Dilworth’s late season hot form continued on Monday with a 97-93 home victory against second on the table Northcote College in Round 13 of the Boy’s Senior A competition.
An upset didn’t look on the cards early on as Northcote eased to a 23-19 lead but it was a decisive run by Dilworth, in the second period, that set up the victory.
The hosts took the quarter 33-15 as Ikahui Mahe, Nepia Moore, Owen Pattison and Kingston Kai’lahi-Aso ignited their offence.
Aaron Sievert scored a customary game high 39 points as Northcote mounted a second half comeback. The Cote shot maker was ably assisted by Tane Cook, Tom Bates and Dontaye Sowman-Faaee but that second quarter assault from Dilworth gave them a large enough buffer to complete a fourth consecutive win.
Northcote will entertain Avondale in their final regular season game on Friday, a contest that could well be a dress rehearsal for the semi-finals the following Friday.
Dilworth 97 – O Pattison 32, K Kai’lahi-Aso 28, Nepia Moore 10, Ikahui Mahe 9, Ivan Kerr 8
Northcote 93 – Sievert 39, Tane Cook 17, Tom Bates 13, Dontaye Sowman-Faaee 11
Manurewa High trailed at every quarter before they finally found a spark to outscore Aorere 23-10 in the all-important fourth quarter.
A physical contest witnessed three of the ‘big’ men fouling out; Brian Tapu (18 points) from Manurewa and the Gordon brothers, Franklyne and Christopher (22 points) from Aorere.
With William Passi attending the Basketball Without Borders camp in Canberra Manurewa only had an 8-man squad for the game. That went to seven when top point-getter Richard Campbell landed awkwardly and had to retire with a knee injury.
The void was filled by a posse of Manurewa players in the fourth – Issachar Pati scored 6 points, Briand Tapu 8 and Alex Hughes 7 as the hosts came home on a full head of steam.
Earlier Chris Gordon, Moroki Tauhare and Addison Nielsen had kept Aorere to the fore – ahead at the three breaks (22-16), (36-33) and (54-50).
Manurewa, a semi-final berth assured, visit top of the table St Peter’s on Friday.
Manurewa 73 – B Tapu 18, A Hughes 17, R Ancha 14, Richard Campbell 8, Issachar Pati 8
Aorere 64 – C Gordon 22, Moroki Tauhara 20, Addison Nielsen 7, Tanielu Taito 6
In other games St Peter’s College remain unbeaten after an 82-68 success against Mt Roskill Grammar while semi-final bound Avondale College defeated Macleans College 90-76.
Westlake Girls wrapped up the Auckland Prems regular season championship with a comfortable 88-58 victory at nearest rivals Baradene College.
The game began promisingly for Baradene with Poppy Cavanagh-Briggs making three straight baskets. Deyna Topia landed a triple and the hosts had the ideal start, ahead 19-16.
The optimism amongst the home supporters was dented in the second as Westlake piled on 29 points to take a 45-29 advantage into the break.
Mackenzie Chatfield, Amiya Fotu, Sarah and Rebecca Moors inflicted the damage with Chatfield’s 19 first half points including four made 3-pointers.
Unfortunately for Baradene they couldn’t find any answers after the interval as Westlake put the result to bed with a 28-10 quarter – Izzy Pugh’s inside game troubling the hosts.
Topia and Ritorya Tamilo brightened the mood in the home camp in the fourth quarter with a cluster of baskets however it was Westlake with the biggest smiles as they enjoyed a 13th consecutive win.
Westlake will play the winners of the Epsom Girls v St Kentigern tie being played on Thursday night. Baradene will contest the other semi against MAGS.
Baradene 58 – D Topia 17, P Cavanagh-Briggs 14, R Tamilo 11, Amelia Nathan 6
Westlake 88 – Chatfield 24, A Fotu 20, I Pugh 16, R Moors 11, Jaelah Clayton 8, S Moors 7
The St Mary’s against Mt Albert Grammar clash was missing two of the brightest prospects in Auckland high school basketball.
