After The Rain
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Habour had to contend with the intervention of a third element before snatching the Oreo NZ U21 Championship menís title with a 97-94 win over Waikato in Christchurch.
If Waikato centre BJ Anthony was fire and Harbour guard Corey Webster was ice, shooter Dylan Perfect-Tait became the water that threatened to rain on the northernersí parade.
While much of the pre-game attention surrounded the Anthony v Webster rivalry, it was Perfect-Tait who put Waikato into a 54-43 halftime lead, scoring 18 points (including five three-pointers) in their 32-20 second quarter raid.
Anthony had dominated Canterbury in the semifinals and had often been Harbourís nemesis at past national age tournaments. When they tried to close him out of the final, Harbour discovered Waikato had a pretty useful inside-outside combination.
ìWe expected Dylan to shoot well, but he probably went better than we thought,î admitted Harbour coach Nik Posa. ìIn the second half, we decided to keep it simple and went to a man-to-man defence for the first time all tournament.
ìWe put David Clarke on Dylan and told him to just stay in his face. He worked hard and did a good job.î
In trying to answer the Perfect-Tait onslaught, the silky smooth Webster perhaps took too much on his own shoulders. The tide began to turn in Harbourís favour when the eventual tournament MVP got a little help from his friends.
ìWe encouraged Corey to do what he does best, takes his shots and exploit the seams,î said Posa. ìThatís his way of settling into the game.
ìHe may have tried a little too much in the first half, but Waikato respect him and as time went on, it helped create gaps for the others to get into the game.î
Clarke struck three times from the arc during the third quarter to free the shackles and Harbour trailed by just one point with 10 minutes remaining.
They seemed to have finally taken control when Webster hit a trey and captain Rory Fannon, enjoying a breakthrough tournament, put back an offensive rebound on the next possession to open an 86-80 advantage.
But Waikato came back with a pair of treys to Eru Wills and Perfect-Tait, his ninth of the game with 1m 31s on the clock, to lock the scores again.
Webster was fouled driving the lane, coolly sunk the two freebies and would convert two more as Waikato desperately tried to play catch-up. In the final second, Perfect-Tait had one more attempt at forcing overtime, but his shot rimmed out and Waikatoís chances were gone.
Webster led all scorers with 40 points, while Perfect-Tait had 34 and Anthony battled away for 22.
In victory, Fannon paid tribute to the contribution of the NZ Breakers Academy and coaching of former NZ Tall Black Judd Flavell. All but one of the Harbour team are members of the academy.
Bridesmaids No More
Canterbury finally broke their string of tournament near misses and showed the power of ìteamî to wear down Otago 71-61 in the Oreo NZ U21 Championships womenës final.
Led in scoring by Miranda Caldwell (16 points) and spirit by feisty guard Erin Rooney, the red-and-blacks had to climb out of a 13-point hole in the second quarter, but did so because they had way too many players capable of making big plays when needed.
Otago relied heavily on NZ Tall Fern trialists Suzie Bates and Toni Edmondson, who seemed to be guiding the southerners to an unlikely victory as they fired early. They combined for 15 points of a 20-6 tear that put their team clear midway through the second term.
But the seeds of their demise had already been sown. Bates had picked up her second foul late in the opening period, collected a third just before halftime and had to sit midway through the third quarter when she committed an open court charging foul for her fourth.
By that point, Canterbury had clawed their way back and had just taken a 43-40 lead. When Rooney hit a three-pointer moments later, they were clearing away and even Edmondsonís determined efforts, a couple of treys from tiny Giana Leoni and Batesí return for the final quarter could not halt the march.
Canterbury coach Kennedy Hamilton had the luxury of rotating an array of weapons off the bench and got contributions from all of them. Forward Pip Connell began to dominate the paint and Sarah French chipped in a pair of key treys, one of which stretched the lead to 11 points late in the third term.
Leoni got Otago back within six midway through the final period, but the home side held on for a well-deserved title Ö at last.
