Burton leads the way
The 3x3 game might be a different concept to full-court basketball, but Alonzo Burton’s shooting stroke in the half-court set up is just as sweet.
Representing New Zealand at the 3x3 Asia Cup in Mongolia, Burton’s scoring was a big factor in the side cruising through the to quarter finals with two wins from as many matches in pool play.
The second-seeded Kiwis opened their account with a convincing 21-13 win over Australia who had to qualify for the main draw with two matches before pool play.
The New Zealand side got off the a good start before the Australians began to find some rhythm and claw their way back on the score board.
However, once the game got close, The Taranaki Mountain Airs 2017 MVP caught fire from deep to put the match out of the question as the Kiwis went on to win 21-12 against the 13th seed.
In their second game, the Kiwis had a tougher task as the went up against the ninth seeded Qatar.
A close game throughout, it was three clutch bombs from Burton that proved to be the difference as they New Zealand side were able to grind out a 21-17 victory.
As a result, the team go through to a quarterfinal match up against fifth-seed Kyrgyzstan. The Central Asian side have shown they came to the tournament to play in their opening two games.
After claiming a two-point win over India, the side fought hard against fourth-seed China, but just fell short.
The New Zealand women’s team has also reached the quarterfinals, with two wins from two games. They struggled to close out India to claim a 16-15 win, but absolutely dominated Kyrgyzstan who were ranking higher than the Kiwis - 21-9.
The Kiwi women’s team will play second seed China in the quarterfinals. Both quarterfinals were set to be played last night.
Q Opunake’s Isabelle Cook and her New Zealand under-17 girls’ team finished fourth at the FIBA Asian Championship in India.
Doing enough to qualify for next year’s world cup, the young Kiwis were unable to secure a medal - falling in the semifinal to Japan 97-65, before falling to China 60-43 in the playoff for the bronze medal.
In six appearances in the tournament, Cook averaged four points and five rebounds in 19 minutes per game.