Southern View: September 13, 2016

14
Tuesday September 13 2016
SOUTHERN VIEW
Cashmere stars stand out
• By Gordon Findlater
IT’S BEEN a successful month
for Cashmere High School
basketball.
The school’s senior and junior
boys’ teams had top finishes
at their South Island tournaments,
while six players have
been named in Basketball New
Zealand’s national talent programme.
Oki Tilaia and Liam Golding
have both been named in the
under-15 talent programme,
while Tom Russ-Hofmans,
Willem Russ-Hofmans, Connor
McLaughlin and Louis Oskam
are part of the under-17 programme.
Both camps will take
part in Ashburton next month.
“We are absolutely pumped
to have six in there and there’s
probably a couple more that
have just missed out. It shows
the depth in the junior players,
which is great to have coming
through,” said Cashmere basketball
coach Ben Sheat.
The Cashmere senior boys’
team had recent success in
Ashburton where they finished
fourth at the South Island tournament.
The result was enough to book
their spot at the national tournament
taking place in Palmerston
North later this month.
The team had to play a large
chunk of the tournament
without star player Connor
McLaughlin who sustained a
torn calf muscle.
He proved pivotal in the 87-73
win over King’s High School, of
Dunedin, scoring 33 points to
go with 11 rebounds and eight
assists in the win that cemented
qualification for nationals.
Cashmere eventually fell to
tournament winner’s Christchurch
Boys’ High School 75-94 in
the semi-final.
“Connor could have played
but the risk of him completely
tearing it in half and not being
able to play at nationals was too
high,” Sheat said.
The school’s junior boys’ team
also had success, finishing second
at the junior South Island
tournament in Dunedin.
The junior team has been
impressive but unlucky in recent
times, finishing second at the
tournament three years in a row.
“It’s pretty hard to continuously
bring in talented year 9s,
so to compete at that level for
three years is pretty awesome,”
Sheat said.
With a majority of the senior
team set to return for at least another
year in 2017 and a strong
group of young players coming
through the junior team, Cashmere
look poised to become a
force.
The school’s best finish at nationals
came in 2009 when current
Canterbury Rams captain
Ethan Rusbatch helped lead the
team to a sixth place finish.
While the bar hasn’t been set
high this year, Sheat is confident
Cashmere will eclipse their best
finish in the near future.
“For this team, it’s about getting
experience for the following
year really. Two of the top North
Island teams are in our pool,
which is pretty cool, we get to
see where we need to be. Hopefully,
over the next three years,
we can get into the top four a
few times.”
The secondary schools national
tournament begins on
September 26 in Palmerston
North.
Six Canterbury teams have
qualified, Cashmere will join
Christchurch BHS and Christ’s
College. Rangi Ruru Girls’
School, Middleton Grange and
Rangiora High School have also
qualified for the girls’ tournament.
KEY MAN: Cashmere will
be hoping that star player
Connor McLaughlin can shake
off a calf injury before this
month’s national basketball
tournament.​
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