The New Zealand U17 Men overcame an understandably nervy start to beat Kazahhstan 92-67 in the Asia Cup opener.
Forwards Nic Book and Julius Halaifonua were the stars of the show.
Read the full report on the BBNZ website: https://nz.basketball
The Aon Under 17 Men and Women have had to settle for silver medals at the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship in New Caledonia on Saturday.
Australia claimed both gold medals after the New Zealand Women were defeated 88-41 and the Kiwi Men lost 85-56.
Despite the defeats New Zealand has achieved its main objective of claiming a place at the FIBA Under 18 Asian Championship in 2020 where they will be the Oceania representatives alongside Australia.
Men’s Final Score: New Zealand Men 56 Australia 85
New Zealand 56 – M Stodard 15, H Payne 12, C Ngan 7, R Coman 7, E Vaigafa 4, A McNaught 3, S Murphy 3, F Lally 2, R Maxwell-Topia 2, Z Stallworth 1
Australia 85 – J Giddey 25, T Wigness 12, B Bayles 12
Women’s Final Score: New Zealand 41 Australia 88
New Zealand 41 – E Tahata 8, A Williams 7, A Strawbridge 5/5rebs, P Mason 5, O Williams 4, R Fourie 4, C O’Connell 3, S Adams 3, J Moors 2
Australia 88 – J Melbourne 21, G Potter 15
The U17 Women overcame a slow first quarter before pulling away from Samoa to win 84-26. A balanced scoring effort saw Hannah Matehaere, Arielle Williams and NZ 3x3international Ashlee Strawbridge score 12 points apiece.
New Zealand 84 – H Matehaere 12/9r, A Williams 12 A Strawbridge 12, J Moors 11/7stl, C O’Connell 7, R Fourie 7, O Williams 7, C Marama 6, P Mason 2, E Paleaae-Cook 1/6r
Samoa 26 – J Quarter 9, K Niu 8
The U17 Men had an equally impressive win downing Samoa 95-37 with Cantabrian Mac Stoddard in eye-catching form with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Reihana Maxwell-Topia also grabbed a double-double adding 11 rebounds to 11 points.
Connor Ngan knocked down five triples on his way to 16 points.
New Zealand 95 – M Stodard 18/10r, C Ngan 16, R Maxwell-Topia 11/11r, S Murphy 10, Z Stallworth 9, H Payne 9, A McNaught 8/7a, R Coman 7, R Royce 5, F Lally 2
Samoa 37 – H Scanlan 14, D Matautia 8
Both the Aon Under 17 Men’s and Women’s teams were beaten by Australia in the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship on Tuesday in New Caledonia. The Men lost 86-63 with the Women going down 79-53.
The results mean both teams finish second in their respective Pools meaning automatic entry to the semi-finals on Friday and a day’s rest on Thursday.
Reihana Maxwell-Topia gave New Zealand men an early three point lead and it was 11-11 at the mid-point of the first quarter before Australia put together a 15-2 run to rattle the Kiwis and establish a 27-13 lead after ten minutes.
New Zealand regained their composure in the second but still trailed 45-28 at the break – Robbie Coman the best of the Kiwis with 8 points.
Mac Stoddard made a welcome appearance after missing the opening two games due to illness but despite the Cantabrians rebounding hustle and a four-point play from Harry Payne the three-quarter score was 71-46 in favour of Australia.
To their credit the Kiwis played with determination in the final quarter winning the stanza 17-15. They also won the rebounding count 38-33 but there was a glaring difference in the perimeter shooting.
Australia made 6 from 14 (43%) threes with New Zealand just 5 from 24 at 21%.
New Zealand 63– R Coman 15/10r, H Payne 14, R Maxwell-Topia 9/6r, C Ngan 7, S Murphy 6, E Vaigafa 5/5r/4a, R Royce 4, F Lally 3
Australia 86– J Giddey 26, T Wigness 13
An Arielle Williams triple gave New Zealand Women an 8-7 lead although Australia had gained a 22-16 lead at quarter time.
An 8-3 New Zealand run to open the second quarter trimmed the Australian lead to three points and prompted an opposition timeout. The Aussie response was a 7-0 run of their own and by half-time led 43-30, Emilee Tahata with 8 points for the Kiwis.
