National AA Secondary Schools Championships – Nelson- Day Three

By Bruce Martin

The Burnside High boys basketball team has qualified for the Top eight quarter-finals at the National AA Secondary Schools Championships being played in Nelson beating Onehunga High 92-86. Led by Oli Davies 26 points and Nick Erwood 22 points and 11 rebounds Burnside pulled out to a 49-35 half-time lead but had to defend vigorously as Onehunga continued to close the gap in the second spell.

The Boys are stoked reports proud mum Sharon. Despite yet to register a win at Nats, Onehunga had lost one game in overtime and a couple of others that were pretty close.  It was our highest scoring game and several times I thought it was safe, then they would hit a couple of threes. There were only 15 fouls called in the whole game, six on them and nine on us. Onehunga had travelled to Nats with only 9 players and that was probably what helped us. Their big man Taleni Seu (26, 18R) was very solid on the boards and under the basket, but just ran out of steam.

We now face Nayland tomorrow at 4pm. They had a very even pool, no one went through unbeaten and had a tough game against Nelson to secure top spot. They don’t appear to have a bench, pretty much only ran 5 players tonight.  The way the draw panned out, they had two games today, we only had one. We SHOULD be better rested, but this is another tough game for us. Whatever happens though, we are all pretty proud of the way the boys have played, they have exceeded our expectations already.

Cashmere High school Boys ran Nayland College close in the morning before losing 61-67 but bounced back in the afternoon to upset Saint Kentigern College 68-62 leaving Nayland and Tauranga Boys College tied for first and Cashmere, St Kentigern and Nelson tied for third but alas, Cashmere ended up 5^th on countback and drops to the bottom eight, a disappointing outcome.

Aranui high school gave St Patricks College a bold run before losing 78-62 and in the late game last evening played old rivals Otago Boys High and edged clear in a tight encounter to record its first win 83-79. Both teams are now in the bottom eight.

 

Christchurch Girls high recorded a comfortable 67-38 win over Wanganui yesterday morning but ran out of steam last evening as it came up against the unbeaten Fraser High school, narrowly losing a grand battle 61-69 to slip into the middle eight of the competition. Ch Ch Girls will now play Marlborough Girls College in the afternoon.

Rangiora’s dream of a Top eight placing also burst when it was beaten by Auckland Girls Grammar 60 48 in the mornings play.

Rangiora’s coach Clinton Olson reports: Our first loss of the week and the team was gutted after the game, realistically letting slip our top 8 goal; although if we could upset Rangitoto we would make it through. Rangitoto realistically, are one of the top two teams that stand out from the rest this week, and a class above us. We will give it our best effort and bring our intensity, trying to be competitive for as long as we can - but will take the chance to rest some players a bit more throughout the game and give others the chance to step up against some quality opposition. Spirits are higher now, the girls have cheered up. We have talked about finishing the week with a 6 win - 2 loss record, and finishing 9th which is very realistic for us from here if we can approach one game at a time with our usual focus and execution. We play Rangitoto tonight at 5.15pm and then we crossover tomorrow at 12.30pm - against Rotorua Girls most likely, unless something very special happens for us tonight.

Later in the day Rangiora succumbed to the unbeaten Rangitoto College 85-70

The Cashmere High Girls defeated Kavanagh College in the late game on Tuesday night, then yesterday it upset the strongly fancied Westlake Girls High 75-72 to end up in a three way tie with four wins and one loss with Westlake and New Plymouth Girls High but its 13 point loss to New Plymouth earlier counted heavily and like Ch Ch Girls, Rangiora and Buller ended up in the Middle eight of the championships. Cashmere meets Hawera High this morning

 

Results from Day 3 Wednesday 3rd October

Boys Pool Play

Pool 1: Burnside HS 92 (Oli Davies 26 , 9R, Nick Erwood 22, 11R, Tom Liu 13) Onehunga HS 86 (Taleni Seu 26, 18R, Wade Coe 23). Burnside 2^nd in Pool.

Pool 3: Nayland College 67 Cashmere HS 61, Cashmere HS 68 St Kentigern College 62. Cashmere 5th in Pool on countback.

Pool 4: St Patricks College 78 Aranui HS 62,  Aranui HS 83Otago Boys HS 79 . Aranui  5th in Pool.

Main Quarter-Finalists: Westlake BHS v Tauranga Boys Coll, Rosmini College v Auckland Grammar, Nayland College v Burnside HS, Hutt Valley HS V New Plymouth BHS.

 

Girls Pool Play

Pool 1:  Cashmere HS 81 Kavanagh College65 (Tuesday),Cashmere HS 75 Westlake Girls HS 72. Cashmere 1^st equal (4w 1L) but 3^rd in Pool on countback

Pool 2: Buller HS 100 St Cuthberts College 32. Buller 3^rd in Pool.

Pool 3: Auckland Girls Grammar 60 Rangiora HS 48, Rangitoto Coll 85 Rangiora HS 70. Rangiora 3^rd in Pool.

Pool 4: Christchurch Girls HS 67 Wanganui Coll 38, Fraser HS 69 Christchurch Girls HS 61. Ch Ch Ch Girls High 3^rd in Pool

9-16 Quarter-Finals: Rangiora V Rotorua Girls HS, Cashmere v Hawera HS, Buller HS v Tauranga Girls Coll, Ch Ch Girls HS v Marlborough Girls Coll.

Main Quarter-Finalists: Westlake GHS v Auckland Girls Grammar, Hamilton GHS v Wellington Girls Coll, Rangitoto Coll v New Plymouth GHS, Fraser HS v Mt Albert Grammar.