MAGS were missing the services of Waimanu Clarken, attending the Basketball Without Borders camp in Canberra, while St Mary’s have lost the services of Kodee Williams-Sefo – side-lined for the remainder of the season with a leg injury.
The absences had a far more detrimental affect on St Mary’s as they were beaten 95-38.
Faith Ualika top scored for St Mary’s while MAGS enjoyed scoring contributions across the board as coach Brent Lay e gave an extended run to a number of his younger squad members.
St Mary’s 38 – Faith Ualika 12, India Nash 9, Layla Aholelei 6, Christiana Setu 5
MAGS 95 – April Liu 28, Te Arina Roberts 13, Lara Cocker-Lemalie 12, Jorjia Fiu 11, Niesha Dighe 8, Valana Pupuke-Robati 7, Emina Tiatia 7
Epsom Girls Grammar’s all-round offensive prowess proved too good for Carmel as they recorded an 88-60 victory to maintain their bid for a semi-final berth.
A top four spot will be decided on Thursday night when Epsom entertain St Kentigern College. Both teams have a 7 win-6 loss record meaning the game in effect becomes a quarter-final as the winner will move on to face Westlake whilst the losers will prepare for Secondary Schools Nationals Qualifying Tournament.
Carmel made a strong showing in the opening half with Ruby Railton, Amie Gaylard and Jemma Cammell regularly breaching the Epsom defence. Down 20-14 at the quarte mark and 39-29 at half-time Carmel were very much in the contest.
That changed after the interval as Epsom enjoyed a dominant 29-13 third quarter – Draun Forbes, Maya Fowler and Leah Patuwairua each doing damage – to settle the tie.
Millie Lloyd got on the scoreboard for Carmel in the fourth. Likewise Andrea Ape-Paia and Alex Dickers for Epsom.
EGGS 88 – L Patwairuau 42, D Forbes 23, M Fowler 13 Teuila Va’aelua 5
Carmel 60 – J Cammell 20, R Railton 11, I O’Rourke 10, A Gaylard 9
Due to illness in the squad Rangitoto College had to default the fixture against St Kentigern College.
Rosmini College wrapped up the Auckland Prems regular season title with a solid 80-54 victory at Auckland Grammar. In the penultimate round of the regular season here were also wins for Westlake, Mt Albert Grammar and Rangitoto College.
Grammar, missing the services of Will Shortt and Kalid Petzer attending the Basketball Without Borders camp in Canberra, got off to a dreadful start giving up 30 first quarter points to trail by 20.
Charlie Dalton (8 points) and Tom Beattie (13 points) did most the damage for Rosmini – a corner three from Noah Johns capping a dominant opening spell.
Julius Halaifonua made inside buckets either side of the break and with Beattie and Josh Batty knocking down triples the visitors lead was 47-24 at the interval.
Josh Muggleston had 8 points at the break although he and back court partner Cody Brown (7 points) had been well contained by the Rosmini defence.
Ryan Hunt and a couple of aerobatic plays from Jackson Kiss threatened a Grammar revival but that was snuffed out by Halaifonua and Beattie – the Rosmini advantage 64-39 ahead of the fourth.
Full court pressure defence from Grammar forced Rosmini into a number of turnovers but the hosts were unable sustain a significant scoring run.
Anton Seuseu’s inside bucket and Tim Sun’s long three were the scoring highlights of the closing minutes.
In a game that would go a long way to helping paint the final picture of the Premier Boys competition, Rangitoto headed south of the Bridge to take on St Kentigern College. Without Dontae Russo-Nance (attending the Basketball Without Borders camp in Canberra) and Max Johnson St Kent’s were paced by Merrick Rillstone and George Turner, on the other side Rangitoto were held together by the nails and glue combination of the Tongan Tornado Jacob Fotu and Tautoko Wynyard.
