ALL THE TRICKS: Hawkes Bay Rack City's Hayden Allen looks to keep the ball away from the New Plymouth Air Fresh defence yesterday afternoon. 271013WCBRCHOOPN03.
They've had to work hard for it, but the favourites all remained in the frame for the Men's Premier semifinals at HoopNation in Springvale Stadium as the evening round was set to tip off yesterday.
Looking resplendent in their alternating blue and black uniforms, it appeared that defending champions Hawkes Bay Rack City, the NZ Maori Kauri team and the Tall Blacks-laden Auckland Youthtown would get three of the four spots, although the latter suffered a stunning upset to Palmerston North That's Us in a Sunday morning thriller.
The two semifinals will be played at the same time at 10 this morning, and the grand final will close out the tournament at 3 this afternoon.
There is live streaming and results through the HoopNation website.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS
The title contenders began to emerge early on Saturday after the opening two rounds of the Men's Premier tournament as the young men of the Waitakere Super City Rangers showed they had hustle and endurance for three days of games 62-42 win over Auckland Flash in the opening 9am round.
Flash had some very tall timber in Will Green and Tom Allan, while playmaker Andrew Green orchestrated their plays well.
However, the Rangers were just that much quicker and fundamental in their rebounding and the speed from hoop to hoop led by young American Carl Buck and big Kristoph Fahrensohn and Jason Goodwin, who scored a sweet dunk in the second quarter
Sweeping out to a 14-8 advantage, the Rangers really upped the tempo to be leading 29-12 midway through the next period, before Will Green and Toni Rampton led a mini-recovery to 29-21. But come halftime at 38-22, which then extended to 45-22 and still full of running, the Rangers had this under control always able to show great hand speed to get the steals among the traffic.
With a safe scoreline, Buck and the others were willing to chance their arm with some trick passes round the back and to the hoop, while Andrew Green never stopped hustling for the Flash at one point nearly ending up in the bleachers trying to save a missed pass.
Across court, Palmerston North That's Us and NZ Maori Kauri fought out a hard-fought match, the Maori showing composure in the dying minutes to win 72-67.
That's Us had Sid Adams who pulled out another crowd-pleasing dunk, but the Maori with Brendon Pongia hung tough to be trailing narrowly in the final quarter.
There was one lengthy stoppage as Maori coach Jeff Green had a long, animated discussion with the referees.
Nonetheless, his team recovered to 66-66, then sank their free-throws and got a breakaway goal to wrap up the game in something of a minor upset.
But there was no doubting the dominance of the next team who appeared on court 2 as Auckland Youthtown played with all the confidence of men against boys, disposing of the young Wellington Impact Eagles 74-51.
Sporting names such as Lindsay Tait, who did not play much of the second half to rest a sore leg, big Casey Frank and sharpshooting Sam Everitt, Youthtown were smooth with their layups and effortless passing through the court.
The Eagles, who included Wanganui's Akira Marsters, made them work for it at times as Frank got into a bit of push-and-shove with Matthew Bird, but with Tait and Dion Prewster able to dribble the ball around opponents and set their giants for alley-oops, it was clear they were on a different level.
Tohi Smith-Milner hitting a dunk on the breakaway with Everitt took the score out to 70-43 late in the final quarter, but the Eagles showed they still have mettle, Marsters especially, by not giving up and playing right to the finish.
Back on court one, New Plymouth Air Fresh were made to work harder than expected by Samoa Basketball, but key fouls in the final minutes saw the Taranaki team accumulate enough to get away 53-46.
Into the afternoon it was defending champions Hawkes Bay Rack City who showed they were up for keeping their crown as they absorbed all the pressure from the Rangers to put them away in the final quarter, 53-45.
Having comfortably won their first game against Samoan Basketball 60-43 at 2pm, Rack City tailed 17-15 at the end of the first 10 minutes.
However, Rack City retained all of their composure as the play often got physical with both sides pulled up for stray elbows.
The Rangers suddenly had a hard time getting to the net, while Rack City's Hayden Allen kept himself in position to nail the three and Matt Wilson really lifted the tempo, snatching some crucial goals from the rebounds to turn the momentum their way 25-22 at the halftime break.
Scoring went back and forth through the third stanza, being tied right up until the final minute as both teams went shot for shot.
Buck and Patrick Bolstad were able to get to the hole for their team, while big Kareem Johnson showed his ball skills as he nailed a hook shot despite being off balance.
Rack City got a foul call in their favour to add an extra point to their goal for a 39-36 break.
The veterans then extended their advantage to 46-38, then 50-43 as they worked the physical, close-quarters style to draw fouls and add the extras. In the end, Rack City showed they knew how to close the big games out, although the eight-point winning margin was a little flattering. Across court, That's Us kept themselves in the hunt despite the setback earlier in the day to win 71-55 over TNBA.