Secondary School basketball: Aquinas College wins nationals

Three-on-three basketball secondary national champions, CJ Flavell, Michael Wade, Ky-mani Kaumoana, Theo Kraenzlin and Tiare Workman.

• Aquinas College’s senior boys’ basketball team won the Secondary Schools Nationals, ending their dominant era.
• Michael Wade, Ky-mani Kaumoana, and CJ Flavell led the team, with Kuamoana named MVP.
• The team maintained a strict training schedule and will pass leadership to Tiare Workman.

Aquinas College senior boys’ three-on-three basketball team ended their era of dominance with a win at the Secondary Schools Nationals in April at Mercury Baypark, Mount Maunganui.

The team was led by Year 13 seniors Michael Wade, Ky-mani Kaumoana and CJ Flavell, who will depart at the end of this year.

It also included new players, Year 13 Theo Kraenzlin and Year 11 Tiare Workman.

Wade said the team had forged an unbreakable, unbeaten bond in their three-on-three season.

Wade said that he, Kaumoana, and Flavell tasted success last year, winning the same tournament but losing one game in the previous year’s tournament.

“But then we went on to win.”

Wade and Kaumoana were selected for the tournament All-Star roster, Wade said.

Kaumoana became the go-to scorer for the team, netting 92 points and being named MVP for the tournament.

“We just started throwing the ball to Kaumoana, and he would get us the points to win.”

Three-on-three is a quicker, more offensive style of basketball with no coach present. Teams need to net 21 points or have the highest score before the final whistle, and the game has a shorter shot clock, Wade said.

“You don’t have as much time to think.”

Flavell, Kaumoana, and Wade play on the Tauranga Whai basketball team, where they learn to play with other athletes of different ages and ethnicities.

“It is pretty competitive,” he said.

The Whai are now in their second season and are slowly building a fan base, Wade said.

Wade said the boys make up the Aquinas College five-on-five side and are single-A national champions.

The boys kept to a strict twice-a-week training schedule between their training for the five-a-side squad, he said.

Flavell, Kaumoana, and Wade have played together on the same team since Year 10 and described their play as having a “telepathy” to it.

“We knew what each other was thinking on the court,” Wade said.

Single-A competition includes schools with fewer than 500 students, and this year, the team will face off against some of the largest double-A schools, Wade said.

After this season, the three seniors will hand over the reins to Workman, who started playing basketball competitively a year ago.

Wade said he is confident that Workman will be able to carry on the legacy of the current team and that he needs to find the right players.

“Bring them up to like your level and push each other,” Wade said.

The talent and dedication of the Aquinas basketball students was remarkable, principal Matt Dalton said.

“Schools of our size shouldn’t be competing for national titles. We’re competing at schools in the thousands, where we’re in the hundreds,” Dalton said.

“It’s unbelievable.”