In packed gymnasiums and in front of enthusiastic supporters the 2024 Auckland Schools Boys Premier and Senior A semi-finals were staged on Friday night.
The Premier final will be a repeat of the 2022 championship game with Rosmini College and Auckland Grammar set to go head to head while in Senior A unbeaten Dilworth School will meet Rangitoto College to decide the title.
Premier Semi-Finals
Auckland Grammar won 78-62 although the regular season champions didn’t have it all their own way against an undermanned but resolute St Kentigern College for whom Cooper Lepou led the way with 19 points.
The shooting guard had 6 first quarter points and with Ari Taylor adding 7 St Kent’s were off to a flyer with a 23-14 first quarter lead.
Grammar righted the ship in the second keeping St Kent’s to just 8 points in the spell while piling on 24 themselves. A pair of threes from Lawson Pryor and half a dozen each from Jackson Kiss and Bobby Neels propelled the hosts to a 38-31 advantage at the interval.
Kiss and Pryor continued to find a way to the basket in the third and although Lepou and Hunter Te Ratana came up with scores for the visitors the Grammar lead climbed to 61-47 at three-quarter time.
Lepou, Te Ratana and Charlie Hughes knocked down threes for St Kent’s but Ryan Hunt and Kiss, to the delight of the home support, guided Grammar through the final ten minutes and improved their record to 14-1 this season.
AGS 78 – Kiss 23, Pryor 20, Hunt 10, Neels 7, Roman Ma’afu 6, Taye Thomson 6
St Kentigern 62 – Lepou 19, Te Ratana 16, Taylor 11, Hughes 6, Kolo Liku 6
In the other semi-final, with the Wyllie brothers Josh and Chris running the show, Rosmini College proved too strong for near neighbours Westlake winning 109-51.
Westlake made a promising start with Troy Wentworth and Noah Rasmussen making some early incursions but with the Wyllie’s combining for 17 points the Rosmini lead was soon out to double figures – their advantage 31-18 at quarter time.
Daley Poiho, recently named to the New Zealand U15 team, made a couple of scores for Lake but their plight took a turn for the worse as they were outscored 29-10 in the second.
Hunter Johns, Bart Jackowski and Jameer Reed continued the Rosmini momentum in the third – a triple from Harper Wilson of scant reward for Westlake as they trailed 81-37 at the three-quarter mark.
Chris Wyllie took his tally to a game high 30 points before Jack Davis made an inside basket to wrap up a comfortable victory for the hosts. One that would have impressed Julius Halaifonua who was sideline watching his former classmates before heading to Georgetown University on Monday.
Rosmini 109 – C Wyllie 30, Reed 21, J Wyllie 15, Johns 11, Jackowski 11
Westlake 51 – Poiho 15, Rasmussen 9, Wentworth 8, H Wilson 8
Senior A Semi-Finals
Dilworth School continued their unbeaten run this season with an 84-39 defeat of Liston College on their home court.
Liston made a promising start with scores from Jeydin Ale and Ronnie Juan but at the defensive end they were encountering some issues – with KC Ioane scoring 13 points and Kingston Kai’lahi-Aso adding half a dozen Dilworth had 32 points at quarter time and a 17-point lead.
Liston addressed their defensive deficiencies during the quarter time break and as a result the contest was much closer through the middle periods.
Triples from Ezrah Eagle and Soane Tavite drew rapturous applause from the home supporters but responses from Ale, Juan and Zymhon Moreno kept Liston in the contest as they trailed 46-23 at half-time and 60-38 with ten minutes to play.
The fourth period turned out to be one-way traffic with PJ Ainoa and Mikaere Hoeta putting the finishing touches to an emphatic Dilworth win.
Dilworth 84 – Ioane 27, Kai’lahi-Aso 12, George Hardie 11, Eagle 10, Tavite 10
Liston 39 – Juan 14, Ale 10, Moreno 8 Luke Vaipaata 5
The second semi-final was a far tighter affair as Brian Duckworth exploded for a staggering 55 points before Pakuranga College were pipped 98-97 at Rangitoto College.
Duckworth showed his intent from the outset leading Pakuranga to a 13-5 lead. He proceeded to hit 4 from 4 from beyond the arc making 20 of his team’s first 25 points.
Rangitoto responded through William Cheng and Max Mudford – the pair combing for 19 points to carry the hosts to a 25-24 lead.
Duckworth received good support from Moses Banno and Tyson Thomassen in the second as Pakuranga took a 52-51 lead into half-time.
Rangi were able to wrestle control in the third as Mudford made 14 of his team high 35 in the quarter and with Nikau Huggins nailing a triple the advantage was 78-67 with ten minutes to play.
Mudford and Michael Ropotini kept the Rangi lead in the region of ten points for the bulk of the fourth as they appeared to be easing to a comfortable win. However Duckworth had different ideas and further demonstrated his shooting prowess making 15 points in the period to erase the Rangi lead.
With Duckworth fouling out in the final two minutes Rangi were able to sieze their opportunity via free throws from Mudford and a couple of baskets from Ropotini.
Rangi head to the Grand Final showdown with Dilworth but it could so easily have been Duckworth and his Pakuranga posse.
Rangitoto 98 – Mudford 35, Ropotini 23, Cheng 12, Kyle Buenaflor 9, Carter Chase 8
Pakuranga 97 – Duckworth 55, Thomassen 10, Banno 8, Tristan Jasotharan 8, Dexter Molesi 8
LACEY LOWDOWN 