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10 Tuesday <strong>September</strong> <strong>19</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
PEGASUS POST<br />
SPORTS<br />
NOT PHASED: Josh<br />
Thomson (left) puts up a<br />
jump shot in spite of being<br />
double-teamed.<br />
PHOTOS: ANGELA RUSKE<br />
FOCUSED: Sean Kelly puts pressure on his<br />
opposition.<br />
SHOT: Joel Jeffery goes for<br />
a layup against Otago Boys’<br />
High.<br />
DEFENCE: Jayden Watkinson goes for a block<br />
against Otago Boys’ High.<br />
JOB DONE: The Shirley Spartans after finishing<br />
third at the South Island tournament.<br />
Shirley Spartans win spot at nationals<br />
Shirley Boys’ High School basketball coach Scott<br />
Howell evaluates his team’s performance at the<br />
South Island tournament which booked them a spot<br />
at nationals in Palmerston North next month<br />
OUR SENIOR A team – the<br />
Shirley Spartans – travelled<br />
to Dunedin to compete in the<br />
zone 4 South Island qualifying<br />
tournament.<br />
Our top six finish at this<br />
tournament has allowed us to<br />
attend the secondary schools<br />
national tournament in<br />
Palmerston North in October.<br />
Our first game on day one was<br />
against a solid Nayland College<br />
team, and we had a good win<br />
76-59.<br />
Our second game of the day<br />
was against a young Kaiapoi<br />
High School team. Our<br />
experience and depth led to a<br />
one-sided 106-42 win.<br />
Day two had us facing off<br />
against the two strongest<br />
teams in our pool. Coming up<br />
against Canterbury champions<br />
Cashmere High in the first game<br />
of the day was always going to be<br />
tough. The team put up a solid<br />
fight and showed some heart<br />
in the first half, but Cashmere<br />
proved too strong in the second<br />
half and the final score was 53-93<br />
to Cashmere.<br />
The second game of the day<br />
against Otago Boys’ High was<br />
do-or-die for us. If we lost we<br />
would lose our chance to go to<br />
nationals. Otago came out strong<br />
at the start of the game and were<br />
leading by nine at the end of the<br />
first quarter. Luckily for us, over<br />
the next three quarters we played<br />
some of the best basketball we<br />
had played all season.<br />
After leading comfortably<br />
during the last quarter, we had a<br />
few scares as the Otago guards<br />
hit a barrage of three-pointers,<br />
but luckily we showed composure<br />
and finished the game off,<br />
eventually winning 106-99. Sean<br />
Kelly played his best game of the<br />
tournament and led from the<br />
front for the entire 40min. He<br />
scored an impressive 36 points.<br />
He had strong support in scoring<br />
from our trio of big bodies – Joel<br />
Jeffrey (22pts), Josh Thomson<br />
(14pts) and Loyal Patelesio<br />
(10pts). This game was easily our<br />
best of the tournament.<br />
On day three, we finished off<br />
the last game of pool play by<br />
comfortably beating St Thomas’<br />
96-56. This was another game<br />
were everyone played good<br />
minutes and all 11 players<br />
contributed on the score sheet.<br />
Our quarter-final match-up<br />
later in the day was against<br />
the No 1 seed from pool A –<br />
Rangiora High. This game was<br />
important because, if we won,<br />
we were guaranteed a spot at<br />
nationals. The final score was a<br />
hard fought 77-60 win to Shirley.<br />
Our semi-final match-up had<br />
us playing one of the tournament<br />
favourites in Christ’s College. The<br />
boys came into this game with<br />
a lot of belief and were leading<br />
32-30 at the end of half-time.<br />
Unfortunately, we ran out of<br />
steam in the second half and<br />
the big minutes played by our<br />
key boys caught up with us. Silly<br />
mistakes and a lot of missed<br />
shots, combined with a lift in<br />
intensity by Christ’s in the second<br />
half, led to a one-sided second<br />
half. After leading at half-time we<br />
went down 45-70.<br />
Our last game of the<br />
tournament was a play-off for<br />
third and fourth against Waimea<br />
College.<br />
We desperately wanted to come<br />
third and came out strong in this<br />
game. The boys didn’t let up the<br />
whole game and for the third<br />
time in the tournament, all 11<br />
players contributed on the score<br />
sheet.<br />
The game turned into a<br />
runaway win for Shirley and the<br />
final score of 91-47 reflected this.<br />
It was a successful tournament<br />
for the Shirley Spartans.<br />
Everyone involved was pleased<br />
with our third place finish in the<br />
South Island. Now the boys look<br />
ahead to nationals. This will be<br />
a great experience for the entire<br />
team and should give them an<br />
idea of where we are ranked<br />
amongst the top 24 teams in the<br />
country.<br />
A big thank you to Nat Connell<br />
who put a lot of time and effort<br />
into the team over the year.<br />
Special thanks also to Russell<br />
Stocks, our teacher in charge<br />
of basketball, who was team<br />
manager and worked hard to<br />
get us into the tournament and<br />
cooked the team some delicious<br />
meals. Thanks as well to all the<br />
parents and family members<br />
who helped out with feeding the<br />
boys and supporting them in<br />
Dunedin.<br />
Shirley Spartans team:<br />
Sean Kelly, Saint Porter,<br />
Hamsa Shire, Joel Jeffrey,<br />
Josh Thomson, Loyal<br />
Patelesio, Wiremu Waaka,<br />
Noah Westwood, Jayden<br />
Watkinson, Mona Faitaua-<br />
Nanai, and Amit Aryal.<br />
Hagley Senior College<br />
INFORMATION EVENING<br />
Thursday, <strong>September</strong> 21st | 5:00-7:00pm<br />
Principal’s Presentations are at 5:00 and 6:00pm<br />
www.hagley.school.nz
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