This group of Year 9 and 10 Boys were selected from our U15, U17B and U17A teams who played throughout the 2016 Counties Manukau Basketball competition. Competing in the Premier Grade was always going to be a tough challenge but it was also an incredible opportunity for the players and coaches to gain exposure to some of the best teams in the North Island.
We got off to a shaky start to the tournament by dropping our opening game against Fraser High School (8th seed), losing 89-90. Our next game was against the 2015 defending champions, Rosmini College and we received a true welcome to the Premier Grade, losing 37-111. Game three was one of our best but came in a losing effort. We played 9th seed Northcote College and weren’t expected to challenge them at all. Led by incredible performances from Year 10 Thomas Wood (19 points & 14 rebounds) and Year 9 Eujohn Romero (22 points, 6 assists, 7 steals & 7 rebounds) we were tied 62-62 with 4 minutes remaining. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring home the win, going down 69-76 but we earned major respect from the opposition and unleashed the potential of our team. We then completed pool play with a dominant display against St Peters Cambridge (17th seed), winning 95-52.
This put us into the 9th – 16th playoffs against Avondale College (6th seed) which we lost 41-75 thanks to a very low energy effort. This moved us into the 13th – 16th Semi-Final vs. Orewa College (12th seed). Orewa defeated our U15 boys by 20 points at the Auckland Championships just 10 days earlier so this was a great opportunity for us to seek revenge. The game began as a tight contest but we turned the screws with outstanding defensive pressure and eventually ran away with the game, winning 85-63. This set us up with the 13th/14th playoff game against 13th seed Otumoetai College where we won comfortably 68-48. A consolation for us was that Fraser High School who defeated us in pool play finished the tournament in 15th place. This demonstrated the improvements that our team made throughout the last four days.
We completed the tournament with three wins from seven games, finishing in 13th position. This experience enabled us to identify our potential and give us a great launching pad for the 2017 season. We have some outstanding players who will return to this tournament next year and I’m confident they’ll take the lessons of this season into the next and continue to represent the College with pride.
Mr Jason Crummer
Director of Sport
Sancta Maria College
