Under-21s Finals Day
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All tournament long, Porirua were the team to beat at the Oreo Under-21 National Championships in Wellington.
And they needed every bit of their talent to out-last Waitakere 83-79 in the men’s final at Southwest Stadium on Saturday.
Jordan Mills scored 25 points, tournament MVP Brook Ruscoe added 18 and 2007 under-19 MVP Joe Maiava 15 points for Porirua, who went through the tournament undefeated at 8-0 and trailed only once during the final.
Porirua led by 10 points midway through the first period and by as many as 11 points late in the third quarter after an 8-0 but could not shake Waitakere, who hung close throughout the game.
“Waitakere are very strong. They’re good friends of ours. We actually all went to dinner on the first night,” said Porirua captain Mills, a tournament team selection with team-mates Ruscoe and Hayden Whelan.
“We knew they weren’t going to go away, they were going to play hard the whole way.”
A 10-2 run down the stretch from Waitakere – as Porirua’s outside shooting went cold – saw them close the gap to three points at 92-89 and after a Porirua turnover, had a shot to send the game into overtime in the final seconds.
Evan Bishop pulled down the rebound from the miss, was fouled and sealed the game with one-of-two free throws with a second remaining.
“It was just a 40-minute game, a hard 40 minutes.
“We’re a really good team. The starting five, we’ve been playing for a few years together and we’re all good friends, and down the stretch that was good. We all knew what we would do.
“We’ve got five guys that could have made the tournament team, unfortunately Joe Maiava and Evan Bishop had to miss out.”
Houston O’Riley, Duane Bailey and Zachariah Makavilitonga – all tournament team selections – continually led Waitakere back from the brink of a blowout. O’Riley had 22 points, Bailey 21 and Makavilitonga 13.
Earlier, hometown Wellingon survived overtime to defeat neighbours Hutt Valley 76-71 in the women’s final.
Hutt Valley finished the game on a 7-0 run to send the game into overtime but Wellington, who finished the tournament 5-0, had too much composure in the extra period.
Captain Shiana-Rose Harris scored 20 points, including a crucial banked three-pointer as the shot clock expired early in overtime, while tournament MVP Tava Whippy had 13 points. For Hutt Valley, Soraya Umaga scored a game-high 23 points.
Wellington started the game on a 10-0 run, with Whippy scoring five of those points, with Hutt Valley’s first points coming at the 4:03 mark of the first quarter.
Upstart Hutt Valley took their first lead midway through the second and a 15-4 run early in the third gave them a seven-point lead, their largest of the game. Wellington re-took the lead at 60-59, and a nine-point run looked to have sealed the win with three minutes remaining.
Oreo Under-21 National Championships
Saturday, March 8
Men
Pool play
Hutt Valley 61 (Bradley Shields 15) Porirua 77 (Shilton Smith 14)
Wellington 90 (Hemi Lewington 22) North Harbour 84 (Lydon Aoake 27)
Waitakere 101 (Houston O’Riley 19) Palmerston North 80 (Dan Peck 19)
Nelson 83 (Adam Rainbird 27, Ben Constable 23) Mid Canterbury 82 (Jesse Kok 23)
7th/8th
Palmerston North 121 (James Bardsley 32) Mid Canterbury 75 (Jeremy Charteris 19)
5th/6th
Hutt Valley 80 (Bradley Shields 19) Wellington 71 (Hemi Lewington 22)
3rd/4th
North Harbour 85 (Lydon Aoake 33) Nelson 82 (Ben Constable 36, Adam Rainbird 25)
Final
Porirua 93 (Jordan Mills 25, Brook Ruscoe 18) Waitakere 89 (Houston O’Riley 22, Duane Bailey 21)
Final Placings
Porirua
Waitakere
North Harbour
Nelson
Hutt Valley
Wellington
Palmerston North
Mid Canterbury
Tournament Team
Caleb Johns (North Harbour), Jordan Mills (Porirua), Ben Constable (Nelson), Duane Bailey (Waitakere), Brook Ruscoe (Porirua), Hayden Whelan (Porirua), Houston O’Riley (Waitakere), Zachariah Makavilitonga (Waitakere), Lucas Lee (Wellington), Lidston Ahwong (Hutt Valley)
MVP
Brook Ruscoe (Porirua)
Women
5th Playoff
Waitakere 73 (Emma Gillespie 22) Nelson 69 (Kirsty Dempster 29, Jelena Vucinic 27)
3rd/4th
Canterbury 82 (Natalie Moore 19) Waitakere 67 (Chevannah Paalvast 23)
Final
Wellington 76 (Shiana-Rose Harris 20) Hutt Valley 71 (Soraya Umaga 23) OT
Final Placings
Wellington
Hutt Valley
Canterbury
Waitakere
Nelson
Tournament Team
Jelena Vucinic (Nelson), Mesha Blair (Waitakere), Natalie Moore (Canterbury), Shiana-Rose Harris (Wellington), Mariana Cowan (Hutt Valley), Chevannah Paalvast (Waitakere), Tava Whippy (Wellington), Te Amo Tibble (Wellington), Soraya Umaga (Hutt Valley), Margaret Scott (Hutt Valley)
MVP
Tava Whippy (Wellington)
