Canterbury With A Capital D
Tagged in: Associations, Tournaments
While alley-oops, no-look passes and ankle-breaking cross-overs are great, the Canterbury U19 men would rather be known for their D.
On the back of their team defence, Canterbury advanced to the men’s final at the BBNZ U19 National Championships in Nelson on Sunday, with a 79-64 win over Harbour.
In four games, the Cantabs have conceded just 207 points, an average a touch under 52 points per game, posting a 4-0 record on their way to a final showdown against fellow unbeaten Waitakere City at 4pm on Monday at Jack Robins Stadium.
Ethan Rusbatch, Canterbury’s New Zealand U18 guard, top-scored with 18 points, while Michael Aitken pitched in with 15 points, a number of those coming off put-backs, and point guard Kes Yahata added 12 points.
“The guys are playing well right now. The main thing we’re concentrating on at the moment is playing team defence,” said Canterbury coach Dave Langrell, a former National Basketball League player for Canterbury.
“The guys made a pact with each other that we wanted to be the stingiest team on defence and against Porirua and this game, we’ve held them to 60 points. We think we can score with anyone, especially if we hold them to 60 points.”
Against the run-and-gun style of Harbour, Canterbury were able to limit them to one-shot possession, controlling the defensive boards, and avoided turnovers against Harbour’s zone-press.
“They played all 12 kids in their last game and they can all play,” Langrell said of Harbour.
“They’ve got some great shooters, fortunately they never starting hitting. Fortunately we cleaned the glass pretty well. Those were our keys for the game, to win the rebounding and get back in transition and not give up lay-ups.”
Canterbury got strong interior performances from Aitken, Sam Evans and their 2.15m (7ft 2in) tower Vincent George, who provided seven points and helped dominate the rebounding edge.
Waitakere City advanced to the final after holding off Otago 57-52 in the second semifinal.
Waitakere led by 18 points, 54-36, early in the four period but Otago, who overcame a six-point deficit in the final minute of their quarterfinal on Saturday, sliced the margin down to single digits as Waitakere went scoreless for almost seven minutes.
Otago’s Hayden Miller, who had 18 points, hit two three-pointers to get Otago within 12, and trailing by just five points in the last two minutes had three straight three-point attempts to get within a basket rim-out. Junior Tall Black Tom Rowe finished with a team-high 19 points.
Duane Bailey finished with a game-high 20 points for Waitakere, who have allowed just two more points than their final opponents Canterbury.
Two second-half comebacks also failed in the women’s semifinals at Nelson College for Girls, with Harbour and Hutt Valley advancing to the final at 2.15pm on Monday.
Harbour were large and in charge at halftime of their final four match-up against Zone 1 neighbours Waitakere City, up 24 points, 48-24, but had to sweat out the final minutes in a 65-58 win.
After a three from Adoniah Lewis with two minutes remaining, Waitakere had cut the lead, which almost hit 30 early in the third period, to just three points. Harbour, despite being outscored 34-17 in the second half, were able to hold out Waitakere, keeping them scoreless in the last two minutes.
Hutt Valley owned New Plymouth early in their semifinal, up by as many as 20 points in the second, but saw the gap shrink to four points early in the fourth period before winning 68-59.
Chanee Amato top-scored with 22 points for Hutt Valley, while Shontay Ropitini added 18 points, making up for 21 points from New Plymouth guard Zoe Kensington.
A rollicking start saw Hutt Valley up 25-5 midway through the second period but after a timeout and stern words from coach Trent Adam, New Plymouth busted out a 17-2 run, including a pair of three-pointers from Bella McCallum, closing within five points.
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Like the U19s, four different associations will play for the titles at the BBNZ U17 National Championships in Palmerston North on Monday.
Hawke’s Bay got 18 points from Shanice Swain and 17 points from Jordan Brown as they powered to an 86-57 win over Harbour at Arena Manawatu to reach the girls championship game, scheduled for 2.15pm.
With 24 points from Tyla Tariau, Waitakere City joined Hawke’s Bay in the girls final after a narrow 65-62 win over Southland, who got 27 points from Maggie Burrows.
West Auckland upset Zone 1 neighbours Harbour A 86-85 in the second boys semifinal, after Wellington, coached by Junior Tall Blacks head coach Kenny McFadden, had handled Nelson 66-54.
Emerging Junior Tall Black James Ashby led with 17 points for West Auckland, who came back from a halftime deficit, with Harbour encountering foul trouble in the fourth period. Chris McIntyre top-scored with 15 points for Wellington, who will attempt to go unbeaten in the boys final at 4pm.
