Final a bridge too far for Manawatu

The Manawatu under-17 boys basketball team fell at the final hurdle at the national championships at Wellington at the weekend.

After a great run to the final, Manawatu were beaten 102-77 by Harbour A.

The scoreboard ticked over quickly during this grand final and it took well into the second half before Harbour began to hit at a consistent clip from behind the arc.

Instead it was their prowess on the offensive glass that kept them ahead of Manawatu, who were using the three-point shot themselves to keep pressure on Harbour, as both Kopere Tanoa and Tre Wihongi hit three threes in the first half each.

Despite Harbour only making one of 15 three pointer attempts in the first half, grabbing offensive rebounds on almost half of their missed shots (14/30) had Harbour up 56-51 at halftime.

In spite of the extra possessions Harbour was gaining, this wasn’t the biggest issue for Manawatu.

Instead three fouls on Jake Mckinlay in the second quarter were a much bigger problem, as he entered the break with a solid line of 11 and eight.

Harbour’s Mitchell Dance was a touch

ahead with 21 and 12 himself.

Manawatu kept fighting in the third quarter, with a big three by Wihongi cutting an 11-point Harbour lead down to five (70-65).

This was as close as they would get, as Dance scored eight points in a 13-0 Harbour run.

Harbour’s 2-3 zone defence started confounding the Manawatu offence, and was coupled with Harbour finally starting to hit shots from behind the arc at a clip they were more accustomed to in the final quarter (3/7, with Ethan Mandeno hitting two of these).

This had Harbour quickly pull away to complete the double championship with their female counterparts, who beat Auckland Counties Manukau 91-76 in the girls final.

Manawatu boys Kopere Tanoa and Jake Mckinley were named in the tournament team.

Mckinlay scored 29 points in the semifinal and Tanoa 25 as Manawatu beat Wellington 84-81.

Manawatu led 49-44 at halftime and were up by 15 points at one stage, but Wellington trimmed their lead as the game went on and Wellington levelled 79-all and then 81-all.

But with seven seconds remaining Manawatu pushed the ball up the floor, and despite almost turning it over, Mckinlay found the ball in his hands as time was expiring.

With no hesitation he launched and hit nothing but the bottom of the net in a thrilling Manawatu victory.

Manawatu beat Counties Manukau 91-78 in the quarterfinal and in pool play they beat Otago 81-71, Southland 102-90, Harbour B 81-76 and Tauranga 119-92.

The Manawatu girls team had their first top-eight finish in years after they finished seventh.

Manawatu reached the quarterfinal, but were beaten 84-66 by Auckland Counties. They then lost Waitaha Canterbury 72-59 in the playoffs for fifth to eighth, then beat Mid South Canterbury 63-54 in their final playoff game.

In pool play, Manawatu lost to Harbour 81-46, beat Hawke’s Bay 79-66 and beat Tasman 58-46.

Manawatu’s Rochelle Fourie was named in the girls tournament team.