Congratulations to Harbour reps Gus Dallow and Jameer Reed who have been named to the 18 player squad to attend the New Zealand U17 Men’s National Team Selection Camp.

Both were members of the silver medal winning team at the 2023 FIBA Asia Championship in Doha and will be keen to earn selection to the team that will compete at the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey beginning June 29.

Next we have our March Madness wrap up. 

NCAA Division I Men’s NCAA National Championship Tournament

Tall Black Taine Murray and the University of Virginia Cavaliers had a disappointingly short stay at the Tournament beaten 67-42 by Colorado State University in the First Four (play-in to the First Round) game. 

NCAA Division I Women

In an opening round match-up West Coast Conference champions Portland University Pilots struggled out the gate and fell behind 25-10 in the first quarter against Kansas State University. Emme Shearer scored 8 points as the Pilots rallied before eventually going down 78-65. Shearer finished the season as the Pilots leading scorer with 410 points at 12.1ppg. In addition she not only led the team in steals but topped the West Coast Conference with 2.2 per game. Freshman Flo Dallow played 21 games for the Pilots before suffering a season ending injury.

NCAA Division II Women’s National Championship

New Zealand’s interest in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament ended in the Round of 16 as Jessica Moors and Nova Southeastern were defeated 63-56 by Tampa University. 

Jess, a former Westlake Girls and Harbour representative, finished the season with 15 starts in 30 appearances averaging 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as well as corralling a team high 55 steals.

High School Basketball

Following Qualifying Tournaments only 12 Boy’s teams and 12 Girl’s teams will contest the 2024 3x3 Secondary Schools National Championships in Wellington next month. Flying the flag for North Harbour in the girl’s tournament will be Takapuna Grammar School while it will be Rosmini College, the defending champions, representing the region in the boys event.

Oversees Professional Players

Brayden Inger had a fifth 20-point outing of the season as Hemel Storm beat Nottingham Hoods 115-93 in a British NBL contest. Brayden made 5 from 9 triples on his way to 23 points as the Storm remain third on the NBL ladder with a 16-4 record. 

On 8 from 9 shooting Isaac Fotu scored 19 points as Tochigi Brex downed Sendai 89ers 94-78 to improve to 38-7 in the Japanese League.

James Moors tallied 13 points and 8 rebounds as Leeuwarden beat Mechelen 91-71 in Dutch League action.

Yanni Wetzell scored 10 points (5/6FG) for ALBA Berlin in their one-point (85-84) EuroLeague loss to Turkish club Anadolu Efes Istanbul. 

The Sal’s National Basketball League gets underway this week. The first game at Eventfinda Stadium will be on Friday 19 April when Auckland Tuatara take on Southland Sharks. 

Sal’s National Basketball League

The following current or former Harbour reps are playing in the New Zealand Sal’s NBL in 2024:

Auckland Tuatara – Rob Loe, Corey Webster, Reuben Fitzgerald, Chris McIntosh, Chris Wyllie, Jameer Reed, Aaron Sievert, Gus Dallow

Tauranga Whai – Kruz Perrott-Hunt, Jett Thompson, Jayden Boucher, Zion Anderson

Hawkes Bay Hawks – Jarrod Kenny

Manawatu Jets – James Moors, Liam Judd, Jackson Stent

Nelson Giants – Dan Fotu

Otago Nuggets – Tai Webster

Southland Sharks – Brayden Inger, Scott Telfer