THE TARANAKIAN
]iH E TARANAKIAN
BASKETBALL REPORT
Taranaki Secondary Regional Qualifying Tournament This tournament, played at TSB Stadium on June 14 and 15, followed the pattern of 1998 in that the top two teams from the Taranaki region would go to the NZSSC without having to play in a further qualifying tournament. Boys' High were in the group for pool play with Waitara HS, Inglewood HS and Opunake HS. The tournament started very well for us when at 9.00 am on the first day we defeated Waitara HS very handsomely 87 - 39. This victory meant that achieving our goal of qualifying for the NZSSC was made much easier. The two remaining pool games were very lopsided games with victories over Inglewood HS 119- 39 and Opunake 152- 37. This resulted in us playing a semi-final against the 2nd placed team in the other pool, Hawera HS, which we won 126-34. So, late on the Tuesday afternoon we again faced Waitara HS in the final as a result of their upset win over Francis Douglas MC. Natu rally, the team were keen to win this tournament after the disappointment of the 1998 final, and we were successful, winning 104 - 44. So, the two major goals of the tournament, qualifying for the NZSSC and the title, had been achieved.
.
Basketball 1st V Back Row: Mr T Heaps (manager) , J. Collins, R. Laka, B. Jefferey, J. Russell , A. Porter, Mr. C Driscoll (coach) Front Row: F. Nuku, M. Cleaver, J. Marriner (captain) , S. Lile , J. Smith
The Super 8 resumed at the end of July with a visit from Gisborne BHS, with their local television crew, to play us in a hard game in front of a large supportive Friday night crowd. We won 97- 77. Our next visitors were Hastings BHS, a classy team who would eventually win this competition, and we lost 67- 95. We finished this competition with a double-header weekend . We began by playing Napier BHS at Napier on the Saturday morning winning quite comfortably in the end 95-82. Then it was back on the bus across to Rotorua to play Rotorua BHS that night. In a very physical game, we won 79-69. With 5 wins and 1 loss in this competition we came 2nd, a very creditable effort.
New Zealand Secondary Schools' Championships In late August, the team represented Taranaki at the finals of the New Zealand Secondary School Championships at the Trafalgar Centre in Nelson. The 24 teams were initially divided up into 8 pools of 3, and we found ourselves with Onslow College (Wellington), and Kings HS (Dunedin). We lost to the former 62- 66, but beat the latter 10072, to advance to the top 16. In our new pool we played Hastings BHS, losing 57- 81 , Nelson College, losing 56 - 92 and Napier BHS winning 90 - 71 . This meant we were playing off for 9th - 12th places. We began this quest by beating Waitaki BHS (Oamaru) 80 - 70, and then in a rematch against Onslow we won this time, 60 - 58 with a basket in the last second . With these two wins"'Ne found ourselves in the Division 2 final against Rangitoto College (Auckland), but this time we lost, unfortunately, 56 - 64. This result meant we finished 1Oth- a very creditable place. The team were great ambassadors for the school on and off the
court and can feel very satisfied with what they achieved in this tournament.
1st V Basketball 1999 At the beginning of the 1999 season the coach of the 1st V, Colin Driscoll, chose the following squad of ten : Jouhans Marriner (Capt) , Matthew Cleaver (Vice Captain) , Haizley Martin, Ben Jeffrey, Shane Lile, Rupert Laka, Jon Collins, Adam Porter, France Nuku and Josh Smith. Not long after, Haizley Martin left school and his place in the squad was taken by Jamie Russell.
Local Competition The team played in the Premier Division in the New Plymouth Basketball Association local competition. The season began with a series of grading games with the following results: vs Coastal lost 60 -11 0 vs Cash Money lost 61 - 6 vs Tigers won 58- 50 vs Francis Douglas MC won 68- 52 vs Waitara HS won 84- 58 So at the end of the grading games we were 3rd and now faced the regular season competition. The results were: vs Tigers won 68- 54 vs Waitara HS won 71 -45 vs Coastal lost 62 - 81 vs Cash Money lost 64 - 97 vs Sporty's won 92-53 vs Mavericks won 66- 58 vs Francis Douglas MC won 67-49 vs Tigers won 92- 61 vs Waitara HS lost 48-49
Honours The following players were awarded Tiger Coats this year : Jouhans Marriner, Matthew Cleaver, Ben Jeffrey, Shane Lile, Rupert Laka, France Nuku , Jon Collins, Josh Smith and Adam Porter. The award for the Most Improved Player in the 1st V (Peter Lay Trophy) was awarded to Rupert Laka.
The upshot of all these games was that the team was again 3rd, and now had the play-offs in front of them. In the quarterfinal we played Mavericks and won thus finding ourselves in the minor semi-final against Tigers. The game, coming as it did after the NZSS Championships, meant that the team came out flat and we lost 60- 62, so ending our season.
Provincial Representation Western Heights Invitation Tournament For the first time our school was invited to send a team to play in the Senior Boys' Basketball competition, so we joined the NPGHS party, seasoned competitors at this tournament, and journeyed to Rotorua to Western Heights High School. Played over two days this tournament provided an ideal early season outing . In our pool play we faced Tauranga BHS to whom we lost 35 - 47 but against Massey HS (Auckland) we won 86 - 45. We played Westlake BHS in our last pool game winning 64 - 34. So we, as the 2nd placegetters in our pool, played Mt Albert Grammar in the semi-finals losing 42 - 43 - a nail biter! This meant we played Francis Douglas MC, the old foe, for third place which we secured by winning 47- 14. On the whole an enjoyable and successful opener to the season. Our thanks go to NPGHS for their help.
lnterschooi/Super 8 Fixtures
Taranaki Under 18 : Ben Jeffrey (Captain) , Jon Collins, France Nuku, Adam Porter and Jamie Russell.
1999 promised to be a very busy season as basketball became an official part ofthe Super 8 sporting competition. We had played unofficially in 1998, but now there was a trophy at stake. The other teams from the Central North Island were : Hamilton BHS, Tauranga Boys', Rotorua BHS, Gisborne BHS, Napier BHS and Hastings BHS. We had our traditional fixture against Palmerston North Boys' High School as well. The fixtures began in mid-June with games against Hamilton at Hamilton and Tauranga in our home gym, both of which we won, the former 100 - 72, and the latter 105 - 70, both emphatic victories , the latter especially good reversing the result from Rotorua in May. The third term saw us come up against one of our traditionally strongest opponents, Palmerston North Boys' High who were not, in 1999, part of the Super 8 competition . Having beaten them three times in a row, we knew that they would be keen to stop our run of victories. On a very cold morning at the Pascal Street Stadium in Palmerston North, their very good team was victorious 89-77. This page has been ktndly sponsored by Lifeline Taranaki. Ltfeltne Taranaki, a free telephone counselltng service . We're here to ltsten and we're only a phone call away Rtng (06) 758 6333
67