Basketball New Zealand

October 2, 2009

Fraser HS coach Jeff Green is quite comfortable in the role of party pooper, so he has no qualms about denying sentimental favourites Church College one last national schoolboys’ basketball title.

“We’re all Mormons … we’re all members of the church,” he reflected after his team edged their crosstown Hamilton rivals 79-75 in a tumultuous semifinal at the Furnware NZ “AA” Secondary Schools Championships in Palmerston North.

“I just happen to be the black sheep of the flock.

“I’m not one for the history of Church College. I didn’t go there, so I’m not caught up in the emotion … this was just another game of basketball to win.”

Actually, Green is quite capable of generating his own emotion, thank you very much, and doesn’t share the spotlight well.

Under his direction and through a variety of means, Fraser has built towards this meeting all year and it came on a day when Green was already suspended from coaching in the girls’ semifinal for comments made to an opposition player during the quarters.

Arena Manawatu crowds have bayed for Green’s blood before, especially through his NBL career, so this was an occasion ready-made for his sense of drama.

“Church are the only secondary school team I’ve worried about over the past two years,” he conceded. “It’s a real love/hate relationship.

“All our kids know each other and live with each other. There’s a mystique and every game we play is tough.

“We’ve avoided playing them all season, I make no bones about that. There is so much familiarity, I didn’t think we needed to see a lot of each other.”

This encounter swung backwards and forwards, and Fraser seemed to have snatched the advantage when Dyson King-Hawea hit three consecutive treys in the third quarter to open a six-point lead.

But Fijian brothers Joshua and Jared Whippy rallied Church to lead 71-69 with less than four minutes remaining. Fraser centre Hemi Joyce-Gay inspired the crucial six-point run to reclaim intiaitve and coach’s son Daniel Green iced a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left to finally put victory beyond reach for their rivals.

“We made some key plays down the stretch,” observed Green. “Dyson could only make the A2 team at Church last year and came over to us … he has made a huge difference.

“And I’m biased, people say Daniel is too small to play, but he has a really huge heart.”

While assistant coaches Parlayne Hawea and Kazlo Evans shed a few tears at depriving their old school a fitting send-off, Green couldn’t resist thumbing his nose at the disconsolate Church supporters afterwards.

“I would have loved them to go out on a high note,” he said. “But that’s not my concern.

“The members will get over this and next year, they’ll send their kids to Fraser.”

If Green is to go one better than last year’s runner-up finish, his team will have to overcome Westlake BHS and Tall Black centre Rob Loe in tomorrow’s final.

The North Harbour school started sluggishly against Mana College of Porirua in their semi and even when they finally edged ahead, could not shake their stubborn opponents. They did control the tempo, though, and eventually emerged 75-71 victors.

While Loe has been heavily marked in most outings this week, his presence opens up opportunities for those around him. Today, it was guard Scott Campbell, who led all scorers with 24 points.

Green was deprived a shot at two titles when the Fraser girls fell 60-76 to New Plymouth GHS. He watched from the sidlines as the Taranaki team snatched the game from the outset and maintained control behind another incredible shooting performance from Bella McCallum (36 points).

Church again showed their class with an 86-55 result over Waimea College and will give their fans something to cheer about as they chase their third successive championship in their final appearance at this event.

2009 Furnware NZ “AA” Secondary School Championships

Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North

Saturday, October 3

Boys
9am
23rd/24th
Massey HS 66 (James Hemopo 18) Wellington College 65 (Titapu Pairama-Lewington 22)

21st/22nd
Kelston BHS 70 (Christoph Fahrensohn 18) Cambridge HS 58 (Kendall MacMillan 20)

19th/20th
Otago BHS 82 (Ethan Carruthers 22) Palmerston North BHS 71 (Luke Bardsley 18)

15th/16th
Middleton Grange 77 (Inga Solofuti 28) Nayland College 69 (Aaron Dempster 14)

10.45am
17th/18th
Waimea College 74 (Chris Duthie 23) Hamilton BHS 60 (Kirk Rangiawha 20)

13th/14th
New Plymouth BHS 72 (Callum Oliver 20) Nelson College 58 (Adam Rainbird 20)

11th/12th
Tauranga BC 65 (Adam Dunstan 19) St John’s College 60 (Te Ra Tai Hodges 16)

7th/8th
Onehunga HS 71 (Dwight Leofo 31) St Patrick’s College 68 (Scott Sharp 14)

12.30pm
9th/10th
Hastings BHS 74 (Stanley Heather & Czebalos Smiler 16) Mt Albert Grammar 72 (Jason Goodwin 24)

5th/6th
Rangitoto College 76 Cashmere HS 74

3rd/4th
Church College 76 (Jared Whippy 33) Mana College 60 (Samuel Heke 16)

5.30pm
Final
Westlake BHS v Fraser HS Arena 2

Final Placings
1
2
3 Church College
4 Mana College
5 Rangitoto College
6 Cashmere HS
7 Onehunga HS
8 St Patrick’s College
9 Hastings BHS
10 Mt Albert Grammar
11 Tauranga BC
12 St John’s College
13 New Plymouth BHS
14 Nelson College
15 Middleton Grange
16 Nayland College
17 Waimea College
18 Hamilton BHS
19 Otago BHS
20 Palmerston North BHS
21 Kelston BHS
22 Cambridge HS
23 Massey HS
24 Wellington College

