Secondary Schools National Basketball Championships by Bruce Martin

A stunning turn and shoot, buzzer beating three-point basket shot several meters from beyond the arc by Cameron Stone, son of American coach Kenny Stone, gave Rangitoto College a back to back National Secondary Schoolboys championship win 82-80 over host team Palmerston North Boys High on Saturday night in one of the best ever finishes to the championships. Increditably Palmerston North trailed 35-60 at the turn around, got back with a huge third-quarter 31-8 to trail 66-68 and went ahead 80-79 seven seconds from time with a free-throw only to be pipped on the buzzer. MVP Sam Waardenburg made two dribbles before passing the ball to Stone with the clock about to expire.

It was a very tough week for all the Canterbury teams at the Nationals with Christchurch Boys High outpacing Kelston Boys high 108-99 to claim seventh place at the Championships, the best of the Canterbury teams. Boys High was powered by Junior Tallblacks, Jack Ansell and Quinn Clinton, and went through Pool play unbeaten with wins over Kings College (Dunedin) 96-61, thumped Kelston Boys High 113-61, demolished Scots College (Wellington) 94-58, bold Fraser HS (Hamilton) 96-53 and eased past St Johns of Hamilton 82-78 to top Pool D.

Boys' High basketball's dream run came to an end when they were beaten in Thursday’s Quarter-final by Auckland Grammar 103-93 and in the 5-8 semi-final on Friday was edged 79-68 by Rosmini College. Quinn Clinton was named in the Tournament team.

In a very tough Pool A which included defending champion Rangitoto College, Cashmere High lost all of its Pool games before facing Selwyn College in the quarters to win 82-62. In its 17-20 semi-final Cashmere was beaten by Fraser High 79-66 and finished the tournament with a hard fought game but was edged 86-83 by Kings High of Dunedin to finish in 20th place.

Christs College playing in its first Nationals was narrowly beaten by Nelson College 68-60 in the play-off for 21st place.

In the Girls championship, Rangi Ruru claimed 15th placing defeating Hastings Girls HS 67-60 and Fraser High won the 17th place play-off beating Christchurch Girls HS 72-52. Middleton Grange won the battle for 19th place, beating Tauranga Girls' College 62-45 while Rangiora High was pipped 85-84 in the battle for 21st place.

On Thursday Catholic Cathedral took fifth place in the A section, beating Sir Edmond Hillary College 100-76.

Rangi Ruru was looking good for a top eight quarter with three wins but a disastrous day on Wednesday saw them edged by Melville High 48-44 and fall victim to Waimea College of Nelson 82-74 to finish third in Pool D.
Rangi Ruru’s coach Darcy Rose said their best game was their last pool game against Waimea College, going down 74-82 where Millie Knight and Alice Sproat dominated on the offensive and defensive boards while Junior Tallfern Esra McGoldrick shot 18 and Sproat 22. McGoldrick averaged 17 points per game, with a high of 29 against Hastings in the last game. Connie Taylor had 15 against Rangiora and 17 against Massey.
Rose was really impressed with how her girls played with incredible heart throughout the tournament, whether or not things were going their way. McGoldrick did a great job not only looking to score, but creating shots for her teammates as well. Taylor and Alida Pohatu-Barnes have made huge strides this season, and had a very solid tournament in terms of defense, scoring, and passing.

Phil Burns, coach of Christchurch Girls' High, was well pleased with his teams efforts as a wild card entry they finished second among the Canterbury Girls and a good learning curve for next year.

It was Rangiora High’s 11th consecutive time it had qualified for the National championships with few other teams having reached that achievement. New Coach Hayley Gray said that Nationals proved a testing time for the team on the rebuild, again coming up short against a strong Rangi Ruru team in the first game of pool play and was well beaten 53-39, a game in which two North Canterbury players playing for Rangi Ruru, Junior Tallfern Esra McGoldrick and Connie Taylor, played key roles with 21 and 15 points respectively. 

