Basketball Nationals: New Plymouth claims big win on day 1

New Plymouth Boys' High School have reversed the result of their recent Zone 3 final defeat to St Pats Town by toppling the Wellington Champions 68-60 on Day One of the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Basketball Championships in Palmerston North.

In a key Pool B clash New Plymouth started with a 7-0 run and only briefly surrendered the lead as they scored their second victory of the day.

With 2.22 minutes left New Plymouth led 63-60, but conceded a turnover. New Plymouth played swarming man-to-man defense and forced Town's Jonny Joyce into a long and hurried three-point shot. The ball captured noting but air and went out of bounds. With 1.38 remaining Baxter Fenwick finished a reverse lay up to extend the lead to five points which was enough to foil an inaccurate Town.

New Plymouth enjoyed success with their zone defense which tricked Town into taking long and unusual shorts, while reducing the impact of their bigger men in the key. At the defensive end of the floor Thane O'Leary had a towering game with a number of key rebounds and steals.

New Plymouth's leading scorers were Fraser Meads with 17 points, Max Anderson 13 points and Rashaan Metuariki 10 points. Meads varied the length of his shots while Anderson was full of bustle.

For Town Corey Le'aupepe top scored with 19 points, but struggled at times to break the double and triple team attention he was receiving. Francis Mulvihill played with a lot of energy and finished with 18 points while Kaeleb Tyner struggled to find his range and only contributed 9 points.

New Plymouth won three out of the four quarters and their largest lead of the match was 11 points.
For All Day One Results Follow This Link. College Sport Media will have coverage from the championships throughout the week.
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