By TBHS | Posted: Friday October 2, 2015
For the last four years TBHS has competed in this tournament which showcases South Island secondary school basketball, from which six teams qualify for the National Championship.
Twenty two well-prepared teams entered this year and the standard was very high. Our school finished the tournament in 18th place out of the 22 teams. We had a two win five loss record. The team knew that they would be tested as their pool contained three of the best sides from Christchurch.
As a team, the boys were dominant all year in the local competition but were not ready for the increased pace at this level and had very slow starts in the first two games against Cashmere and Lake Wakatipu College on the first day. The team found that if you failed to keep the games close at this level it is very difficult to get back into the games. Finishing the first day with one win, the team needed to win both games on the second day to have any chance of qualifying.
A slow start against Christchurch Boys proved too difficult to overcome. The team could not be faulted for their effort and tenacity and battled all day but did not produce an upset. The last pool game against John McGlashan was a very competitive game played between two evenly matched teams. Although the team didn’t get the win it was after, it was one of the most well played games at the tournament. Both teams shot well and played hard defence with the final score 107 -98. This would usually mean the teams were not playing hard defence but that was not the case in this game. With this loss, the best that the boys could finish was now 17th.
A good win was achieved against St Thomas College in the morning of the final day. In the afternoon game for 17th against Waitaki, the team battled hard against a team that they had beaten in the recent interschool fixture. Waitaki unfortunately prevailed in this hard fought game. The team would like to thank assistant coach Cam McBride for his support, Robyn Cooper and parents for organising the meals during the tournament and McCain Foods for the donation of products.