Gray wrote ‘The girls came out firing in the second game of the day against Waimea College. Some well-timed three pointers from Sasha Pugh and Renee Tuhikarama kept RHS in the game, while on the defensive end, shutting down the opposition scoring weapons kept the game close until some clutch baskets from the Waimea playmakers took the lead too far to recover. One of the best performances from the team came against Massey High School on day three of the tournament. Excellent defensive hustle from the energetic Caitlyn Woolman-Smith and good inside connections to strong finishing Junior Tall Fern Charlotte Whittaker led to an impressive team win and boost in confidence. However a lackluster performance against Middleton Grange saw the Gators side victorious bumping RHS down the Championship ladder. A convincing win over Epsom Girls Grammar 68 – 46 set up what was an exciting final match against pool play rival Massey High School. After trailing most of the game RHS brought it back and had chances to seal the win but with key players in foul trouble or injured the game was level at the end of regulation time. The five minutes of overtime were point for point with no team showing signs of letting up, unfortunately RHS was unable to hang on ending in a one point loss 84 – 85."


Results were:
AA Boys: QF1-8: Auckland Grammar 103 Christchurch Boys HS 93, QF 17-24th: Fraser HS (Hamilton) 75 Christs Coll 72, Cashmere HS 82 Selwyn Coll 62, Semi’s 5-8: Rosmini College 79 Christchurch Boys HS 68, SF 17-20: Fraser HS (Hamilton) 79 Cashmere HS 66, SF 21-24: Christs Coll 105 Selwyn Coll, 69. Play-off for 7th place: Christchurch Boys HS 108 Kelston Boys HS 99 , Play off 19th place: Kings High (Dunedin) 86 Cashmere High 83, Play-off for 21st place: Nelson College 68 Christs College 60. Grand Final: Rangito Coll 82 (Dan Fotu 27, Sam Waardenburg 18) Palmerston North Boys HS 80 (Callum McRae 33, 17R, Oscar Oswald 22). HT: 60-35.

Boys AA MVP: Sam Waarenburg (Rangitoto Coll). Boys Tournament team: Quinn Clinton (Ch Ch Boys). Finals referee: Elliot Duncan (Canterbury).

A Boys Grand Final: St Kevin’s Coll (Oamaru) 71 (Mark O’Brien 24, Youheng Peng 20) Manakura 68 in OT (Matangirei Hipango 16, Shaka Riddel-Horua 14). HT: 29-22. FT: 58-58.
A Boys Play-off 5th place: Catholic Cathedral 100 Sir Edmond Hillary College 76, Play-off 9th place: Greymouth HS 80 Hillmorton HS 57.

AA Girls: QF 9-16: Rangitoto College 73 Rangi Ruru 47 (Esra McGoldrick 19), QF 17-24th: Christchurch Girls HS 92 (Sapphire Wairau 21, Grace Ritchie 17) Massey HS 73, Middleton Grange 70 Rangiora HS 62 (Renee Tuhikarama 21, Rosie O’Shea 10, Caitlin Woolman-Smith 10).
SF13-16th Hutt Valley HS 72 Rangi Ruru GS 62 (McGoldrick 29, Connie Taylor 19),
SF 17-20th: Christchurch Girls HS 69 (Ritchie 16, Chelsea Jones 15) Tauranga Girls Coll 66 in over-time, Fraser HS 83 Middleton Grange 59, SF 21-24: Rangiora HS 68 (Charlotte Whittaker 22, Sasha Pugh 10) Epsom Girls Grammar 46. Play off 15th place: Rangi Ruru GS 67 (McGoldrick 20, Connie Taylor 19) Hastings Girls 60. Play off 17th place: Fraser High (Hamilton) 72 Christchurch Girls High 52 (Wairau 13, Jones 11), Play-off for 19th place: Middleton Grange 62 Tauranga Girls College 45, Play-off for 21st place: Massey High School 85 Rangiora High 84. AA Girls Final: St Peters School (Cambridge) 68 (Charlisse Leger-Walker 35, 14R) Mt Albert Grammar 53 (Trinity Paeu 14). HT: 32-27. Finals referee: Jacob Cromb (Canterbury).
Girls A schools 11th place: Ellesmere Coll 59 St Kevins 49.