After winning the opening tip, Rangi fed a steady diet of post ups between Fotu and Wynyard. Only a Turner triple could break up the early barrage and after 2:12 Aaron Young had seen enough to call a time out, Rangitoto with a 10-3 advantage. Rangitoto’s zone defence was doing a good job of preventing any penetration from St Kent’, forcing outside shots. Despite their smaller stature St Kent’s were making a nuisance of themselves on the offensive boards allowing for repeated Rillstone drives, to get his team back in the game. Kenny Stone felt the need to give his team a break with a 17-9 cushion midway through the first. Aaron Young moved to a zone defence out of the time out and Fotu took advantage, 14 first quarter points helping his team to a 29-14 lead. The only basket coming outside of the paint for the visitors was a late Kaia Dryden corner 3 courtesy of some good ball movement.
Both teams made a nervy start to the second quarter with ball handling and passing errors affecting each side. Rillstone took advantage of an errant pass to grab a runaway dunk to eventually get the scoring underway. After a 6-2 Rangitoto run Aaron Young decided another chat with his troops was required. Wynyard got his first dunk off the night, extending the Rangitoto lead to 22 off a beautifully executed Dryden pass. St Kent’s were finally able to answer and converted twice from beyond the arc via Turner and Jack Foley advancing the score to 40-24. Rillstone scored 7 straight for the hosts who were trying to keep Rangitoto within reach, a Cooper Lepou triple ignited the home crowd who could sense a momentum shift but with a Fotu spinning lay-up to end the quarter it was Rangitoto who were in the ascendancy 49-34.
The start of the second half mirrored the first, Wynyard with his second slam of the evening getting his team on the board. St Kent’s, buoyed by their fans, rattled off 6 straight via Hunter Te Ratana but had a tough time at the other end in trying to slow down Wynyard and Fotu. The two key cogs for Rangi scored all 13 points in the period through an array of nifty footwork and delightful high-low passing. A block from Wynyard on Rillstone made it appear as though the defensive anchor was going to close the door on St Kent’s but a triple on the resulting inbound, a well-timed block in transition and another three-pointer from the Waikato age group representative gave his team hope – the score back to 61-49 with 2:41 to play in the third. Defence was the phrase the rest of the period, Rangitoto going into the final stanza up 62-50 on the back of another Wynyard block.
Once again Rangitoto started the stronger of two sides with quick baskets but unruly play allowed St Kent’s to grab 8 straight points reigniting the crowd – Stone had seen enough, a timeout required with 6:38 to play – Rangitoto nursing a 66-58 lead. Fotu once again scored but on the other end Turners sixth triple of the evening cut the lead to 7. It wasn’t to be their night though, Wynyards final dunk of the night putting an exclamation mark on proceedings with 1:20 to go, Rangitoto victors 77-68, in the process keeping alive their chances of a semi-final berth.
St Kentigern 68 – Rillstone 30, Turner 20, Te Ratana 12
Rangitoto 77 – Fotu 26, Wynyard 25, Michael Ropotini 10
In front of a raucous crowd on seniors night Sacred Heart College produced one of their best performances of the season before going down to Westlake Boys High 75-67.
With Heart, led by Josh Stewart (26 points), ahead 55-53 at three-quarter time it required a captain’s performance from Rocco Chang to steer Westlake to victory.
Chang had been kept quiet to that point but he came up with 11 points in the fourth after Daniel Ottenhoff (26 points) had nabbed the first six of the period – Heart outscored 22-12 in the last ten minutes.
Stewart had 9 points in the opening frame – edged 17-16 by Westlake.
Hamza Zahran scored Westlake’s last 6 points of the opening half as Heart, via Stewart, Adam Davies, Jerome Jakeman and Matt Fautuaalii carved out a 36-34 half time lead.
The two teams went basket for basket in the third to set up a grandstand finish in the fourth – Chang and Westlake prevailing to confirm a top three finish on the Premier League ladder.
Sacred Heart 67 – Stewart 26, Davies 13, Jakeman 9
Liston College enjoyed their best spell of basketball in a number of weeks as they forged a 30-26 half-time lead against Mt Albert Grammar School.
Rasheed Ieremia posted 8 points and Adrian Fabian 6 for Liston who also enjoyed scoring contributions from six other players in an encouraging display.
Mt Albert set about gaining the initiative in style in the third period. Not only did they add starch at the defensive end keeping Liston to 9 points but reeled off 27 of their own.
