U13 and U15 Recaps
Under 15 National Basketball championships – ASB Sports Centre, Kilbirnie, October 8th-12th
By Bruce Martin
The Canterbury Under 15 Boys chalked up a mammoth 98-46 win over New Plymouth in the early game with six players hitting double figures, led by Sam Lees 20, Kazuki Tsukiji 15, Quinn Clinton 14 and the others all scoring to set up a top-of-the-pool match against third seed Harbour A later in the day.
Simon Chan reports: The game against Harbour was a very tight game, with no more than 7 points difference between the teams during the game. The lead changed more the 20 times. The last 7 Canterbury points were scored from the free throw line as North Harbour desperately tried to play catch up in the last 3 minutes. After trailing 44-45 at half-time Canterbury won 88-82 to upset third seeded Harbour and a Top eight quarter against Hawkes Bay which had been beaten by top seed Waitakere West Premiers 96-73.
After two wins on opening day the Canterbury Girls had a harder encounter against Hawkes Bay in a top-of-the-pool match in the afternoon but lost 55-63 in a tight encounter and now has to meet Top seed Porirua from Pool one in the Top 8 quarters.
Day two results were:
Boys:
Pool one: Waitakere West Premiers 96 Hawkes Bay 73, Counties Manukau 63 Nelson Blue 52.
Pool two: Auckland A 76 Rotorua 60, Porirua 60 North Canterbury 57.
Pool three: Harbour A 96 Waikato Black 49, Canterbury Red 98 (Sam Lees 20, Kazuki Tsukiji 15, Quinn Clinton 14, Sam Riley 13, Jayden Chan 12, Jack Ansell 12) New Plymouth 46 HT: 56-26, Canterbury Red 88 (Kazuki Tsukiji 22, Sam Riley 17, Tullan McGuinness 12, Sam Lees 11) Harbour A 82 HT: Harbour 45-44, New Plymouth 85 Waikato Black 70.
Pool four: Wellington Black 79 Otago A 39, Waikato Gold 88 Waitakere West A 79, Wellington Black 88 Waikato Gold 63, Waitakere West A 81 Otago A 61.
Girls:
Pool one: Harbour A 75 Waikato A 52, Porirua 56 Nelson Blue 43, Harbour A 92 Nelson Blue 79, Porirua 74 Waikato A 69.
Pool two: Thames Valley 69 Otago A 48, Wellington 77 Auckland A 23.
Pool three: Hawkes Bay 63 Canterbury Red 55, Harbour B 67 Waikato B 43.
Pool four: New Plymouth 62 Rotorua 53, Waitakere West 61 North Canterbury 50, Rotorua 57 North Canterbury 45, New Plymouth 68 Waitakere West 63.
Under 13 National Basketball championships – TECT Arena Tauranga October 8th-12th.
The Under 13 boys had a great win against Waikato Tuesday morning reports coach Craig Robinson. They blew Waikato Gold off the court in the 1st quarter 29 – 9 and continued to slowly extend the margin to 31 points with a final score of 86 – 55. Stand out players were Isaac Anderson who really stood up marking Waikato's big men (8 boards and 6 points), Connor McLaughlin (19 points), Isaiah Morris (18 points) and captain Will Harrison (11 points 6 assists). There was also a stunning performance from the bench contributing 29 points.
That win put Canterbury in the Top quarters with Canterbury playing Auckland A in a top-of-the-pool encounter in the late game and needing a win to avoid top side Waitakere West Premiers which had just thumped second in Pool two Counties-Manukau 90-58.
Unfortunately the bubble burst and the Auckland team won heavily 60-46 leaving Canterbury to pick themselves up for against the feared second seed Waitakere West Premiers.
The Canterbury Girls pulled clear of Waitakere West A to win 75-63 and in the evening played Waikato A in a top-of-the-pool encounter and just like the Boys needed a win to avoid the powerful Waitakere West Premiers from Pool two. Earlier in the day Waitakere West Premiers Girls had also
beaten Counties-Manukau 76-37. Like the guys, the Canterbury Girls were under much pressure and Waikato pulled clear in the closing stages of overtime to win 79-73, also leaving Canterbury an early morning game against the powerful Waitakere West Premiers.
Day two results were:
Boys:
Pool One: Harbour A 91 Hawkes Bay 35, Nelson Blue 80 Tauranga City A 22.
Pool Two: Waitakere West Premiers 90 Counties-Manukau 58, Porirua 50 North Canterbury 49.
Pool three: Palmerston North Green 102 Mid Canterbury 25, Hibiscus Coast 70 Rotorua 61.
Pool four: Auckland A 89 Wellington Black 50, Canterbury Red 86 (Connor McLaughlin 19, Isaiah Morris 18, Will Harrison 11, 6A) Waikato Gold 55, Auckland A 60 Canterbury Red 46, Waikato Gold 87 Wellington Black 82.
Girls:
Pool One: Waitakere West Premiers 76 Counties-Manukau 37, Nelson Blue 85 Palmerston North 44.
Pool Two: Harbour A 76 Mid Canterbury 36, Porirua 63 Rotorua 39.
Pool three: Waikato A 71 Hawkes Bay 28, Canterbury Red 75 Waitakere West A 63, Waikato A 79 Canterbury Red 73, Waitakere West A 57 Hawkes Bay 55.
Pool four: Taranaki Country 43 Auckland 41, Otago A 52 Tauranga City 42.
