Local basketball titles decided ahead of Zone tournaments this week

Above: Cashmere High School (Canterbury), Rongotai College (Wellington) and Rosmini College (Canterbury) won their Senior Boys titles. PHOTOS: Cashmere High School , Wareham Sport Media and Rosmini College

The local basketball titles have been decided in Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. Now the attention turns to regionals with 24 places (six in each of the four zones) available at Nationals in Palmerston North in October.

Rongotai College v St Pat's Town. PHOTO: Wareham Sports Media.

Wellington
 
For the first time since 1998, Rongotai College are Pohlen Cup champions after an emphatic 85-69 victory over St Pats Town.
 
Rousing slam dunks by Ben Robertson and Jayden Puroku in the last minute applied the exclamation mark on Rongotai’s eighth overall championship.
 
Rongotai made an electric start charging to a 29-12 lead after the first quarter. Rongotai’s defensive intensity and rapid ball movement had Town startiled as the lead expanded to as many as 24 points in the second quarter.
 
Jaylin To’o scored Rognotai’s first five points and finished with a game high 24, but there were multiple contributors in amassing the decisive lead.
 
Diminutive and speedy guards Ezrah Vaigafa and Finn McClure shared 26 points between them while Robertson, a beast on the boards, chimed in with 10 and Klein Salmon nailed three triples in the last quarter to finnish with 13.
 
Town captain Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones produced a herculean effort following his haul of 40 points in the semi-final with 24 in the decider. Tait-Jones scored Town’s first eight points and he contributed several assists with a particularly effective no-look pass. Filimone Waqabaca ended with a flourish and collect 23.
 
The closest Town got after the lead ballooned past ten was 80-69 with about three minutes remaining. There was no question about the fight of the runners up, but Rongotai when they combine speed with precision are thoroughly entertaining and effective.

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HVHS v QMC. PHOTO: Wareham Sports Media.

​Hutt Valley High School (HVHS) won the Sharp Cup for the first time since 2013 with a nail-biting 69-65 triumph over Queen Margaret College (QMC).
 
HVHS surged to a 32-17 lead midway through the second quarter, but a 15-2 QMC run leveled proceedings by halftime.
 
HVHS led for most of the second-half, but with 1:59 remaining found themselves 61-60 down when Lilly Taulelei hit a jumper.
 
Following a timeout, a three by Jordan Rangitawa propelled HVHS back into a lead they never lost - despite some anxious moments.
 
Another Rangitawa triple at 63-62 appeared to provide HVHS with some breathing space, only for a quick steal and lay up by Grace Hunter reduced the deficit back to 66-65.
 
With 15 seconds left, HVHS led 67-65 when captain Leah Mafua missed a second free throw. Heroically Jasmine Troke sneered the rebound and with urgent support managed to waste seven seconds before Rangitawa was fouled. When Rangitawa connected with both shots, QMC’s brave title challenge was extinguished.
 
HVHS built their initial lead on the back of solid shooting by Rangitawa (20 points) and Mafua.
 
QMC was down 24-13 after the first quarter and took more than five minutes to make a single field goal in the second.
 
A three by Rosie Campbell with 3:28 left in the first-half was the catalyst for their resurgence.
 
Suddenly Paris Lokotui (20 points) caught fire and scored half of the next 14 points as the score was 34-34 at the main interval.  
 
HVHS narrowly won the third quarter 19-17 with Mafua finding her range often - eventually finishing with a game high 24 points.
 
Hunter (17 points) hit two improbable jumpers in the last quarter when doubled-teamed, but HVHS held their nerve with the late heroics of Rangitawa and Troke enough to earn a seventh Sharp Cup championship.

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Canterbury
 
Cashmere High School are back-to-back Thomson Trophy champions, defeating Rangiora High School 86-61 in the final. Nic Wenmoth was named finals MVP after scoring 19 points and collecting seven rebounds.
 
The first-half was tight and at one stage Cashmere only led 36-31. However Rangiora struggled to score in the second-half and tellingly were outscored 36-6 by the Cashmere bench.

Cashmere’s Louis Oskam scored a game-high 20 points while Jack Exeter and Lachie MacFarlane contributed 18 each.

In the girls Whelan Trophy decider between Rangi Ruru Girls’ School and St. Andrew’s College it was Charlotte Whittaker who put on a show for the crowd.
 
Whittaker scored 40 points and fetched 18 rebounds and 5 steals as St Andrew's successfully defended their title with a resounding 73-59 victory.
 
Rangi Ruru’s Alice Sproat (17 points, 14 rebounds) tried hard for her side, but once St Andrew’s jumped ahead 24-11 at quarter time, Rangi Ruru was always chasing the game.
 
Auckland
 
Mount Albert Grammar School beat Auckland Girls’ Grammar School 59-52 on August 24 at the North Shore Events Centre. For AGGS it was just their second local loss in two years.
 
AGGS led 28-27 at halftime and 38-33 in the third-quarter, but a 15-2 MAGS run made it 48-40 at three quarter-time.
 
Laetitia Tuaiti was outstanding for AGGS scoring 26 points, but Sharne Pupuke-Robati had 21 for MAGS whose tough defense restricted AGGS to just 24 points in the second-half.
 
On the subject of tough defence, reigning National champions Rosmini College thrashed Mount Albert Grammar School 80-48 in the boys decinder.
 
Rosmini made the brighter opening with Mitchell Dance and Kruz Perrott-Hunt sharing triples in the establishment of an early 9-0 lead.
 
Clarke Aiono got MAGS on the scoreboard but three’s from Dance and Marvin Williams-Dunn gave Rosmini an 18-8 quarter-time lead.
 
More three’s from Jayden Boucher and Perrott-Hunt pushed the Rosmini advantage beyond twenty points before MAGS closed the gap to 38-20 at halftime.
 
MAGS reduced the deficit to 16 points early in the fourth quarter, but buckets from Kainoa Lepou and Taine Murray termined any prospects of a comeback. Dance led all scorers with 24 points.
 
Zone Tournaments
 
There are four Zone tournaments around the country this coming week.
 
Zone 1
Tournament Dates: September 5-8, 2018
City: Auckland (North Shore)
Host: Harbour Basketball
Venue: North Shore Events Center & AUT North Shore
 
Zone 2
Tournament Dates: September 5-8, 2018
City: Rotorua
Host: Rotorua Basketball
Venue: Energy Events Centre
 
Zone 3
Tournament Dates: September 5-8, 2018
City: Palmerston North
Host: Basketball Manawatu
Venue: Central Energy Trusts Manawatu
 
Zone 4
Tournament Dates: September 5-8, 2018
City: Invercargill
Host: Southland Basketball
Venue: ILT Stadium Southland
 
For more details click here: http://nz.basketball/Competitions/Schools/AA-Premierships