Girls
9am
23rd/24th
Hauraki Plains College 76 (Kelly O’Hallahan 22) Kristin School 46 (Habiba Tawfik 15)

21st/22nd
Rotorua GHS 76 (P Purdie 30) Mana College 70 (Jardene Tipa 17)

19th/20th
Freyberg HS 60 (Danielle Pomare-Mackay 22) Auckland GGS 56 (Kendal Keung 16)

15th/16th
Manurewa HS 77 (Marleen Williams & Brianna Jones 20) Sacred Heart College 61 (Kayla Bartlett 14)

10.45am
17th/18th
Marlborough GC 79 (Jaime Campbell 19) Cambridge HS 60 (Amelia Palmer 21)

13th/14th
Rangi Ruru GS 63 (Georgina Papahadjis 12) Christchurch GHS 39 (Marlia Lisala 9)

11th/12th
Nelson College for Girls 75 (Shannon Perrett 25) Hutt Valley HS 43 (Shontelle Weston 10)

7th/8th
Rangiora HS 89 (Gemma Hazeldine 26) Northcote College 73 (Shaumee Hiha 18)

12.30pm
9th/10th
Rangitoto College 79 (Hope Thompson 18) Napier GHS 44 (Josie Stockill 13)

5th/6th
Mt Albert Grammar 52 (Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 22) Waikato Diocesan 42 (Georgia Agnew 15)

3rd/4th
Waimea College 83 (Jelena Vucinic 22) Fraser HS 71 (Kalani Purcell 21)

3pm
Final Church College v New Plymouth GHS Arena 2

Final Placings
1 Church College
2 New Plymouth GHS
3 Waimea College
4 Fraser HS
5 Mt Albert Grammar
6 Waikato Diocesan
7 Rangiora HS
8 Northcote College
9 Rangitoto College
10 Napier GHS
11 Nelson CG
12 Hutt Valley HS
13 Rangi Ruru GS
14 Christchurch GHS
15 Manurewa HS
16 Sacred Heart College
17 Marlborough College
18 Cambridge HS
19 Freyberg HS
20 Auckland Girls Grammar
21 Rotorua GHS
22 Mana College
23 Hauraki Plains College
24 Kristin School

Friday, October 2

Boys
21st-24th
Kelston BHS 76 (Christoph Fahrensohn 19) Massey HS 65 (Lee Cahill 19)
Cambridge HS 65 (Te Mana Shortland 23) Wellington College 59 (Te Aro Pairama-Lewington & Tupou Sopoaga 13)

17-20th
Hamilton BHS 65 (Tamaki Courtney 18) Otago BHS 58 (Ethan Carruthers 26)
Waimea College 85 (Chris Duthie 30) Palmerston North BHS 77 (Luke Bardsley 19)

13th-16th
New Plymouth BHS 84 (Max Williams 19) Nayland College 75 (Aaron Dempster 24)
Nelson College 63 (Adam Rainbird 28) Middleton Grange 55 (Inga Solfuti 26)

9th-12th
Hastings BHS 87 (Kyne Tobin 19) St John’s College 80 (Joshua Tait 21)
Mt Albert Grammar 63 (Jason Goodwin 26) Tauranga BC 57 (Matt Fullerton 29)

5th-8th
Rangitoto College 82 (Sam King 26) St Patrick’s College 56 (Scott Sharp 22)
Cashmere HS 77 (Ethan Rusbatch 27) Onehunga HS 70 (Lamont Saina 23)

Semifinals
Fraser HS 79 (Daniel Green 25) Church College 75 (Jah Soloai-Skelton 21)
Westlake BHS 75 (Scott Campbell 24) Mana College 71 (Isaac Torea & Hyrum Hippolite 15)

Girls
21st-24th
Rotorua GHS 75 (K Jennings 20) Kristin School 58 (Sarah Strom 19)
Mana College 73 (Bulou Tuisue 15) Hauraki Plains College 45 (Kelly O’Hallahan 19)

17th-20th
Cambridge HS 64 (Anna Cameron 20) Freyberg HS 58 (Danielle Pomare-Mackay 25)
Marlborough GC 55 (Sophie van Velthooven 33) Auckland GGS 50 (Kayla Cullen 22)

13th-16th
Christchurch GHS 60 (Courtney Powell 17) Sacred Heart College 40 (Philippa Blanks 12)
Rangi Ruru GS 60 (Georgina Papahadjis 15) Manurewa HS 57 (Brianna Jones 19)

9th-12th
Napier GHS 75 (Josie Stockill 35) Nelson College for Girls 52 (Shervan Collier 14)
Rangitoto College 79 (Milika Nathan 25) Hutt Valley HS 70 (Shontelle Weston 18)

5th-8th
Mt Albert Grammar 65 (Ashliegh Kelman-Poto 23) Northcote College 62 (Aroha Lawrence 20)
Waikato Diocesan 57 (Carissa Te Wharau & Georgia Agnew 16) Rangiora HS 52 (Gemma Hazeldine 19)

Semifinals
Church College 86 (Moengaroa Subritzky 17) Waimea College 55 (Jelena Vucinic 26)
New Plymouth GHS 76 (Bella McCallum 36) Fraser HS 60 (Shemaiah Parai 18)

Game On, October 3 (1.4mb)