on to win 91-51.
Skipper Ryan Hunt led the way for AGS with 21 points, ably supported by Lawson Pryor, Roman Ma’afu-Moerua and Sol Anderson.
Tino Seuiavatele was terrific for Roskill with a team high 20 points while Wai Tonga was next best with 12.
In the game of the round Westlake Boys also scored 91 but had to see off a significant challenge at St Kentigern College to secure their third straight win.
Westlake made the ideal start with 29 first quarter points, as Troy Supple and Noah Rasmussen made hay, to lead by seven.
They were still in the ascendancy at half-time (47-41) and with Andre Bautista and Daley Pohio striking from deep appeared fully in control at three-quarter time (70-60).
That lead was increased in the early stages of the fourth, however Lake were given some anxious moments late in the game – Cooper Lepou’s three triples aided by good work from Jamie Griffin gave the hosts a lift – Bautista’s late triple easing the Lake nerves.
St Kentigern 83 – Lepou 17, Hunter Te Ratana 17, Noah Heke 13, Cooper Te Ratana 13, Griffin 12
A hot start set up a comfortable home win at Rosmini College where the home side defeated Mt Albert Grammar 118-71.
With Bart Jackowski (22 points) dropping a quartet of threes Rosmini piled on 34 points to lead by 20 at the end of the opening period.
Despite being down 66-25 at the interval MAGS rallied in the second half with Mose Leiasamaivao in fine form scoring a game high 30 points. Lucas Cartwright was also in good touch while young guard Axl Walls showed good composure in tallying 11 points.
Jackowski top scored for Rosmini with Hunter Johns, Cooper Hulme and the Wyllie brothers – Josh and Chris – all in double figures.
St Peter’s won the catholic college clash against Sacred Heart 85-59.
Saints bossed the opening frame 27-13 and were 50-21 to the good at half-time with Gus Dallow scoring 14 of his game high 20 points in the half.
In addition to Dallow’s 20 and a dozen each from Bryan Marsters and Bailey Smith St Peter’s enjoyed a good spread of scoring with eight players contributing multiple baskets while Will Harris and Jamie Vile were in double figures for Heart.
St Peter’s 85 – Dallow 20, Marsters 12, Smith 12, Mario Nola 8, Alex Davis 7, Montana Ekeroma 7
Sacred Heart 59 – Harris 15, Vile 10, Sam Snowdon 9, Harry Rutter 6
After two rounds of the Auckland Secondary Schools Girl’s Premier Grade competition only Westlake Girls High, St Kentigern College and Rangitoto College boast 2-0 records and with St Kent’s set to host Westlake next Friday one of the early frontrunners will suffer a loss.
Epsom Girls Grammar held a 16-15 early lead before being outscored 27-9 in the second quarter by Takapuna Grammar with Amy McKenzie and Manaia Watson combining for 20 points.
Natalja Burton and Bailey Flavell extended the Takapuna advantage in the third prior to Draun Forbes and Olivia Edhouse providing a late scoring flourish for Epsom in the closing minutes.
A strong fourth quarter showing propelled St Kentigern College to an exciting 72-68 away win at Mt Albert Grammar.
With Phoenix Kaipo dropping five 3-pointers and Meiya Lemafa posting a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds consistently MAGS led 51-47 at three-quarter time and looked likely headed for a second win of the season.
However St Kent’s guard Ash Tuumaialu reeled off 15 of her team high 20 points in the fourth quarter and with Jorja Dixon and Mischa McLister knocking down triples they outscored MAGS 25-17 in the frame to steal the win.
St Kentigern 72 – A Tuumaialu 20, Dixon 16, Kilani Tuineau 14/13rebs, Gigi Forster 11
A 2-point game at 72-70 midway into the last quarter Rangitoto College pulled away in the final minutes to win a close one 82-75 at Northcote College.
With the result in doubt Rangitoto were well served in the closing stages by Maddi Skelton, Kyree Rakena and Sienna Maurice – all three knocking down triples.
The game also featured two 30-point performances with Mela Andrews scoring 31 points for Rangi while Northcote guard DJ Hannah trumped that with 37.
Hannah received strong support from centre Lily Morgan (21 points) while for Rangitoto Kyree Rakena scored 15, Maddie Skelton made 14 and Zaara Sain had 11 rebounds and 9 assists to accompany 6 points.
