Basketball New Zealand

St Pat's celebrate in 2008

After losing the bulk of their 2008 roster, St Patrick’s College may just have dropped off everyone’s radar in their bid for three straight boys’ titles at the Furnware NZ “AA” Secondary Schools Championships in Palmerston North.

“Hopefully,” admits coach Dale Sharp. “Because I think we’re just starting to believe in ourselves again.”

The Wellington outfit has visited the past three finals and won the last two, defeating Hamilton’s Fraser High School 94-92 last year at Arena Manawatu. Three of their stars that night – Brook Ruscoe, Tipene Friday and Jake Ashby – were subsequently selected in the tournament team, with Ruscoe named MVP for the tournament.

None of those three are back this year … nor are several of their team-mates.

In fact, only NZ U18 guard Scott Sharp – the coach’s son – returns from the starting five.

“We lost virtually our top seven players from last year,” says Sharp senior, who assisted Pete Ruscoe on the coaching staff last year.

“That’s big, particularly at the level we’ve had in our programme for a while. This is a mini rebuilding phase and often in those situations, a lot of colleges will struggle for a while.

“But we have been able to develop a big programme – we’ve gone from five teams to 17 – and that depth has really helped us out. The eight new guys this year have come from juniors, senior B or senior C.”

With such a high turnover of personnel, St Pat’s have certainly not been the same dominant force, even in their own backyard, where Mana College have beaten them twice and unseated them as Wellington champions.

“We got to the stage where our guys were starting to play good basketball and our confidence was getting better,” says Sharp. “Then we lost the final to Mana by 12 points and the guys were really disappointed.

“They felt they had enough good looks to win it and were a bit down, but they bounced right back.”

At the Zone 3 premierships, St Patrick’s avoided their nemeses, beating Hastings BHS in the semifinals and then New Plymouth BHS (who had dispatched Mana) in the final.

That victory means they enter the national tournament as top seeds, but possibly unrated by rivals that have not sighted them all season.

Sharp expects the biggest challenges to come from traditional powers Nelson College and Church College, the Jeff Green-inspired Fraser HS and a Westlake BHS lineup that includes Tall Black big man Rob Loe.

“This is the biggest tournament in New Zealand by far … and the toughest,” says Sharp. “You have to go there a couple of times before you can really compete … that’s what we found in 2006. Experience counts for a lot.”

Given the exodus of senior players, you might think Sharp was talking his team down on the grounds of their inexperience. Not so.

“I think we’ve got enough experience in this team to pass on to the younger players. They know these tournaments are not won in the first two days.

“It’s an endurance race.”

Meanwhile, Church College have no such problems as they also try for a three-peat in the girls’ division.
Coach Tyler Wilkinson has Fijian international Letava Whippy – MVP for the past two years – spearheading a lineup that includes fellow tournament teamer Moengaroa Subritzky and four more survivors from last year’s roster.

Significantly, two others – Courtland White and Rea Wolfgramm – were also tournament selections with the Church B team that took out the 2008 NZ “A” Secondary Schools Championship.

Furnware NZ “AA” Secondary Schools Championships

Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North

Monday, September 28

8.30am
Opening Ceremony

Boys
9.30am
Tauranga 80 (Adam Dunstan 32) Massey 40 (Reagan Laidlaw 12)
Fraser 82 (Daniel Green 19) St John’s 54 (Jesse Manu 19)
Mana 61 (Jordan Ngatai 12) Cambridge 45 (Kendall McMillan 7)

11.15am
Hamilton 82 (Rore Neho 28) New Plymouth 69 (Max Williams 18)
Westlake 77 (Rob Loe 23) Mt Albert 65 (James Ashby 19)
Wellington 91 (Tupou Sopoaga 22) Cashmere 90 (Elliott Noble 39) OT
Hastings 80 (Czebalos Smiler 24) Kelston 68 (Kendall Davey 23)
Church 76 (Joshua Whippy 27) Otago 47 (Ethan Carruthers 20)
Rangitoto 91 (Sam King 21) Middleton Grange 53 (Inga Solofuti 37)
Nayland 70 (Aaron Dempster 21) Waimea 53 (Chris Duthie 15)

2.45pm
Fraser 92 (Hemi Joyce-Gay 18) Massey 54 (Jordon Widodo 16)
Mana 97 (Isaac Torea 22) St John’s 78 (Joshua Tait 23)
St Patrick’s 79 (Victor Groom 21) Palmerston North 64 (Mike Clarke 17)

4.30pm
Tauranga 86 (Adam Dunstan 29) Cambridge 37 (Gareth Davidson-Sawyer 8)
Onehunga 68 (Dwight Leofo 17) New Plymouth 67 (Daniel King 15)
Nelson 75 (Chad Garrett & Adam Rainbird 18) Hamilton 47 (Tamaki Courtney 15)

6.15pm
Westlake 90 (Shaquille Hohepa Wilson 22) Kelston 51 (Cory Tagaloa 15)
Cashmere 81 Mt Albert 65
Hastings 77 Wellington 71
Church 74 (Jared Whippy 26) Nayland 53 (Alex Jordan & Aaron Dempster 11)
Rangitoto 85 (Isaac Fotu 20) Otago 61 (Ethan Carruthers 38)
Middleton Grange 71 (Inga Solofuti 30) Waimea 69 (Tom Ingham 29)

Girls
9.30am
Waimea 51 (Jelena Vucinic 26) Auckland 48 (Kayla Cullen 15)
Manurewa 58 (Bree Jones 10) Freyberg 39 (Bridgette Taiaroa 9)
Church 100 (Moengaroa Subritzky 19) Rotorua 29 (P Purdie 10)
Northcote 66 (Shaunee Hiha 16) Hauraki Plains 56 ( Georgie Prescott & Annabella Assmus 13)
Sacred Heart 61 (Bridgette Lawn 18) Rangi Ruru 48 (Emma Perry 19)

11.15am
Fraser 62 (Bailey Ross-Waitai 20) Rangitoto 59 (Milika Nathan 19)

1pm
New Plymouth 82 (Bella McCallum 35) Cambridge 38 (Amelia Palmer 20)
Hutt Valley 65 (Milomilo Nanai 16) Marlborough 50 (Sophie van Velthooven 20)
Waikato Dio 59 (Carissa Te Wharau 19) Nelson 57 (Shannon Perrett 19) OT
Mt Albert 93 (Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 26) Kristin 42 (Habiba Tawfik 12)
Rangiora 93 (Gemma Hazeldine 20) Mana 53 (Hawaiki Harris 23)
Napier 74 (Brittney Vermunt 19) Christchurch 55 (Sarah Robb 19)

2.45pm
Waimea 73 (Jelena Vucinic 33) Manurewa 64 (Pearl Lolesi & Charlotte Davis 20)
Church 82 (Jasana Salmon 15) Rangi Ruru 30 (Holly Brown 8)
Sacred Heart 76 (Philippa Blanks 23) Hauraki Plains 62 (Kelly OHallahan 29)

4.30pm
Rangitoto 65 (Milika Nathan 26) Auckland 48 (Caitlin Tuala 26)
Fraser HS 80 (Kalania Purcell 22) Freyberg HS 49 (Danielle Pomare-Mackay & Freya Newton 8)
Northcote 81 (Shaumee Hiha 26) Rotorua 73 (P Purdie 26)

Game On, September 28 (261kb)