Under 15 National Basketball championships – ASB Sports Centre, Kilbirnie, October 8th-12th
The Canterbury Under 15 Boys, under the watchful eyes of Ben Sheat and Simon Chan, continued their giant killing run at the National Basketball championships being played in Wellington with a resounding 77-57 win over Hawkes Bay in Wednesday’s Top 8 quarter-Finals and now meets Auckland A in Thursday’s main semi-final, thereby avoiding the defending champion and top seed Waitakere West Premiers. Waitakere had to work extra hard to subdue a strong challenge from neighbours Harbour before sneaking home 75-74 and a match-up against 4th seed Wellington Black.
Canterbury’s strength lies in it’s shooting ability with all players capable of getting on the score sheet, leading contributions coming from Sam Lees, Kazuki Tsukiji, Quinn Clinton and Sam Riley and ably backed up by the skilfull Jayden Chan and Jack Ansell. Tullan McGuinness stepped up when needed in the game against Harbour on Tuesday.
Simon Chan, Assistant coach reports: We raced out to a 14 – 4 lead and slowly increased the margin through to half time (44-24). The team played a very disciplined game against a physically larger Hawkes Bay team. As with earlier games the scoring was evenly spread with 4 players scoring in double digits.
Leading scorers: Sam Riley 21, Kazuki Tsukiji 18, Jayden Chan 13 and Quinn Clinton 10.
A BBNZ table error had me indicating the Canterbury Girls were second in the pool and were to play top seed Harbour A but the morning’s draw saw Canterbury Red finishing top of pool 3 and a quarter against the lively Porirua girls who had come from being bottom seed in pool one to put out Nelson Blue and Waikato A to clinch second place.
Alas, in a lively game Porirua proved too strong for Canterbury edging clear for a 69-52 win and a main semi against Rotorua, leaving Canterbury to pick up the pieces and match-up with Thames Valley in the 5-8 semi’s on Thursday afternoon. Thames had finished top of pool two but was outsmarted by second-placed Rotorua 56-55 in the other quarter.
Top seed Harbour is in ominous form thumping Hawkes Bay 90-30 to go head-to-head against 5th seed New Plymouth in the other main semi.
Day three results were:
Boys Top 8 Quarter-Finals: Waitakere West Premiers 75 Harbour A 74, Canterbury Red 77 Hawkes Bay 57, Auckland A 71 Waitakere West A 68, Wellington Black 75 Rotorua 56.
Boys Bottom 8 Quarter-Finals: New Plymouth 63 Nelson Blue 49, Counties-Manukau 60 Waikato Gold 57, Porirua 62 Waikato Black 46, North Canterbury 69 Otago A 57.
Girls:
Girls Top 8 Quarter-Finals: Porirua 69 Canterbury Red 52, Harbour A 90 Hawkes Bay 30, Rotorua 56 Thames Valley 55, New Plymouth 49 Wellington 45.
Girls Bottom 8 Quarter-Finals: Waikato A 64 Waikato B 29, Waitakere West 74 Auckland 28, Otago A 62 North Canterbury 33, Harbour B 49 Nelson Blue 48.
Under 13 National Basketball championships – TECT Arena Tauranga October 8th-12th.
Both Canterbury Under 13 teams drew the dreaded Waitakere West Premiers in Wednesday’s quarter-finals. The Canterbury boys put up a grand struggle to contain the much taller polished Waitakere team but eventually succumbed 62-79. This was a very brave effort by the young Canterbury boys after Waitakere had earlier recorded 70+ wins over North Canterbury and Porirua and even a 32 point win over second placed Counties-Manukau in Pool play.
Canterbury will now meet Palmerston North in the 5-8 semi’s which had topped pool 3 but was pipped by a strong display by Nelson Blue 63-61 in the quarters. In the other quarter’s Harbour thumped Hibiscus Coast and Auckland sneaked by Counties-Manukau 57-53.
Having the services of Connor McLaughlin, a point scoring machine, who went down with a severe migraine helped Canterbury put up a bold challenge and will be well prepared to take on Palmerston North in the 5-8 semi and a possible 5th place play-off with a cross-over against either Counties-Manukau or Hibiscus Coast.
Nelson Blue has made all the right moves after only managing third at the Premiers behind Canterbury and Mid Canterbury. Seeded 9th it went ahead of Hawkes Bay in Pool play and sneaked past Palmerston North 63-61 in the quarters for a main semi-final.
An injury hit Canterbury Girls team had to get up early for the quarter against Waitakere West Premiers but the top seed and defending champion was no match for Canterbury, thumping them 103-31.
Canterbury has drawn Taranaki Country in the 5-8 semi’s. Taranaki Country was pipped by Rotorua 50-48 while Auckland A will meet Waikato A and Waitakere West Premiers will play Nelson Blue in the main quarters.
Day three results were:
Boys Top 8 Quarter-Finals: Waitakere West Premiers 79 Canterbury Red 62, Auckland A 57 Counties-Manukau 53, Harbour A 85 Hibiscus Coast 24, Nelson Blue 63 Palmerston North Green 61.
Boys Bottom 8 Quarter-Finals: Rotorua 76 Tauranga City A 45, Porirua 75 Wellington Black 65, Hawkes Bay 71 Mid Canterbury 62, Waikato Gold 86 North Canterbury 51.
Girls Top 8 Quarter-Finals: Waitakere West Premiers 103 Canterbury Red 31, Rotorua 50 Taranaki Country 48, Waikato A 46 Counties-Manukau 35, Auckland 62 Porirua 30.
Girls Bottom 8 Quarter-Finals: Otago A 74 Mid Canterbury 46, Waitakere West A 75 Palmerston North 42, Harbour A 65 Tauranga City 45, Nelson Blue 39 Hawkes Bay 16.
Comments
Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.