National Basketball championships and Men’s Under 23 Nationals

By Bruce Martin

 

The Canterbury Men’s Under 23 basketball captured the National championship title at the

Trusts Arena, Henderson in Auckland on Saturday, coming from behind with a controlled 84-82 win over Hutt Valley on Saturday. It built on last year’s second and third placing by Canterbury teams.

 

The National Basketball championship (NBC) was won by Porirua which upset the strong host Waitakere West Rangers 71-67 while the Canterbury team finished a gallant third place, beating fellow southerners Otago 93-87.

 

Canterbury Under 23 side went through the first two days unbeaten with wins over Taranaki 103-68, Waitakere Green 101-67, Rotorua 90-77 and edged past Auckland One 78-75 through the efforts of James Cawthorn, Nick Erwood and Elliot Noble while Will Utley gathered in a feast of rebounds on defence, 67 points and 65 rebounds for the tournament. In the last pool game the Cantabs got off to a poor start against Hutt Valley on Friday morning, giving Hutt Valley a 13-25 lead at the first quarter break and played catch up basketball the rest of the game. Cawthorn scored 23 and Noble 13 as Canterbury came back in the final quarter, closed to within a few points before losing 72-79.

 

In the evening Canterbury took on the unbeaten Waikato in the semi-final with great teamwork and six players slotting double figures, led by Oli Davies with 15, playing his best game of the week and James Levings with 10 and 11 crucial rebounds. After trailing 10-15, Canterbury levelled 40-40 by half-time and with 16 straight free throws went ahead in the third 70-59. Waikato closed to within 16 five minutes out and to within three with Canterbury’s defence holding on for an 89-84 win.

 

In the U23 final, Hutt Valley, through the efforts of Jackson Stubbins (34) and big man Jordan Hunt took a handy 21-14 first quarter advantage. Will Utley with 16 points and 12 rebounds led a Cantabs comeback in the second quarter, aided by Noble (24, 5 assists) and Cawthorn to go ahead at the turnaround 38-32. Hutt’s dangerman Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa (11pts) led the Hutt Valley effort at the interval and was contained to 21 points for the final. Stubbins put Hutt ahead 60-56 going into the final break. Nick Erwood responded in the last quarter with several triples, edging Canterbury ahead 67-65 with 6:30 to play and Davies put Canterbury ahead 76-72 with 4 minutes to play. A Le’afa free throw trimmed the Canterbury advantage to 84-82 with 31 secs to play but a Canterbury turnover gifted Hutt Valley possession with seven seconds left. Two missed attempts by Hutt Valley saw the Dave Langrell coached Canterbury become deserved National champions. In all the lead changed 11 times and was tied on seven occasions.

 

In the NBC, Canterbury went through pool play tied with Porirua and Otago on three wins and two losses each. Canterbury ended up fourth on countback after a 100-80 drubbing by Porirua in pool play on Wednesday, then edging past Waitakere 99-94 and Otago 97-94 only to be beaten by Waitakere West Rangers 91-86. Canterbury then thumped Counties 90-76 on Friday before meeting the unbeaten Waitakere West Rangers again in the semi’s, eventually going down 107-96 in a high scoring encounter. Canterbury’s favourite Ram Marty had a good triple scoring 21 points against both Waitakere Rangers and Otago and a huge 31 points against Counties. Other Canterbury NBC players to feature were Chris Duthie and Inga Solofuti. 

 

Results were:

Men’s U23 Nationals

Pool 2: Canterbury 103 (Nathan Campbell 20, James Cawthorn 16, Nick Erwood 10)  68 Taranaki, Canterbury 101 (George Love 17, 8R, Cawthorn 15, Will Utley 14, Elliot Noble 13) Waitakere Green 67, Canterbury 90 (Cawthorn 31, Matt Campbell 11, 8A, Utley 10, 10R) 77 Rotorua, Canterbury 78 (Cawthorn 17, Nick Erwood 14, Oli Davies) Auckland  One 75, Hutt Valley 79 (I. Mauriohooho-Le'Afa 29) Canterbury 72 (Cawthorn 22, Noble 13).

Semi Finals: Canterbury 89 (Davies 15, Cawthorn 14, Nathan Campbell 12, Elliot Noble 12, James Levings 10, 11R, Erwood 10, 7R) Waikato Poo1 84, Hutt Valley 99 Harbour 83.

Grand Final: Canterbury 84 (Elliot Noble 24, 5A, Will Utley 16, 12R, Nick Erwood 12, 7R) Hutt Valley 82 (Jackson Stubbins 34).

 

NBC

Round robin: Canterbury 99 (Chris Duthie 24, Inga Solofuti 18, Jahlal Ibrahim 15) Waitakere 94, Porirua 100 Canterbury 80 (Duthie 25), Waitakere West Rangers 91 Canterbury 86 (Marty Davidson 21, Dave Langrell 18, Ibrahim 18), Canterbury 97 (Davison 20, Duthie 17, Rewi Manahi 16) Otago 94, Canterbury 90 (Davison 31, Duthie 16) Counties 76.

Semi-Finals: Waitakere West Rangers 107 Canterbury 96, Porirua 82 Otago 80.

Play-off 3^rd: Canterbury 93 Otago 87. Grand Final: Porirua 71 (Tohi Smith-Milner 20, Casey Frank 18) Waitakere West Rangers 67 (J Ngatai 19).