Ashburton College’s Phoenix Andrew looks for the hoop during the Schick Southern Cup tournament at Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre yesterday. Photo Matt MarkhamAshburton College’s senior boys backed up their opening win at the Schick Southern Cup secondary schools’ basketball tournament with a massive victory in their second game.

Playing at Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre, the Ashburton boys beat Cashmere High School in the tournament opener on Thursday morning before taking on Dunedin’s Logan Park High School later in the day and winning 121-32.

Quin Ritchie top-scored for the Ashburton boys with 40 – including eight three-pointers – while Marc Juntilla scored 22 and Abel Wilson scored 20.

Yesterday they took on Kavanagh College and took another strong win, 99-34.

Coach Brian Kerr said his side had expected a tighter game than the night before and wanted to make sure their headspace was right.

“It was, as Ashburton College were very clinical, as their press was again effective and the finishing on the fast breaks were good,” Kerr said.

Ashburton raced out to a 31–5 lead after the first quarter and that was pretty much game over.  The final three quarters were about ensuring they kept their structures in place, which they did adequately, Kerr said.

Ritchie and Juntilla top scored with 21 points, with Sam Pearce adding 20.

Today was the tournament’s final day, with the boys’ and girls’ finals set to be played at the same time – 3.30pm – with the boys’ final on court one and the girls’ final on court three.

This week has been secondary schools’ tournament week, with sporting tournaments being held around the country.

The Ashburton College girls’ basketball team were down in Invercargill at their zone four premiership, and they were eyeing up a 10th place finish heading into their final match against Timaru Girls’ High School (TGHS) today.

Yesterday morning they fell to a heavy loss to the tournament’s top seeds, St Hilda’s, 84-51. St Hilda’s were missing a few players during pool play due to some being in Dunedin at the South Island Secondary Schools’ Netball Championships, but they returned to ensure their team was full strength by yesterday, and were now a force to be reckoned with, the coach of the Ashburton girls Mark Douglas said.

The Ashburton girls were set to take on Nayland College last night before the tournament wrapped up today with their game against TGHS.

They were set to finish somewhere between 10th and 12th spot and Douglas said the tournament had been a great learning curve for a young, inexperienced side.

In Timaru, at the Audrey Timlin tournament, the Ashburton College girls’ first XI hockey team headed into a round robin with the bottom three teams yesterday to finish their tournament.

They started their day with a narrow loss to Otago Girls’ High School (OGHS). OGHS scored first before Ashburton got one back through Kate Donald just before halftime to make it 1-all at the break.

Marika Mellisa scored early in the second half to put Ashburton ahead, but OGHS fought hard and scored a further two goals off penalty corners to win 3-2.

In their final game against James Hargest – a school they’d beaten the day before – they finished on a high with a 3-2 win thanks to a second half fightback.

James Hargest led 2-0 at the break but Ashburton College sprung into life in the second and two goals to Donald and another to Kate O’Reilly saw them take the win.

In Invercargill, Ashburton College’s boys’ football first XI finished their tournament on Thursday in 10th place out of 21 teams, and later in the day Nick Eden was awarded the tournament’s most valuable player award, as chosen by opposition coaches.

In Ashburton, the Chris Arthur hockey tournament for girls’ second XIs wrapped up yesterday with St Margaret’s beating St Cuthbert’s in the final 2-1.

While most teams were finishing up at their tournaments, Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College’s golf croquet teams were just getting ready to start. They were at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Golf Croquet Championships which were being held at Waikanae and Paraparaumu today and tomorrow.

By Erin Tasker© The Ashburton Guardian - 8 September 2018