The Kiwis showed plenty of spirit in the third quarter closing to within six (49-35) before eventually trailing 54-44 at the three-quarter mark.
Ashlee Strawbridge became the third Kiwi into double figures but a series of New Zealand turnovers allowed Australia to take a grip on proceedings and boss the final period to close out a comfortable win.
Despite the 79-53 score line it was a gutsy performance by the Kiwis but they will have to address the rebounding and turnover count before the upcoming semi-final and potential final.
The Kiwis were thumped on the boards 58-37 and committed 26 turnovers to Australia’s 18.
New Zealand 53– E Tahata 12/6r, A Williams 12, A Strawbridge 10, O Williams 5, E Paleaae-Cook 4, C Marama 4, H Matehaere 2, R Fourie 2, P Mason 2
Australia 79– M Prior 13, G Potter 13
Both teams get a day off on Thursday before semi-final action on Friday.
The top-two finishers at the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship advance to the FIBA Under 18 Asian Championship, which is the official qualifier to the FIBA U19 World Cup.
Both the Aon Under 17 Men’s and Women’s teams recorded emphatic wins over Guam in the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship on Tuesday in New Caledonia.
The Women won 110-24 and the Men 104-19 with Guam outclassed in both contests.
Taranaki guard Caitlin O’Connell led the Kiwi Women’s scoring with 20 points ably supported by Rochelle Fourie (19 points and 6 rebounds), Chynelle Marama with 15 points and Arielle Williams with a dozen.
New Zealand 110– Caitlin O’Connell 20, Rochelle Fourie 19, Chynelle Marama 15, Arielle Williams 12, Ashlee Strawbridge 10, E Tahata 9, Olivia Williams 8, Sophie Adams 6, Jess Moors 4, Hannah Matehaere 4, Ella Paleaae-Cook 2, Paris Mason 1
Guam 26
The Men’s win was built on solid defence whilst at the offensive end all the team made scoring contributions led by Robbie Coman’s 16 points.
Also in double figures were Campbell Atkinson (14 points), Sean Murphy (13 points), Rishon Royce (12 points and 7 rebounds) and Finn Lally (10 points).
New Zealand 104– R Coman 16, C Atkinson 14, S Murphy 13, R Royce 12/7rebs, F Lally 10, Z Stallworth 9, R Maxwell-Topia 7, H Payne 6, C Ngan 6, A McNaught 6, E Vaigafa 5/8r
Guam 19– I Malig 6
Both New Zealand teams take on Australia tomorrow to decide top spot in their Pools.
The Men play at midday and the Women play at 2pm (NZST).
The top-two finishers at the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship advance to the FIBA Under 18 Asian Championship, which is the official qualifier to the FIBA U19 World Cup.
Both New Zealand Men’ and Women’s teams opened their FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship campaign with a comfortable wins against Samoa in New Caledonia on Monday.
The Women won 93-35 and the Men 78-37.
Ahead 52-22 at half-time New Zealand Women’s Head Coach Hernando Planells was able to give all of his players plenty of game time.
All 12 players responded by putting points on the board with Arielle Williams, Olivia Williams, Caitlin O’Connell and Ella Paleaae-Cook all making double figures
Sophie Adams led the rebounding count with 7 boards and Jess Moors was a beast on defence claiming 6 steals.
New Zealand plays Guam tomorrow morning at 10am before rounding out pool play on Wednesday against Australia.
New Zealand 93– Arielle Williams 17, Olivia Williams 16, Caitlin O’Connell 11/4a, Ella Paleaae-Cook 10, Ashlee Strawbridge 8, Rochelle Fourie 6, Emilee Tahata 6, Sophie Adams 5/7r, Paris Mason 4, Chynelle Marama 4/5a, Hannah Matehaere 4, Jess Moors 2/6st
Samoa 35– Shaylee Coulter-Faamafu 11/9r, Charlize Lealiiee 8/4r.
The U17 Men also eased past Samoa winning 78-37.
Robbie Coman got off to a hot start, going two from three from both the line and field to race out to six points. Samoa struggled to score the ball from the get-go and trailed the Kiwis 24-13 at quarter time.
