U17s knocked out by Champs
Both the Canterbury Metro U17 teams were knocked out by the eventual champions and faced the beaten finalist in pool play at the U17 Nationals which finished on Saturday evening.
The Boys did very well to get through to the semis finishing second in pool 2 and losing only to the eventual runner up Harbour. Canterbury Metro 128 V Southland 38, Canterbury Metro 98 V Rotorua 60, Canterbury Metro 81 V Auckland Counties Manukau B 64, Harbour A 81 V Canterbury 68.
Overtime determined the match up for the QF with Wellington beating Waitakere to set the match up with Canterbury Metro. The Metro boys won the game pulling away in the fourth quarter to advance to the semis 83 - 70. Unfortunately they were to meet eventual champion Auckland/ Counties A who boasted the biggest players at the tournament and dominated the boards to win the semi 104 – 89. This relegated the boys to a 3rd/4th clash vs southern rivals Otago who ran out the winner after trailing for most of the game. Final placing 4th congratulations to Jack Ansell who made the tournament team.
Auckland/Counties were the champions beating Harbour 102 – 79
Tasman finished 13th and Canterbury Country 17th
The girls unfortunately lost to both finalists as well meeting Porirua in pool play and then the very strong Harbour team in the quarters which relegated them to the 5th - 8th bracket. Canterbury Metro 71 V Palmerston North 58, Canterbury Metro 44 V Porirua 71, Canterbury Metro 72 V Mid North 29,
QF Harbour A 1st Pool 1 81 V Canterbury Metro 2nd Pool 3 58. They then met a motivated Taranaki outfit and lost Taranaki Loser QF4 69 V Canterbury Metro Loser QF1 57 before beating Rotorua. Canterbury Metro 80 V Rotorua 69 (Girls 7th & 8th Playoff)
They were possibly more effected by the timing clash with the Australian State Champs losing key players Esra McGoldrick and Sapphire Wairau. The boys lost Quinn Clinton.
Tasman finished 12th and Canterbury Country 14th.
Harbour beat Porirua 62 – 58 in the final.
The U15 Nationals start Wednesday. Live streaming package is available to sunscribers for $15 on the Basketball NZ website
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