Basketball stars aim for national title
Te Aroha College will send its boys and girls senior basketball teams to contest the sport’s national secondary schools title.
The national tournament will be held in Palmerston North from October 2-5.
The teams are excited about the opportunity to compete against the best but to attend it’s going to cost about $15,000.
The parents and players are planning a fundraising event at the college on September 29 to help generate some income and interest in the young basketballers.
The teams won the right to compete at the national tournament after a successful campaign at the Basketball NZ North Island A School Championships.
The tournament was held at the ASB Stadium in Tauranga.
The A championships are for co-ed schools with a roll under 600 and single sex under 300 students.
The top seven teams qualify for the nationals.
Twenty boys and 12 girls teams from around the North Island entered.
The boys were split into four pools of five teams.
Te Aroha won all of its pool games against Te Kura Kokiri (Mt Maunganui), Onewhero School, Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate and Opunake High School.
The semi final was against Manukura, a specialist sports school from Palmerston North.
Te Aroha had a great start with Christian Garnier scoring the first 3pt shot of the game followed by two more successful attempts from beyond the arc by Nick White and Shontayne Dare.
Captain Sergio Schuler had a string drive to the basket to finish a 2pt play.
At the defensive end, the team packed the key hole to try and prevent Manukura’s fast guards from scoring.
The team plan worked and the first quarter finished with Te Aroha leading by 8 pts.
The rest of the game saw the lead constantly change between the teams but in the last two minutes Manukura pulled away to win the game by 5 pts.
The boys then played Nga Taiatea (Hamilton) for 3/4th place and won a very tight game in overtime by 4 pts.
The girls competition was split into two pools of six teams.
Te Aroha College secured wins against Te Rangi Aniwaniwa and Nga Taiatea and lost to Opunake, Manukura and Te Kura Kokiri.
This left them 4th in the pool of the tournament, and with a crucial play off game against rivals Waihi College next.
The winner would advance to Palmerston North and the losing team’s season would be over.
The team played clinical basketball to pull away for an easy win.
Sending the two teams to nationals will cost $15,000.
The parents and players are holding a fundraising quiz on Friday, September 29, at 7.30pm in the college hall.
Entry fee is $60 for a team of four, and it is BYO drinks. There will also be quick fire raffles and an auction.