Harbour’s Sean Murphy ended the half with 16 points and was the only Kiwi to pass the 10-point mark at that time with a 45-21 lead established.
The Kiwis put together a 15-0 run to commence the second half and cruised to the win thereafter – a game against Guam the next assignment on Tuesday afternoon.
New Zealand 78– Sean Murphy 16, Robbie Coman 14, Finn Lally 10, Harry Payne 8, Reihana Maxwell-Topia 8/8r, Ezrah Vaigafa 6, Campbell Atkinson 4, Connor Ngan 4, Zeke Stallworth 4, Alex McNaught 2, Rishon Royce 2/6r.
Samoa 37– Derhyse Matautia 7, Jordan Brunt 7.
New Zealand U15 Boys made a good start at the FIBA Oceania U15 Champs in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Tuesday beating Guam 131-41.
All twelve Kiwis got on the scoresheet with Head Coach Morgan Maskell able to give all his players decent court time – no player on court for more than twenty-five minutes.
New Zealand led 26-10 at quarter time and steadily built their advantage thereafter.
Cantabrian Hunter Adam led the New Zealand scoring with 23 points – seven players posting double figures.
New Zealand play hosts PNG on Wednesday.
NZ 131 – H Adam 23, Z Riley 15, S Tawera 15, R Trego 13, J Thompson 12, L Kerr 11, T Gapare 10, J De Young 9, B Gold 8, J Book 6, E Skelton 5, A McBirney-Griffin 4
The Aon Junior Tall Ferns finished fifth at the 2018 U18 Asian Championships in Bangalore on Friday after a resounding 75-47 win against Chinese Taipei.
Charlisse Leger-Walker led the way for the Kiwis with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Leah Mafua also had a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds) and there were major contributions from Charlotte Whittaker (14 points/7 rebounds) and defensive tyro Koha Lewis (11 points/7rebounds/5assists).
A pair of baskets to Mafua helped the JTF’s to an early 10-2 lead although that was reduced a little by quarter-time, 14-9 the advantage.
New Zealand dealt in free-throws at the outset of the second, Whittaker, Mafua and Emme Shearer each connecting with a brace as the lead moved to 20-13.
New Zealand was charged with a couple of dubious offensive fouls but thanks to a trio of Whittaker baskets led 29-21 in the middle stages of quarter two.
The Kiwi defence was guilty of giving up some uncontested lay-ups at that stage but after shoring up that deficiency were able dominate the closing stages of the half. Corner threes from Shearer and Lewis took the JTF’s to a 37-21 half-time lead.
Whittaker led all scorers with 12 points at the interval.
Six points from Ella Bradley highlighted an even third quarter that also saw scores from the hard working Lewis and Otago guard Olivia O’Neill – NZ ahead 56-39 with ten minutes to play.
Mafua knocked down her third triple of the game but the Kiwi scoring then dried up for a spell as Chinese Taipei closed the gap slightly (60-47).
Any thoughts of Chinese Taipei eating further into the JTF’s advantage were dispelled as Lewis, Bradley, Whittaker and Leger-Walker rattled off a 15 unanswered points between them to finish the contest and tournament in style.
Fittingly the JTF’s two leading scorers Whittaker and Leger-Walker made the final two baskets of the game. Whittaker finished with 69 points at 13.8ppg and Leger-Walker one shy of that mark with 68 points.
The top four teams progress to the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup, disappointingly New Zealand miss out on a trip to Thailand next July.
FINAL SCORE
NZ 75 – C Leger-Walker 18/10r, C Whittaker 14/7r, L Mafua 13/10r, K Lewis 11/7r/5a, E Bradley 6/5r, E Shearer 5/6r, R Fourie 4, T Dalton 2/6a, O O’Neill 2
The Aon Junior Tall Ferns bid to claim a berth at the 2019 FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup came to an end in Bangalore, India last night.
The JTF’s were beaten 82-66 by Australia in a preliminary semi-final tie at the U18 Asian Championships on Thursday. Australia not only secured a semi-final spot but, along with the other three semi-finalists, a place at the U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand next July.