Kade Cartwright scored 10 of his game high 21 points and Will Leger tallied 6 as MAGS enjoyed an 18-point swing in the period.
Dhon Lao and Manu Tuaere led a Liston mini revival in the final quarter but Leger capped a fine all round performance with 9 points in the fourth to see off the spirited Liston challenge.
Liston 60 – Rasheed Ieremia 13, Adrian Fabian 11, Dhon Lao 9, Manu Tuaere 7
MAGS 72 – Will Leger 21, Kade Cartwright 17, Stepan Kusenko 11, Denvor Elia 10, Ben Skelton 6
Round 12 of the Girls Senior A Grade competition saw wins for Northcote College, Auckland Girls Grammar and Massey High School.
Paced by 26 points from DJ Hannah, Northcote College maintained second place on the Senior A ladder with an 81-65 home win against Manurewa High School.
Northcote were out to a 26-12 quarter time lead before being pegged back slightly in the second.
Sela Uluheua also had 26 points in the game – along with Shirley Tuimulu the Manurewa effort reduced the Northcote lead to 63-52 at three-quarter time.
Hannah and Nikki Gear eased Northcote to the win in the final quarter.
Northcote 81 – DJ Hannah 26, Nikki Gear 15, Grace Lai 11, Lizzie May 10, Lily Morgan 7
In the game of the round Angelica Vahai amassed 38 points but couldn’t prevent One Tree Hill College being pipped 58-57 by Auckland Girls Grammar School.
Vahai and Milla Eckford helped One Tree Hill to a 16-15 early lead but Grady Nikoia’s scoring burst gave AGGS a 33-26 half-time lead.
Faith Hurt and Fuschia Traill helped AGGS build a decisive 47-34 three-quarter lead only for OTH were to storm back in the last ten minutes.
Vahai scored 15 points in the fourth and gaining good support from Melaia Tuisuva and Harriate Heta OTH almost pulled off a dramatic come from behind win.
Mt Roskill Grammar defeated Aorere College 71-60 with a fourth quarter run of 25-18 decisive
Whilst the Gordon brothers Chris and Franklyne did all the damage for Aorere it was ultimately the shot making of Roskill’s Zachan Kemen that made the difference. He nailed three of his four triples in the final quarter to seal a sixth win of the season for Roskill.
Northcote College edged a tight encounter with Manurewa High School 80-75.
The first quarter had the teams tied at 23 points each and by halftime there was still only a basket separating the two teams – Manurewa 43-41 ahead.
Manurewa did a good holding Aaron Sievert to only two 3-pointers, although the Northcote shooting guard did finish with a game high 35 points.
With three starters in foul trouble by the end of the third quarter Manurewa were struggling to hold Northcote who outscored the visitors 38-32 in the second half.
Richard Campbell and Brian Tapu combined for 44 points for Manurewa. For Northcote Tom Bates and Tane Cook lent good support to Sievert.
Manurewa 75 – Campbell 24, Tapu 20, Jarell Tuhega 12, Ryan Ancha 7
Unbeaten St Peter’s College were made to work hard in the first half by Macleans College before securing a 100-70 victory.
Levi Smyth and Jamie Carville were prominent as Macleans carved out an 18-17 first quarter lead extended to 44-38 at half-time.
The regular season champions came out firing after the interval as Scott Errey, Milan Tolich and Bailey Smith led a rampant St Peter’s to a 31-point quarter.
Ahead 69-58 at three-quarter time the Saints cruised through the closing minutes for win number 12.
Macleans 70 – Smyth, 22, Carville 14, Declan Puffy 11, Teegan La Grange 8, Christian Mutti 7
St Peter’s 100– Errey 32, Andrei Manio 20, Tolich 18, Smith 13, Toby Cox 7
Dilworth made it three wins on the bounce with an 89-78 home win against Avondale College.
Owen Pattison got Dilworth off to a flying start with his 10 first quarter points. Ahead by 5 points at the quarter break it was 51-39 by half-time as Nepia Moore demonstrated his shot making ability – three triples in the half.
