Ashburton College’s Josh Lowe attempts to block a shot in his side’s 83-72 loss to Burnside in the final of the Canterbury Basketball Association’s U-20 competition.The Ashburton College senior boys’ team was a beaten finalist in the Canterbury Basketball Association’s under 20 competition on Saturday, but it was a close-fought battle with winners Burnside.

The two teams have duelled several times this season in the under 20 and school competition with Burnside continuing its narrow advantage 83-72 at Cowles Stadium.

AshColl held a 40-33 lead at half-time and was up 57-50 at three-quarter time, but a massive push by Burnside in the final 10 minutes gave them the trophy.

“The final was a very evenly played game for three-quarters as both teams went point for point, said AshColl coach Pip Johnston.

“Both teams would have a couple of runs and try to pull away but every time this happened the other team would rally back and close the gap.

“Heading into the fourth quarter we were up and the boys were playing really well until Burnside got the better of us and started to make shots and we couldn’t hit anything.

“We had one last crack at them with two minutes to go and down by six, we got fouled and went to the line.

“Then we were down by four but Burnside turned up the heat and splashed two 3s to put them up by 10.

“The boys were deflated and couldn’t bring it back.”

Top scorers for AshColl were Fletcher Arnold on 20 points and Josh Lowe on 19.

Arnold was named in the grade’s first five.

“Overall I’m very proud of making the final in our first year and thought the boys played their hearts out.

“A huge thank you to all the parents and friends of the boys that came up to watch and cheer us on,” said Johnston.

AshColl played under Basketball Mid Canterbury as a club side in the Saturday competition, which involved travelling to Christchurch for 17 games since the season started in April.

While the extra game time helped the team’s performance in the school-based Thompson Trophy competition, it also exposed the players to playing possibilities once they leave college.

Johnston himself has played in the Canterbury premier competition since leaving school; he put that aside this year to concentrate on coaching.

“The boys have put in a lot of hard work over the season.

“The sky’s the limit.”

© The Ashburton Guardian - 26 September 2017