Northcote 75 – Hannah 37, Morgan 21, Misha Aitchison 8, Ema Lavemaau 5
Manurewa High School entertained Westlake Girls High and went down 81-31 but unfortunately we don’t have full details of the game. Emma Schroeder piled on 31 points for Westlake with Imani Rasmussen (8 points and 12 rebounds) and Kodee Williams-Sefo (6 points and 10 rebounds) going close to double-doubles.
Auckland Grammar School and Westlake Boys High School are the only two teams to come through unscathed after two rounds of the highly competitive Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier Grade competition. The pair are two from two over the opening two weeks with all other teams having lost at least once.
Auckland Grammar won an entertaining early season tussle at Rosmini College 96-89. There was little between the teams in the early exchanges – Rosmini ahead 46-45 at half-time.
Grammar made their move in the third as they established a double figure lead (67-57) and that was still the margin at the three-quarter mark (74-64) after Jackson Kiss had scored 14 points in the spell.
Chris Wyllie scored 10 points in the fourth to reduce the deficit to single figures but 12 from Ryan Hunt and some key plays from Roman Ma’afu-Moerua ensured the visiting fans left the happier.
Jameer Reed paced Rosmini with 31 points with his fellow 2024 New Zealand U17 selection Jackson Kiss leading the Grammar effort.
Westlake Boys also made it two from two with a convincing 118-73 victory at Sacred Heart. Lake piled on 59 first half points and, enjoying double figure contributions from seven players, went on to win all four quarters.
Troy Supple paced Westlake with 24 points with 18 from Oscar Neville the next best however it was very much a team effort from the Swans.
Sam Snowdon led the Sacred Heart effort with a game high 29 points – skipper Jamie Vile adding 19.
Sacred Heart 73 – Snowdon 29, Vile 19, See Ieremia 9
A strong first half showing was the catalyst to St Kentigern College securing an 84-77 away win at Mt Albert Grammar.
St Kent’s were 20-13 ahead at the first break and stretched that out to 54-27 at the half-time with Ari Taylor and Hunter Te Ratana doing damage.
MAGS were hampered by losing Dante Tapula’aia to a first quarter injury but fought back well in the second half with Lucas Cartwright and Mose Leiasamaivao leading the revival.
Fourth quarter triples from Te Ratana, Charlie Hughes and Cooper Lepou sealed the victory for St Kent’s and a first Prems win for coach Josh Davis.
St Kentigern 84 – Taylor 23, Te Ratana 21, Lepou 11, Hughes 10
St Peter’s College forged a 23-15 first quarter lead at Mt Roskill Grammar and with double figure contributions from Gus Dallow and Mario Nola led 37-29 at half-time.
Tino Seuiavatele and Zachan Kemen were the best in a spirited Roskill effort but it wasn’t quite enough to see off the Saints challenge.
It doesn’t get any easier for Roskill as they visit Auckland Grammar next Friday while St Peter’s will entertain Sacred Heart.
Newly promoted Manurewa High School and Rangitoto College had mixed fortunes in Round 1 of the 2024 Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Grade competition.
Manurewa hosted Mt Albert Grammar School and went down 72-55 to last season’s runners-up who were paced by Sahara Katene’s 22 points. Meiya Lemafa and Peyton Uri leant helping hands with 13 points each.
Emily Tanira top scored for Manurewa with 18 points while Taisha Tanira netted a dozen and Beautiful Campbell sunk 11.
Rangitoto College, under new coach Brooke Blair, enjoyed a return to the top flight with a resounding 78-36 victory against an under-strength Epsom Girls Grammar side.
Epsom relied heavily on the scoring threat of Ivy Tino and Mya Kingi, who impressed on debut, while Rangi enjoyed contributions from across the board with seven players scoring 6 points or more. The bouquets in this instance go to Sienna Maurice and Maddy Skelton who scored 18 and 16 points respectively.
St Kentigern College, led by Kilani Tuineau’s 29 points and Ashleigh Tuumaialui’s 15, proved too strong for Takapuna Grammar, protecting home court with a 76-55 win.
Takapuna guard Bailey Flavell posted the highest individual score of the round with 31 points while Amy McKenzie chipped in with 11.