Talking of triples, Kabir Bhargava would make six as he and Jimi Iosia-Sipeli kept Avondale in the hunt but a 73-57 three-quarter time deficit was too much to claw back especially as Damon Kitchen kept the score ticking over for Dilworth.
Dilworth 89 – Moore 17, Damon Kitchen 17, Pattison 15, Ivan Kerr 14, Kingston Kai’lahi-Aso 10, Ikahui Mahe 9
Editorial limitations means the Round 12 roundup is somewhat abbreviated. Normal service will resume in Round 13.
Jemma Cammell produced a captains knock of 32 points to carry Carmel College to a decisive 74-55 win at Rangitoto College.
The second quarter proved decisive after a 14 points apiece opener. Carmel put on 28 points to establish a 42-28 half-time lead and built on their advantage at each break.
Imogen O’Rourke, Zahara Tibbotts and Ruby Railton lent Cammell good support – Aroha Riley and Amelia Andrews in double figures for Rangitoto.
Congratulations to Carmel on their first win of the season.
Epsom Girls Grammar went down 103-71 at Westlake Girls but deserve credit for their performance. Down 58-22 at half-time their resistance could have evaporated but they fought back well in the second half and deservedly won the final quarter, putting on 30 points in the process.
Led by their seniors Mackenzie Chatfield, Amiya Fotu, Jaelah Clayton, Izzzy Pugh and Rebecca Moors, Westlake were rampant in the first two periods logging 32 points in the opening spell and 26 in the second.
Well supported by Draun Forbes and Maya Fowler, Leah Patuwairua was an offensive spark for Epsom scoring a game high 31 points.
Westlake 103 – Pugh 27, R Moors 18, Chatfield 15, A Fotu 13, Clayton 11, S Moors 8
EGGS 71 – Patuwairua 31, Forbes 16, Fowler 14
Jemma Cammell produced a captains knock of 32 points to carry Carmel College to a decisive 74-55 win at Rangitoto College.
The second quarter proved decisive after a 14 points apiece opener. Carmel put on 28 points to establish a 42-28 half-time lead and built on their advantage at each break.
Imogen O’Rourke, Zahara Tibbotts and Ruby Railton lent Cammell good support – Aroha Riley and Amelia Andrews in double figures for Rangitoto.
Mt Albert Grammar breezed to a comfortable 88-43 home win against St Kentigern College.
MAGS took control of the game in the second quarter with a dominating 29-11 spell. Jorjia Fiu scored 9 points in the period, and April Liu 8, to propel MAGS to a 42-20 half-time lead.
The victory secures MAGS a semi-final berth in the play-offs in a couple of weeks’ time.
Editorial limitations (lack of time!) means the Round 12 wrap is somewhat abbreviated. Normal service will resume in Round 13.
Wins on Friday for Sacred Heart, Westlake, Rosmini and St Kentigern – a quiet 61 points from Dontae Russo-Nance in that one!
Russo-Nance pushed his, and the Premier Grade, individual points best to 61 as St Kentigern College beat Mt Albert Grammar in overtime.
St Kent’s were 6 points down inside the last 60 seconds before firstly Russo-Nance and then Merrick Rillstone (33 points), with 8 seconds remaining, hit triples to tie proceedings at 92 points apiece.
Russo-Nance bossed the overtime period making his seventh and eighth triples to carry St Kent’s to win number seven on the season.
The result strengthens St Kent’s hold on a top four spot but eliminates MAGS from semi-final contention with two rounds of the regular season to play.
MAGS 99 –
St Kentigern106 – Russo-Nance 61, Rillstone 33
Sacred Heart College are celebrating a second win of the season after beating Liston College 79-71.
It was neck and neck through the first three-quarters – Sacred Heart ahead 60-56 at that stage.
Liston held a 4 point lead early in the fourth but a quick turnaround from Sacred Heart pushed them out to an 11 point lead at one stage.
Dhon Lao and Rasheed Ieremia were outstanding for the hosts with Dalton Dennis a standout for Heart. His 17 points and double figure rebounds, Josh Stewart’s 25 points alongside 14 from Adam Davies ensured the visitors would grab the win.
