LACEY LOWDOWN

The Auckland Secondary Schools Boys Premier Grade regular season title race is still a three horse race after Rosmini College defeated Westlake Boys 96-76 in a Round 11 fixture on Monday night.

Completing the double over Lake, Rosmini were well led by Guard Chris Wyllie who posted a game high 31 points. Bart Jackowski chimed in with 19 points while Josh Wyllie, Mattie Dalton and Hunter Johns also made double figure contributions.

Noah Rasmussen was outstanding in a losing cause scoring 26 points with Oscar Neville and Daley Poiho making 11 apiece.

Dalton scored 9 points for Rosmini in the opening quarter but Rasmussen had 8 for Westlake as they carried the narrowest of leads into the first break (23-22).

Rosmini began to seize the initiative in the second period. With Josh Wyllie scoring 9 straight points for the hosts they led 38-33 and after threes from Jackowski and Chris Wyllie it was 46-40 at half-time.

Rosmini trajectory continued in an upward curve as they opened the second half with a 9-2 run. Neville landed his second from beyond the arc and the hustling Rasmussen conjured up 9 points but the hosts got a dozen out of Chris Wyllie and a three from Xavier Wells to lead 78-61 at three-quarter time.

Troy Supple and Harper Wilson made the opening scores of the fourth stanza but any chance of a Westlake comeback were snuffed out by Jackowski who sunk three triples in the closing minutes – Lake slipping to just their second defeat of the season.

Rosmini 96 – C Wyllie 31, Jackowski 19, J Wyllie 15, Dalton 14, Johns 10

Westlake 76 – Rasmussen 26, Pohio 11, Neville 11, Supple 8, Wilson 8, Wentworth 8

The closest game of the round was at St Peter’s College where Cooper Lepou scored a career best 37 points for St Kentigern but it wasn’t quite enough to get his team the win – although it was mighty close with St Kent’s going down 79-75.

Lepou warmed up with 9 points in the opening quarter and Charlie Hughes added 5 but 8 points from Bryan Marsters helped St Peter’s to a 25-21 lead.

Lepou and Co dominated the second period 22-13. The shooting guard scored 13 and with

Jamie Griffin connecting from deep the visitors led 43-38 at half-time.

The scoreline in the third was almost identical but this time 21-13 in favour of St Peter’s – 8 points from Tana Ekerome the major contribution.

Trailing 59-56 Lepou, Griffin and Hughes combined for all 19 of St Kent’s points in the final minutes but they fell just short as Marsters, Alex Davis and Spencer Carr put together 18 of the hosts 20 points in the last ten minutes.

St Peter’s 79 – Marsters 18, Carr 17, Ekerome 16, Davis 12

St Kent’s 75 – Lepou 37, Griffin 14, Hughes 13

Sacred Heart College proved too strong for Mt Roskill Grammar winning 103-80 on the road with Sam Snowdon scoring 27, Jamie Vile 24 and See Ieremia 20 points.

The pair helped Heart rack up 32 first quarter points to lead by 11 before Roskill came back strongly in the third.

Wai Tonga and Lincoln Tupa’i-Samuel dropped a couple of threes apiece and with 8 points from Sarangan Sutheswaran Roskill trailed by just five points at the interval (50-45).

It was a similar story in the third as the afore mentioned trio and Ezra Ogbuze got the hosts on level terms at 66 points apiece.

Unfortunately for the home supporters despite Tupa’i-Samuel landing triples number four and five Heart dominated the final term.

Vile produced 10 points in the spell, Snowdon drained a brace of threes ahead of Cam Stewart and Harry Rutter capping off the 37-point fourth quarter barrage.

Mt Roskill 80 –  Tonga 24, Sutheswaran 16, Tupa’i-Samuel 15, Ezra Osbuze 6, Haisem Osman 6

Sacred Heart 103 –Snowdon 27, Vile 24, Ieremia 20, Max Hakaraia 10, Cam Stewart 7

In the traditional Grammar derby top of the table Auckland Grammar, with six players in double figures, beat Mt Albert Grammar 105-65.

MAGS duo Logan Wood and Lucas Cartwright scored 6 points each in the opening quarter although it was won 25-18 by Auckland with Roman Ma’afu-Moerua and Jackson Couper shining.

Finn Lawler nailed a three for MAGS but a similar make from Noah Mackay and half a dozen points each from Couper and Bobby Neels took AGS to a 50-34 half-time lead.