Westlake Girls successfully overcame the challenge of a spirited display from Northcote College. Northcote only trailed by 5 points (68-63) with five minutes to play before the defending champions registered an 84-72 win.
Lily Fotu (20 points) impressed for Westlake as did forward Imani Rasmussen who tallied 19. All the Northcote starters played strong hands led by skipper DJ Hannah’s 17 points and Lily Morgan’s 16.
No fewer than four head coaches took charge of their teams for the first time in Friday night’s opening round of the Auckland Secondary Schools Boy’s Premier Basketball competition, and a fifth was pacing the sideline for his first Premier game.
Martin Windsor has overseen the Mount Roskill Grammar School Boys programme for the past six years but the visit to Westlake Boys was historic for him, the team and the school with Roskill having last played in Prems back in 1995!
However they will have to wait a little longer for their first win in the top grade in almost 30 years after going down 96-79 at Westlake Boy’s High.
Josh Reeves took charge of St Peter’s College as they strolled up Mountain Road for the central city derby against Auckland Grammar School. Grammar proved too good winning 98-70.
There had to be a first time winner at St Kentigern College with Josh Davis in charge of the hosts for the first time and Sonny Tuaputa, the trusted assistant to Matt Lacey for the last seven years, now holding the reins at Rosmini College.
It was Rosmini that claimed the spoils with a solid 99-78 victory.
Sione Maama made it a winning debut as Head Coach at Sacred Heart College as his charges saw of the challenge of Mt Albert Grammar winning 84-66.
Sam Snowdon drained 7 threes on his way to 37 points and with Jamie Vile posting 21 Heart made it a perfect start to the season.
MAGS had made the better start forging a 24-18 lead before Heart completely bossed the second quarter to take a 48-30 lead into the main break.
The young MAGS team were well served by Dante Tapula’ala, Mose Leiasamaivao and Lucas Cartwright but were outgunned by Snowdon and Co in this one.
Sacred Heart 84 – Snowdon 37, Vile 21, Cameron Stewart 9, Max Haaraia 6
Despite having a couple of starters absent Auckland Grammar stamped their authority on proceedings in the opening quarter against St Peter’s, surging to a 28-13 lead. St Peter’s had the better of the second spell but still trailed 46-38 at half-time.
With skipper Ryan Hunt scoring 18, Lawson Pryor making 20, Jackson Kiss 17 and Sol Anderson 13 Grammar retained control in the second half.
Mario Nola led the way for the Saints with 14 points – Gus Dallow and Bailey Smith also made double digit contributions.
Auckland Grammar 98 – Pryor 20, Hunt 18, Kiss 17, Anderson 13, Brigham Hakerara 8, Taye Thomson 7
St Peter’s College 70 – Nola 14, Smith 11, Dallow 10, Spencer Carr 9, Bryan Marsters 8
On their return to the top flight Mt Roskill Grammar looked as if they may be on the end of a hiding when they trailed 33-12 after ten minutes at Westlake as Noah Rasmussen and Troy Supple dominated the glass and the points in the opening exchanges. Rasmussen was on his way to a career high 38 points – the highest individual score of the opening round.
To their credit Roskill steadied thereafter going toe to toe with Lake throughout the remainder of the contest.
Haisem Osman and Josh Wadams led the way for Roskill while Daley Pohio, on debut, made a strong impression for the hosts.
Shout out to Westlake for producing a game day programme and hanging (long overdue) championship banners to mark their five National Championship successes (2005, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013).
Westlake Boys High 96 – Rasmussen 38, Supple 24, Pohio 12
Despite 26 points from St Kentigern guard Cooper Lepou, Rosmini College were able to forge a 99-78 victory at St Kent’s.
St Kent’s trailed by just 5 points at three-quarter time (71-66) before Rosmini pulled away in the closing stages with Jameer Reed and Liam Bates contributing 18 of their 27 fourth quarter points.
The Te Ratana brothers tallied 27 points for the hosts while the Wyllie’s, Josh and Chris, registered 39 for Rosmini.
St Kentigern College 78 – Lepou 26, H Te Ratana 14, C Te Ratana 13, Noah Heke 8
Rosmini College 99 – J Wyllie 21, Reed 19, Bates 19, C Wyllie 18, Bart Jackowski 14
LACEY LOWDOWN 