By TBHS | Posted: Saturday September 24, 2016
The TBHS Year 9 and 10 basketball team gained 10th place at the recent Zone 4 Junior Secondary School’s Premiership held at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin with 21 boys’ teams from around the South Island competing.
TBHS, despite being
in a strong pool, showed periods where they were competitive against some of
the stronger teams present. The team struggled to maintain this through the
tournament. TBHS finished the tournament with a 3 win, 4 loss record. Only a
single win was secured against Burnside HS in the pool play (58-52) but this
gained the Timaru team 4th place in Pool
A, and enabled them to challenge for a top 10 place.Good wins against
Marlborough (85-81) and Shirley Boys’ HS (62-38) meant the team came up against
Nelson College for their final game to decide 9th and 10th place. Nelson proved
too strong and classy in this play-off however, winning the game 82-54, but the
final placing was a creditable placing for the team.
Point guard and Captain Alvin Sutedja was the most active and effective defender, leading by example in the team, and his scoring improved as the tournament progressed. Jack Crossan the other point guard who is in Year 9, and one of the smallest players at the tournament,was the scoring spark for the team. A highlight was his 41 point contribution in the win over Marlborough. This was a major factor in the victory and and involved a range of 3 point shots, superb drives to the basket and steady conversion of foul shots. He was consistently a top scorer for his team, often against vastly taller opponents.
Ben Robinson a promising forward, was also a strong scorer, although he struggled for consistency at times. Andrew Cheung (a Year 9 player) was the most improved player for TBHS at this tournament, scoring very effectively in some games. Jordan Henderson, Will Lyall and George Copland also contributed valuable points. Other players in the team, Jack Macpherson, Keaton Swindells and Bailey Lissington provided valuable defence and support throughout the tournament.
This was a great learning experience for this team, competing with the best teams in the South Island, a number of whom boast squads much taller than TBHS’s senior basketball team, and New Zealand age group representatives.