Cartwright, Natu Amanuel and Mose Leiasamaivao kept the scoreboard moving for MAGS in the second half but AGS were travelling at twice the pace.

Lawson Pryor demonstrated his ability from deep dropping a trio of threes and with Brigham Hakaraia scoring 14 second half points it was AGS that cruised to a comfortable win.

AGS 101 – Hakaraia 14, Pryor 14, Couper 14, Ryan Hunt 12, Ma’afu-Moerua 10, Mackay 10, Carver Gibson 7

MAGS 65 – Cartwright 19, Leiasamaivao 10, Wood 6, Amanuel 6, Mikey Moses 6

Standings:

10-1 AGS

9-2 Westlake

8-2 Rosmini

5-6 St Kentigern, St Peter’s

3-7 MAGS

3-8 Sacred Heart

0-11 Mt Roskill

*Mt Albert Grammar v Rosmini College postponed to August 5th.

Will McDowell-White is the 17th Breakers player to play 100 games for the club.

He joins an illustrious group:

Tom Abercrombie (426 games)

Mika Vukona (354)

Paul Henare (250)

Alex Pledger (238)

Corey Webster (236)

Dillon Boucher (220)

CJ Bruton (179)

Finn Delany (181)

Kirk Penney (160)

Rob Loe (145)

Cedric Jackson (130)

Aaron Olson (130)

Oscar Forman (125)

Tim Behrendorff (118)

Reuben Te Rangi (103)

Shea Ili (100)

St Kentigern College, still the reigning champions from 2019 remember, will carry the number one seeding at the 2022 Secondary Schools National Championships in October after downing Westlake 96-71 in the Final of the Zone I Qualifying Tournament at Eventfinda Stadium on Saturday night.

While Dontae Russo-Nance orchestrated proceedings it was Merrick Rillstone’s night to hit the right chords as the rangy forward dropped a staggering 49 points in what turned out to be a one-sided affair. The U15 National Championship MVP had his shooting game in fine tune as his team plundered 51 second half points.

Westlake will be content with a second placed finish, having had to undergo a change of coaching staff prior to the start the tournament, but it promised more when they led 29-19 as Rocco Chang (17 points), Daniel Ottenhoff (16 points) and Hamza Zahran (29 points) began impressively.

The Swans were just three adrift at half-time (45-42) before a major momentum shift in the third became seismic in the fourth as Rillstone, Russo-Nance (26 points) and Hunter Te Ratna (15 points) produced a scoring medley to delight the St Kent’s followers.

Rangitoto College garnered a couple of useful scalps during the tournament and should have made it a third when they led Auckland Grammar 69-60 deep into the fourth quarter and by five points inside the final seconds of the 3^rd/4^th play-off game.

Some indecision in their ranks allowed Josh Howes to make a game levelling three, then Cody Brown (28 points) to make the go-ahead basket with time almost expired – Rangi, unable to come up with an answer on the final possession, were pipped 71-69.

A dozen points each from forwards Jacob Fotu and Tautoko Wynyard, plus 18 from livewire guard Michael Ropotini seemed to have done the trick until Brown pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat.

Rosmini College, one the back of a career best performance from young forward Julius Halaifonua (38 points), came from behind to pip Mt Albert Grammar in the 5^th/6^th place contest.

15 points apiece from Will Leger and Denvor Elia, plus 17 from Dante Matakatea gave MAGS the edge for long spells but Halaifonua and Tom Beattie (26 points) carried Rosmini to victory with a fourth quarter push.

Sacred Heart College claimed the coveted seventh spot at Nationals after defeating St Peter’s College 74-63 in the critical 7^th/8^th play-off game.

The contest was still in the balance at three-quarter time with St Peter’s only 4 points behind (54-50). 

However it was Josh Tengblad (13 points) and Adam Davies (21 points) that proved the difference makers in the fourth as Sacred Heart stamped their ticket for Palmerston North with a 20-13 closing run.

Milan Tolich (17 points), Scott Errey (15 points) and Dorian Sula (14 points) kept the Senior A champions in the hunt but they looked leg weary in the fourth and slipped to a disappointing defeat.

Etco Auckland Dream have been crowned the 2022 Women’s D League champions after defeating the Otago Gold Rush 74-60 at Eventfinda Stadium on Saturday.

The victory was far from straight forward with a resolute Gold Rush out of the blocks the quicker opening up an 11-6 lead, extended to 16-10 at the quarter mark.