Seven minutes into the third quarter the Kiwis trailed by thirty points (60-30) and looked to headed to a flogging. However, led by the outstanding Ella Bradley (14 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in a game high thirty-five minutes), the Australian advantage was slowly eroded as the JTF’s mounted a spirited riposte.
The Waikato forward scored ten straight points for NZ as they closed the third frame trailing 65-44.
Charlisse Leger-Walker opened the fourth quarter scoring but fouled out shortly afterwards. Tayla Dalton picked up the slack scoring eight straight points and the Australian lead was down to fifteen (69-54).
Bradley and Leah Mafua combined to keep the deficit at fifteen (75-60) with five minutes to play. Grace Hunter then unleashed back-to back triples and with two minutes to play, and the Kiwis closing, Australia were looking over their shoulders and needed a timeout (77-66).
The Kiwi comeback ended there as he Aussies re-grouped to close out the game and advance to the semi-finals.
Earlier the Australians, beaten by Korea in their final pool game, were in no mood to drop consecutive games opening up proceedings with the first nine points of the game before Rochelle Fourie got the Kiwi scoreboard moving.
Charlotte Whittaker picking up two personal fouls in the opening three minutes was a set back for New Zealand that trailed 23-15 at quarter-time – 6 points in the quarter from Mafua.
Whittaker made her first score of the game to open the second period before Hunter netted a triple. A Koha Lewis And-1 meant the Australia lead was just four points (27-23) but the Kiwis suffered a set back with Leger-Walker picking up her fourth foul.
Without their influential playmaker New Zealand gave up 11 straight points to trail 41-25 at half-time.
Another 19-5 Aussie run preceded the New Zealand revival, the JTF’s left to rue giving their opponents such a massive lead that they couldn’t quite reel in.
FINAL SCORE
NZ 66 – E Bradley 14/12r, L Mafua 13, T Dalton 10, G Hunter 9, K Lewis 5/6r, C Leger-Walker 5/6r, R Fourie 5, E Shearer 3, C Whittaker 2
AUSTRALIA 82
The Aon Junior Tall Ferns are one win away from claiming a berth at the 2019 FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup after defeating Malaysia 99-32 overnight in Bangalore, India.
The victory means the JTF’s finish third in Pool B and now play Australia in a preliminary semi-final tie at the U18 Asian Championships on Thursday. In something of an upset Korea defeated Australia 63-62 in Pool A to advance directly to the semi-finals.
The winner not only secures a semi-final spot but, along with the other three semi-finalists, a place at the U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand next July.
Charlotte Whittaker, on her way to a game high 18 points, scored the first four points of the game against Malaysia. Leah Mafua, Ella Bradley, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Tayla Dalton and Emme Shearer all featured on the scoreboard as New Zealand forged a 28-12 first quarter lead.
From there it was largely one-way traffic as the quarter scores suggest. 26-7 in the second, 22-6 in the third and 22-7 in the fourth – all in favour of the JTF’s.
Nine Kiwis scored seven points or more with Manawatu’s Rochelle Fourie recording a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Waikato trio of Bradley (8 points/10 rebounds), Leger-Walker (9 points/10rebounds) and Koha Lewis (8 points/6rebounds/8assists) also threatened double-double territory.
Head Coach Jody Cameron was able to share the workload with all twelve players registering double-digit minutes and only Lewis and Bradley playing in excess of twenty minutes.
“The team performed really well tonight, solidifying our offensive play, as we build up for the game against Australia. We got some really good minutes right across the team which has given the players confidence around what we are trying to achieve. We were able to solidify our offence.
“We feel good about where we are at and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing our counterparts from across the ditch,” said Cameron.
Time for a bit of team R&R on Wednesday before the sterner test of Australia on Thursday.
In the other Pool B game Japan beat China 94-79.
FINAL SCORE
NZ 98 – C Whittaker 18, T Dalton 15, R Fourie 14/10r, E Shearer 10, C Leger-Walker 9/10r, E Bradley 8/12r, T Talo-Tomokino 8, L Mafua 7, K Lewis 8/6r/8a, S Kennedy 2
MALAYSIA 32
LACEY LOWDOWN 