Liston 71 – Ieremia 23, Lao 15, Seb Alan 10, Adrian Fabian 8
Sacred Heart 79 – Stewart 25, Dennis 17, Davies 14
Westlake Boys edged Auckland Grammar 95-92. Grammar guard Josh Muggleston made a couple of late threes to bag the win against Rangitoto last Monday and he almost forced overtime in this one but his effort, with time expiring, hit the back of the iron and bounced out.
In a high scoring encounter Grammar fought back from a 75-66 three-quarter time deficit to tie proceedings at the mid-point of the fourth but key scores from Rocco Chang and Hadi Alshami got Westlake over the line.
Westlake 95 – Hamza Zahran 28, Chang 24, Daniel Ottenhoff 24, Malachi Book 8
Tom Beattie’s 27 points paced Rosmini College to an 86-62 road win at Rangitoto College. Rosmini took a low scoring first half 32-22 before pulling clear with a 28-16 third quarter burst.
Tautoko Wynyard, with 18 points, was the best for Rangi who probably have to win their remaining three games to claim a spot in the semi-finals.
Rangitoto 62 – Wynyard 18, Jacob Fotu 13, Arnold Nam 12, Joel Brown 8
Rosmini 86 – Beattie 27, Julius Halaifonua 16, Charlie Dalton 9, Chris Wyllie 9
Josh Muggleston and Cody Brown have been in terrific form this season, the backcourt duo playing a big part in Auckland Grammar’s push for the Auckland Secondary Schools Premier Grade regular season title.
Our good friends at Dynamic Sport New Zealand have kindly donated prizes for outstanding Premier Grade performances – these two are worthy recipients.
The pair have featured strongly in all of the 10 competition games that Grammar have played this season.
In Round 1 Cody scored 28 points against Liston and followed that with 21 against MAGS.
It was the turn of Josh to shine against Sacred Heart scoring a game high 23 points.
The pair were both in the twenties against Westlake and Rosmini – 28 and 26 for Josh and 31 and 20 for Cody.
In the high scoring 94-92 Round 7 defeat of Saint Kentigern the pair combined for 70 points – Josh with 36 and Cody 32.
Another 30 for Josh against Liston was followed by 21 versus MAGS.
Last Friday Cody scored 26 against Sacred Heart and in the rearranged game at Rangitoto College on Monday Grammar eked out a hard fought 70-64 road win – Josh landed a pair of threes in the last couple of minutes to secure victory in that one.
Takapuna Grammar School and Manurewa High School played out one of the best games of Senior A Girls Basketball this season on Monday night.
Takapuna’s unbeaten record came under serious threat before they eventually prevailed 68-61, on their home court, to extend their unbeaten run to eleven games.
Alyssa Uluheua scored 9 first quarter points for Manurewa but triples from Bailey Flavell and Amy McKenzie helped propel Takapuna to a 17-13 first quarter lead.
It was Sela Uluheua’s turn to do the bulk of the Manurewa scoring in the second. She scored 10 points while Flavell had 7 – the Taka lead reduced to three points at the break (32-29).
Points from Shirley Tuilimu gave Manurewa the lead for a while in a tight third quarter before Qaizden Stephano and Flavell restored Takapuna’s lead – ahead 55-45 at three-quarter time.
Manurewa were far from finished – Sela Uluheua took her tally to 19 points as they outscored Takapuna 16-13 in the final ten minutes. Stephano and Manaia Watson made crucial baskets to hold off Manurewa and preserve Takapuna’s winning run.
Looking at the current standings the two teams could meet in the Senior A semi-finals later in the month. We look forward to another cracking game if that should be the case.
Takapuna 68 – Q Stephano 21, B Flavell 18, A McKenzie 14, M Watson 11
Manurewa 61 – S Uluheua 19, A Uluheua 15, S Tuilimu 7, Bella Manu-Moore 6
Recap of the other Round 11 fixtures.
A 33 points outing from Allyah Leusogi-Ape paced Massey High to a comfortable 78-45 win against One Tree Hill College.
