Champion of Champions - Basketball top 4 for 2015

Tai Wynyard - Photo Credit - Dave Lintott

Basketball is experiencing huge growth in NZ, which in turn is making the depth of talent even more impressive. Here is our top 4 for 2015.

​Logan Elers
When Logan Elers was Year 10 at Rotorua Boys’ High School, basketball wasn’t a sport taken very seriously. Elers remembers “walking” into the top team and several boys in his first season missing training on a regular basis.
 
This year Rotorua finished fourth at the National Championships and lost to eventual winners Rangitoto College by one point in extra time in the semi-finals.
 
Elers was a big part of Rotorua's dramatic improvement. He was selected for the nationals tournament team and has been a regular on the representative circuit having played for the Rotorua seniors, New Zealand Under-18's and trailed for the Breakers.
 
Logan is the deputy sports captain at school and a part time maths tutor. He has been awarded the most outstanding player at Boys’ High for the last four years.
 
Matt Freeman
The Westlake Boys' High School captain is headed to the University of Oklahoma on scholarship in 2016 and as they American's say he will bring "game."
 
Freeman was a colossus at the National Championships. He led Westlake to their second consecutive final and in the last three games of the tournament scored 50 points, 47 points and 28 points.
 
Freeman has represented New Zealand at age group level.
 
Sam Timmins
He made his debut for the Otago Nuggets in 2013 when he was just 15, becoming the youngest player in the franchise's history.
 
In 2014 he scored 26 points and collected 23 rebounds in the National Secondary Schools final as Otago BHS upset Westlake BHS.
 
In 2015 Timmins moved schools to Middleton Grange in Canterbury. He played an entire season for the Canterbury Rams in the National Basketball League and helped Middleton Grange become a national force.
 
Middleton won the South Island Regional title and finished in 5th at Nationals losing just one game by five points to eventual finalists Westlake BHS.
 
Tai Wynyard
It's been another remarkable year for the Rangitoto College rig. Last year he made his debut for the Tall Blacks and added to his international experience in 2015 by playing in the Oceania qualifying series against Australia.
 
Wynyard has earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Kentucky in the US in 2016. Kentucky is the winningest NCAA Division I basketball program in history, holding both the most all-time wins (2178) and the highest all-time winning percentage (.764). They have won eight national titles and contributed several players to the NBA.  
 
On the subject of National titles, Wynyard gained that illusive prize in New Zealand this year leading Rangitoto to the crown after finishing third in 2014 and second in 2013.
 
Wynyard was named MVP of the tournament and the final. In the final he scored 23 points and collected 19 rebounds.

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