Basketball: Success for Northland high schools at tournament week

Huanui College after their second-placed finish during tournament week.

The Huanui College 1st Basketball came agonisingly close to winning the North Island Secondary School Single "A" basketball tournament in Tauranga.

Schools that qualify for "A" are required to have a roll of less than 600 students and be a co-ed school (Huanui's current roll is close to 250). There were 16 teams competing in the Boys section for 2016.

The team, captained by Head Prefect James Martinac, coached by Francis Heremaia and assisted by Evan Hamlet performed beyond expectations to make the final against Manukura School from Palmerston North.

Along the way the team had 4 wins including an outstanding effort in the semi-final against a much bigger Kingsway School team from Auckland.

Huanui competed strongly in a seesawing final where the lead changed several times, but eventually Manukua won by 7 points.

Meanwhile Whangarei Boys High School finished eighth in the AA SS Zone One Boys Premiership.

They lost just once through group play, but were less successful in the highly competitive playoff stage.

A heavy defeat to Rangitoto College was followed by a much tougher effort against Selwyn College, going down 81-90.

They unfortunately were unable to match Mt Albert Grammar in the seventh/eighth playoff, losing 107-30.

Still, a top eight finish at nationals is nothing to scoff at.