Oreo NZ U21 Championships
Christchurch
Tuesday, April 24
Men
Hutt Valley 90 (Uriah McCall 21, Adam Lagan 16, Lidston AhWong 16, Joel Taskoff 14, Josh McCrombie 11) Palmerston North 79 (Keiran McKendry 23, Milutin Kovacevic 17, Tom Giles 14, Ryan Keddie 10) 2OT
Quarter 20-20
Halftime 32-37 (12-17)
Threequarter 52-53 (20-16)
Fulltime 69-69 (17-16)
Overtime 90-79 (21-10)
Nelson 72 (Adam Rainbird 22, Josh Bloxham 13) Wellington 65 (Guy Williams 12, Hala Manoa 11, Dion Prewster 10, Lucas Lee 10)
Quarter 17-24
Halftime 32-37 (15-13)
Threequarter 44-58 (12-21)
Fulltime 72-65 (28-7)
Canterbury 69 (Matt Stevenson 20, Wade Parata 12) Porirua 59 (Randall Bishop 17, Julius Trego 16)
Quarter 15-19
Halftime 29-28 (14-9)
Threequarter 55-49 (26-21)
Fulltime 69-59 (14-10)
Otago 102 (Nick Adamson 2, Seth Gorrie 17, Daniel Page 16, Jordan Small 12, Hayden Sproat 11, Tom Allan 10) Palmerston North 60 (Kieran McKendry 24, Milutin Kovacevic 15)
Quarter 25-18
Halftime 45-40 (20-22)
Threequarter 72-48 (27-8)
Fulltime 102-60 (30-12)
Final
Harbour 97 (Corey Webster 40, Rory Fannon 18, David Clarke 16, Tony Wallbutton 15) Waikato 94 (Dylan Perfect-Tait 34, BJ Anthony 23, Eru Wills 15, Danny Williams 11)
Quarter 23-22
Halftime 43-54 (20-32)
Threequarter 71-72 (28-17)
Fulltime 97-94 (26-22)
Referees – Scott Harris & Sung-Lim Suh
Tournament Team
BJ Anthony (Waikato), David Clarke (Harbour), Rory Fannon (Harbour), Cade Hobman (Porirua), Wade Parata (Canterbury), Dylan Perfect-Tait (Waikato), Dion Prewster (Wellington), Matt Stevenson (Canterbury), Corey Webster (Harbour), Eru Wills (Waikato)
Most Valuable Player
Corey Webster (Harbour)
Women
Counties Manukau 63 (Jordan Hunter 25, Larna Fakalata 13) Nelson 62 (Jelena Vucinic 26, Hayley Cameron 17)
Quarter 14-16
Halftime 26-32 (12-16)
Threequarter 46-51 (20-19)
Fulltime 63-62 (17-11)
Auckland 54 (Ilona Silver 14) Counties Manukau 45 (TeRina Noon 14, Leigh Paitai 10)
Quarter 13-17
Halftime 25-30 (12-13)
Threequarter 35-40 (10-10)
Fulltime 54-45 (19-5)
Final
Canterbury 71 (Miranda Caldwell 16, Erin Rooney 13, Pip Connell 12, Natalie Moore 10) Otago 61 (Toni Edmondson 21, Suzie Bates 10)
Quarter 12-15
Halftime 34-36 (22-21)
Threequarter 57-48 (23-12)
Fulltime 71-61 (14-13)
Referees – James Campion & Olivia Johnson
Tournament Team
Suzie Bates (Otago), Miranda Caldwell (Canterbury), Hayley Cameron (Nelson), Toni Edmondson (Otago), Jordan Hunter (Counties Manukau), Jess McCormack (Auckland), Natalie Moore (Canterbury), Georgina Richards (Canterbury), Erin Rooney (Canterbury), Chelsea Terei (Auckland)
Most Valuable Player
Erin Rooney (Canterbury)
