It was a head-grabbing moment for the Toro Atu bench in their semifinal defeat to Kings on Wednesday. Photo / File
It was a head-grabbing moment for the Toro Atu bench in their semifinal defeat to Kings on Wednesday. Photo / File
The Kings have booked a berth in the final against Hastings Old Boys in the premier men's club basketball competition in Napier next week.
Former Hawks centre Kareem Johnson was the chief architect in ending Toro Atu's purple patch in the semifinal of the HB Elite League at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Taradale on Wednesday.
"It's great to have an elite league that keeps the former players in the game and helps the school teams prepare better for their competitions," said Johnson before they tip off against Hastings Old Boys at 7.30pm on Wednesday next week.
The 38-year-old American-born Kiwi citizen said they had played with six players earlier in the competition and it had taken its toll on the results but now they were firing on all cyclinders with players on the bench.
"They are a good team so if we have to beat a team like that we'll need everybody we've got."
Third seeds Kings made their intentions clear against secon seeded Toro Atu, prompting the latter to to call a timeout as they trailed 9-0 on account of back-to-back bombs from outside the arc from Dominic McGovan.
However, Toro Atu were 22-10 down in the quarter as their shooters found no love from the rims despite Alonzo Burton and Josh Anderson dropping one each from the carpark in the second quarter.
The Kings went 42-27 into halftime with Johnson dominating inside with 18 points and the onslaught continued from the three Kings treys on the trot in the third spell.
While Toro Atu were able to achieve near parity in every quarter after the first, they weren't able to take the lead within single digits despite three Anderson three-pointers in a row in the fourth.
Johnson said they had boxed out Burton ensuring "everywhere he goes somebody's in his face to make life hard for Alonzo".
The Hohepa resident support worker in Hastings said they were looking forward to the final against Hastings Old Boys who had Reece Tuala-Fata in fine form.
"If they have their full squad we'll basically have to get back and transition to make sure we keep their shooters out."
Johnson urged fans to watch the men and women's finals.
Kings 84 (K Johnson 38, D McGovan 15, C Davies 9) Toro Atu 65 (J Anderson 26, N Agnew 13, A Burton 9).
Former Hawks import Kareem Johnson (left) says the HB Elite League provides an outstanding platform for former players and aspiring youth to stay in touch with the game. Photo / File
In the second semifinal, Hastings Old Boys had the measure of a star-studded Napier Tech Sweepers with the three-point shooting percentage again the difference.
Ironically the Sweepers took an early nine-point lead before Hastings Old Boys gnawed the deficit to within one point in the first quarter.
The Sweepers tabled a 47-44 returns in the second half on the platform of 35 combined points from former Paora Winitana snr and former Tall Black Everard Bartlett while Latrell Smiler Ah-Kiong and Tuala-Fata spearheaded Hastings' charge.
Mataeus Marsh hit three three-pointers in the third quarter to put Hastings in the box seat but Winitana gave the Sweepers a 62-61 edge.
Smiler Ah-Kiong hit back-to-back threes midway through the fourth spell to open the largest lead for the Old Boys at eight points with six minutes left on the clock as Tech lost their mojo. Winitana kept the scoreboard ticking over but Tech couldn't string enough stops.
Hastings Old Boys 93 (L Smiler Ah-Kiong 28, J Nahora 17, R Tuala-Fata 17) Napier Tech Sweepers 86 (P Winitana Sr 39, E Bartlett 23, W Burton 10).
The losing sides will play for third place.
Napier Boys' High School overwhelmed Hastings Boys' High School 98-60 in the playoffs for fifth.
NBHS 98 (C Bush III 34, J Murphy 23, K Kara 18) HBHS 60 (O Alam 25, L Spooner 17, R Maaka 13).
NGHS guard Aaliyah Beamsley lit the fuse to show she'll be a handful for Bridge Pa in the HB Elite League final at the Pettigrew-Green Arena on Wednesday next week. Photo / File
In the women's first semifinal, Napier Girls' High School predictably crushed the Ravens 92-31 despite the 57-51 result in the regular season.
NGHS were unstoppable from behind the arc as they established a 22-5 first-quarter lead. Aaliyah Beamsley made a 9-0 run as NGHS went on to rack up 15 treys in running riot over the Ravens.
NGHS 92 (A Beamsley 15, M Cunningham 15, A Poi 13) Ravens 31 (D Smiler 14, K Rameka 10).
In the other seimifnal, Bridge Pa comfortably beat the Flyers 74-50 to book a final against NGHS at 6pm next Wednesday.
Mahia Isherwood and linchpin Kaya Lord made all the right noises for the Flyers but it was Bridge Pa who led 18-12 in the opening spell.
It didn't help Flyers' cause with Madison King and Tayler Clare out despite 18 combined first-half points from Lord and Isherwood as they trailed 40-24 at halftime.
Bridge Pa put the game to bed with Raedeen Blake and Kahlia Awa on fire as Tie Tie Aiolupotea and Dyvine Ioane backed up in the scoring department.
