Webb just beats the buzzer in boilover

New Plymouth Mountain Fresh's Aaron Bailey-Nowell searchs for an opening in the Hawkes Bay Rack City defence yesterday afternoon. Photo / BEVAN CONLEY

The Wanganui Chronicle's coverage of HoopNation continues. The tournament will finish this afternoon with the Men's Premier, Men's A, and the combined Women's A and Premier finals.

A stunning final quarter comeback and a fantastic off-balance three pointer by Joseph Webb on the buzzer saw Palmerston North That's Us pull the upset of the Men's Premier grade with a 56-54 win over Auckland Youthtown, during the 11am round of games.

Youthtown had been expected to comfortably cruise through most of their opponents, given they had beaten a strong NZ Maori Kauri team 82-79 the day before in the other matchup that would test them.

However, That's Us came roaring back in the final quarter, winning it 25-16 and turning around about a 15-goal deficit to give themselves a chance at the death.

Webb was not supposed to be the intended shooter on their final play, but he nailed the magic three to give the underdogs a win that had the morning crowd erupting with excitement.

The result sent a clear signal that no game can be taken lightly and Hawkes Bay Rack City were taking no chances in their physical afternoon game with New Plymouth Air Fresh, winning 70-52 in a match dominated by tough defence and running debates with the referees.

No quarter was asked or given but from big Kareen Johnson taking the tip off, Rack City had the wood on their Taranaki opposition in the opening exchanges, building up a 21-10 lead.

Still, Air Fresh's Dan Brooks was doing a lot of work around the hoop, but other than veteran Pete Knechtel his team could not open up many opportunities.

Meanwhile for Rack City, Hayden Allen continued his three-point scoring ways, while Dennis Tawhiti pulled off a nice dunk before James Paringatai also got in on the field goal action, doing a little leap of joy after he got the bucket.

Brooks and Knechtel upped their game in the second quarter, as the gap closed and suddenly both teams wanted a word with the officials about who was doing the most aggressive checks and putting in the elbows.

Knechtel getting up to swat away an Allen layup got his bench fired up as Air Fresh were back in the game at 33-28.

However, Johnson was the go-to man for Rack City to start the second half as he put down three straight buckets to extend back to a 40-30 lead, which they moved on to 51-34 heading into the final period.

Now out of contention and no doubt frustrated, Air Fresh were looking to prove a point and pulled out some fancy plays in the final 10 minutes, although both sides had their share of dunks, no-look pops and round-the-back passes.

Rack City slowed it down inside the final three minutes, no doubt conserving energy for today.

Across court, it was much more free flowing as Auckland Youthtown rebounded from their shock loss to That's Us by giving TNBA a real towelling, 86-50 after they led comfortably through every period.

That's Us also walloping the Wellington Impact Eagles 70-29 kept their hopes of a top four placing alive, with NZ Maori Kauri still having a game to play against TNBA after press time last night.