The New Plymouth U19 Mens team saved it till their last game before securing a spot in the top 3 at the Zone 3 Premierships Tournament held in Wellington over the weekend 29 April to 1 May. After losing to Wellington 47-91 on Day 1, they followed it up with a win over Wanganui 85-37. Day 2 saw them easily despatch Hutt Valley 80-46 but their campaign stalled when they came up against the Willie Burton coached Hawkes Bay team, going down 54-68.

With two wins and two losses, day 3 meant they had to secure two wins to assure a spot in the critical top three. Only the top three teams at the tournament go through to the BBNZ National Tournament. Hawkes Bay and Wellington had effectively already secured their spots with four wins up to that point.

First up on day 3, New Plymouth faced Porirua led by BBNZ protege Jordan Ngatai and coached by Junior Tall Blacks coach Deslea Wrathall. Outstanding defence by the New Plymouth team, kept Porirua to 60 points. New Plymouth's 71 points was led by Shea Bentley who dominated boards at both ends. His consistency and ice coolness under pressure ensured Porirua never gained any ascendancy during the game.  

With one hand on that crucial third spot, New Plymouth came up against their eternal foes Palmerston North who were also playing to qualify. Palmerston were never in the game and New Plymouth went out to at 38-11 lead in the second period. At halftime they were up 42-19 and grabbed the tournament 3rd spot winning 82-54 at the buzzer.

The BBNZ U19 National Tournament is to be held in Tauranga over Queens birthday weekend. The team regroup next week to work out their training programme leading up to their first ever National tournament.

Pictured: Derek Albertsen goes down bloody nose lane on his way to the hoop against Hutt Valley. New Plymouth won 80-46