Fotu Hala puts up a three-pointer in Ashburton College’s victory over Burnside High School in the Thomson Trophy on Tuesday night. Photo Erin TaskerThe Ashburton College A basketball side have bounced back from a difficult loss last week to record a strong victory against Burnside High School 92-69 on Tuesday night.

Playing in the Oxford Street Stadium, AshColl started off with a man-to-man defence and whilst it was initially effective Burnside were able to counter well.

They were also able to get in too many second shots as College were guilty of not boxing out efficiently.

Offensively College were able to find the hoop as Burnside did not cover the outside shots, and the hosts were able to take a 22-19 lead.

In the second quarter, College went back to a 2-3 zone which allowed them to initiate their fast break.

The home-side defence began working well as a unit, pressuring the ball and making the Burnside players force either the shot or the pass.

When Burnside changed up their defence, firstly to a zone press, it initially worked, however College were able to break it with ease.

When they matched up, College were able to utilise the pick and roll aspect of their offence and scored some easy points.

Burnside kept working hard but College continued to extend their lead to 48-39 at the break.

The third quarter of the game saw College again being able to drive to the basket through the pick and roll and getting to the foul line.

Their zone defence effectively shut down the Burnside offence as they struggled to get any momentum.

There were plenty of turnovers for the College boys to convert into easy layups as they stretched their lead to 72-55.

The fourth quarter was more of the same as College’s momentum continued as once again they were able to outscore the Burnside team running out 92-69 winners.

Coach Brian Kerr was able to play his entire bench throughout the game, which proved a profitable move.

William Joyce got some good minutes in and highlighted his undoubted ability by dropping four 3-pointers in his 16 point display.

Quinn Ritchie top scoring with 31 points (six 3-pointers) leading the way with another good all round performance.

Fotu Hala with 12 points was strong on the defensive boards and was able to initiate a lot of the fast breaks that were damaging to Burnside.

Riley Sa also added 10 points in a tidy display.

Kerr said it was a good result after the disappointment of last week’s loss.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 July 2019