Basketball New Zealand

2009 Koru Tour

The New Zealand Kea boys narrowly failed to repeat as under-14 champions at the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup in Albury, New South Wales, on Saturday.

Despite 18 points from Jaylen Gerrand, the Kea boys fell 78-62 to the Victoria Goldminers in Saturday’s final.

Joseph Kang, with 14, and Jayden Bezzant, with a dozen, were the other double-figure scorers for New Zealand, who fell behind by six points after the first quarter and were put away by the Victorians with a 23-14 third period.

Kang scored 17 points, Gerrand 11 and Deon Mau’u 10 as the Keas defeated the Vic Bushrangers 60-56 in their semifinal on Friday.

The under-14 squad were the only New Zealand Koru Tour team to get as far as the semifinals, with all four under-16 teams dipping out in the quarters on day five.

Joshua Young scored 27 points as the Kea boys got the closest, falling 76-64 to the Vic Bushrangers. The Koru boys lost 66-42 to the NSW Waratahs, the Kea girls 85-54 to the NSW Kookaburras and the Koru girls going down 86-42 to the South Australia Sharks.

The Koru women were the best of the under-18 teams, finishing fifth after a 45-51 win over the SA Sharks on Saturday. The Kea men ended fifth and the Koru men eighth.

Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup

Saturday, January 17

Under-14 Boys
Final
Vic Goldminers 78 NZ Kea 62 (Jaylen Gerrand 18, Joseph Kang 14, Jayden Bezzant 12)
Classification playoff
NZ Koru 67 (Keanu Singsam 17, Benedict Lantin 16, Luuc Witteveen 13, Brandon Gleaves 11) SA Magpies 65

Under-14 Girls
Classification playoff
NZ Kea 54 NZ Koru 40

Under-16 Boys
Classification playoffs
NSW Kookaburras 63 NZ Kea 61
Vic Bushrangers 53 NZ Koru 33

Under-16 Girls
Classification playoff
NZ Kea 58 NZ Koru 49

Under-18 Boys
5th-6th playoff
NSW Waratahs 62 NZ Kea 56
7th-8th playoff
SA Sharks 67 NZ Koru 66

Under-18 Girls
5th-6th playoff
NZ Koru 45 SA Sharks 41

Friday, January 16

Under-14 Boys
Semifinal
NZ Kea 60 (Joseph Kang 17, Jaylen Gerrand 11, Deon Mau’u 10) Vic Bushrangers 56
Classification playoff
NSW Kookaburras 74 NZ Koru 61 (Brandon Gleaves 15, Matthew Bird 14, Benedict Lantin 10, Keanu Singsam 10)

Under-14 Girls
Classification playoffs
NZ Kea 64 (Gayle Broughton 11, Keretina Hakaraia 11, Rata Ngatai 10, Bronya McMenamin 10) NSW Kookaburras 53
SA Sharks 80 NZ Koru 71 (Leylanni Cameron-Tana 12, Shevanna Sullivan 12, Pene Bishop-Paenga 11, Laken Wairau 10)

Under-16 Boys
Quarterfinals
NSW Waratahs 66 NZ Koru 42 (Quentin Potts 8, Adam Whybro 8, Timothy Apisai 8)
Vic Bushrangers 76 NZ Kea 64 (Joshua Young 27)
Classification playoffs
NZ Koru 101 (Taylor Davidson 16, Logan Botica 15, Adam Whybro 11) WA Sandgropers 56
NZ Kea 67 (Joshua Young 13, Thomas Vodanovich 13, Aramis Dennan 10) Northern Territory 41

Under-16 Girls
Quarterfinals
SA Sharks 86 NZ Koru 42 (Hana Wilkinson 11)
NSW Kookaburras 85 NZ Kea 54 (Alex Svoboda 12)
Classification playoffs
Vic Goldminers 87 NZ Kea 61 (Meahan Wilby 15, Emma Mayo 10)
WA Sandgropers 48 NZ Koru 36 (Hana Wilkinson 12, Lucy Heenan 10)

Under-18 Boys
Pool play
NZ Koru 67 (Shaquille Hohipa-Wilson 22, Nick Davies 10) NSW Waratahs 62
NSW Kookaburras 91 NZ Kea 69
NZ Kea 71 NZ Koru 55

Under-18 Girls
Pool play
NSW Waratahs 83 NZ Koru 51 (Hannah Wong 11)
NZ Koru 64 (Hannah Wong 16, Elizabeth Hayman 13, Dayna Turnball 12) Albury Wodonga 52