In a contrast of styles the guard dominant Dream were being outworked by the front court orientated Gold Rush but made an adjustment in the second. Moving to a two-forwards axis produced immediate dividends as Coola Baudry and Trinity Paeu combined to reduce the deficit to one point.

Baudry gave the Dream its first lead of the game – a dominant second spell meaning they held a 34-29 lead at half-time.

The momentum remained with the Dream at the start of the third with the guards taking their turn to inflict damage – Summer Jean Motufoua, Darci Finnigan and Riana Rangi-Brown taking them to a 45-33 lead.

The response came from Hannah Beede and Sophie Adams (14 points and 18 rebounds), although Rangi-Brown (11 points in the quarter) had the last say of the period – 56-44 the Dream lead with 10 minutes to play.

Twenty points down at the mid-point of the fourth Otago weren’t throwing the towel in – Hannah Matahaere initiated a 7-0 run to fuel the optimism of the travelling supporters.

Fittingly player-coach Darci Finnigan and Tournament MVP Rangi-Brown (25 points) were the next two scorers as the Dream snuffed out the Gold Rush challenge to deservedly take the title.

Auckland Dream 74 – Rangi-Brown 25, Baudry 12, Motufoua 12, Finnigan 9

Otago Gold Rush 60 – Matahaere 15, Adams 14/18rebs, Mitchell 10, Beede 9

The 3^rd/4^th place game went the way of Canterbury after they defeated Harbour Breeze 73-65.

Canterbury: N Gleason 19, K Herman 17, L Pale 14, H Mischewski 9, K Williams 9

Harbour: H Wentworth 19, Y Negishi 12, N Scales 11, I Pugh 9

Other Placing Results:

5^th/6^th Waikato Wizards 95 Rotorua Lady Geysers 67

7^th/8 Taranaki Airs 76 Southland Storm 56

9^th Northland

10^th Manawatu

11^th Tauranga City Coasters

12^th Auckland Dream Blue

Tournament Team

Alyssa Hirawani (Waikato)

Hannah Wentworth (Harbour)

Nicole Gleeson (Canterbury)

Karereatu Williams (Canterbury)

Sophie Adams (Otago)

Caitlin O’Connell (Otago)

Hannah Matahaere (Otago)

Darci Finnigan (Auckland)

Trinity Paeu (Auckland)

MVP – Riana Rangi-Brown (Auckland)

Lacey Lowdown has been covering basketball in New Zealand and abroad for 8 years with a specific focus on high school and collegiate players and programmes.

The website was founded, and is run by, basketball enthusiast Mike Lacey. Having posted 1,600 news stories and attracted half a million website views, the Lacey Lowdown has become a central hub of information, as well as advocating for equal promotion of the men’s and women’s game.

The 2022 High School season begins on May 7 and the Lowdown will begin its 2022 coverage that weekend. The 2022/23 Collegiate season begins in September.

The Lowdown is seeking sponsorship partners for the 2022 Boys High School Season, 2022 Girls High School Season and the 2022/23 US Collegiate Season.

If your business or someone you know is interested in supporting basketball and the coverage of the rising stars in our sport, by entering a partnership with the Lacey Lowdown, please contact Matt Lacey – math3wlacey@gmail.com.

Kendell Heremaia couldn’t repeat her scoring heroics of the day before (top scored with 22 points against George Mason) as sixth seeded Fordham Rams exited the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament after a narrow 66-63 loss to Massachusetts. Heremaia still managed to fill the stats line with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.

Wofford lost the semi-final of Southern Conference Championship to Furman 64-59 – Helen Matthews, in her 50^thappearance for Wofford Terriers, had a couple of rebounds and a block in the defeat.

St Mary’s California checked out of West Coast Conference play-offs after a 71-64 defeat at the hands of Loyola Marymount. Tayla Dalton had singles in assists, steals and blocks plus 8 points and 6 rebounds. Amy West came up with 5 rebounds and a dime.

Number 7 seeded Georgia Southern lost 85-76 to UT Arlington in the Sun Belt Conference quarter-finals. Cantabrian forward Tsubasa Nisbett had 3 points, 3 rebounds and a steal for Georgia Southern.  

Colorado, Colorado Springs were defeated 86-77 by top-seeded Black Hills State in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Conference Tournament. Invercargill native Mac Stodart nabbed a couple of rebounds for Springs.

In Junior College action Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech are into the Grand-Final of the Region 17 Tournament after defeating South Georgia State 78-70.