Leusogi-Ape, fresh off making her Northern Kāhu debut earlier in the week, scored the first seven points for Massey as they opened up a 19-11 first quarter lead.
Angelica Vahai scored 18 points for One Tree Hill but Massey were largely untroubled as they steadily increased their advantage – Cyntalia Schuster, Kortni and Tahlya Waikiki were the other double figure contributors for Massey.
Massey 78 – Leusogi-Ape 33, K Waikiki 12, C Schuster 11, T Waikiki 11
One Tree Hill 45 – Vahai 18, M Eckford 8, R Kivalu 8
DJ Hannah dropped 36 points as Northcote College rattled up a convincing 113-42 victory against Mt Roskill Grammar. Lizzie May made six 3-pointers amongst her 24 points while there were also double figure outings from Lisa Gear and Misha Aitchison.
Nellie and Bree Ioane worked tirelessly for Mount Roskill scoring 25 points and 9 respectively.
Mt Roskill 42 – N Ioane 25, B Ioane 9
Northcote 113 – Hannah 36, L May 24, L Gear 18, M Aitchison 15, N Gear 9
Auckland Girls Grammar, led by Faith Hurt (22 points), had six players with nine points or more as they dominated proceedings against Avondale College.
Shiloh Caffery’s 22 points was an outstanding effort in a losing cause.
Avondale 29 – S Caffery 22
AGGS 102 – F Hurt 22, F Traill 19, R Nikoia 17, T Ioelu 14, G Nikoia 10, H Hurt 9
In a rescheduled fixture Auckland Grammar eked out a hard fought 70-64 road win at Rangitoto College.
Grammar were indebted to Josh Muggleston who landed a pair of threes in the last couple of minutes to secure the victory.
Grammar carried a narrow 50-48 lead in the final quarter with Muggleston doing most of the heavy lifting in the final frame. Kahn Treacher got things rolling with a brace of baskets but Muggleston was the go-to guy scoring a dozen of his team high 23 points when it mattered.
Tautoko Wynyard scored 8 points for Rangitoto in the final period but the hosts were outscored 20-16 in the frame.
Wynyard was a menace throughout with his ability to dominate the paint at both ends of the court.
Wynyard scored 11 points in the opening quarter as Rangi gained a 19-12 lead. He added a further eight in the second as he and his front court running mate Jacob Fotu, along with Michael Ropotini, kept Rangi in the ascendancy (34-31).
Cody Brown, with 9 points either side of half-time, initiated a momentum shift. A couple of buckets each from Muggleston and Will Shortt helped Grammar tally 19 points in the third to take that 50-48 lead.
Despite the best efforts of Wynyard, it was Muggleston that stole the show in the fourth to seal the win.
The victory solidifies Grammar’s top four standing – the regular season title looking to be a three-way tussle between Rosmini College, Westlake Boys and Grammar.
Rangitoto 64 – Wynyard 33, Ropotini 17, Fotu 11
AGS 70 – Muggleston 23, Treacher 19, Brown 12
Current Standings:
10-1 Rosmini
8-2 AGS
8-3 Westlake
6-5 St Kentigern
5-5 Rangitoto
5-6 MAGS
1-10 Sacred Heart
0-11 Liston
There was also a road victory in Senior A with Dilworth School winning 88-68 at Macleans College.
On his way to a game high 30 points Jamie Carville landed three triples in the opening quarter. Owen Pattison replied with 9 points – Dilworth ahead 22-21 at quarter time.
Christian Muti continued the three-point barrage from Macleans but a brace of triples from Ivan Kerr ensured the Dilworth had a 40-34 advantage at the break.
A tight third quarter followed – Dilworth ahead 60-53 at the last break.
Carville landed his fifth triple and Muti his fourth but Macleans were unable to wrestle the advantage from the visitors.
Dilworth closed it out with 28 points in the final period – 11 different players making scoring plays in the quarter to seal the victory – Ikahui Mahe and Kingston Kai’lahi-Aso joined Pattison and Kerr in double figures.
LACEY LOWDOWN 