Thomas Patterson put in a solid shift for the Ashburton College side on Tuesday night. Photo supplied.Another loss might not look good on paper, but there’s plenty of pleasing progress for Ashburton College Boys’ basketball coach, Brian Kerr who knows his young charges are headed in the right direction.

On Tuesday night, the team took on Middleton Grange up in Christchurch and despite putting together a good performance on the court, they were unable to walk away with victory, losing the match 103-84.

Both sides took their time to work into the match, but it was Middleton Grange who drove harder and walked off the court and the end of the first quarter with a 25-21 lead.

If they were strong in the first, the hosts were even better in the second though as they really stepped up their workload and found gaps in the College defence to lead comfortably at 56-35 at the end of the first half.

A refocus and strong direction from Kerr at the half-time break saw an almost new-look College side jump on the court for the second half and they tightened their defence and got things back on track offensively.

A strong finish at the end of the third quarter saw the lead clawed back to 78-64 and the match was ripe for the picking for either side.

The previous week, College had really come into their own in the final quarter and for the first stages it looked like it was on the cards again with a 7-0 run.

A time out by the hosts changed the game though, stemming the College offensive flow and forcing some easy turnovers they took control again and rounded out the match impressively.

While beaten, College were far from disgraced.

Five players picked up double figure points hauls.

Kambell Stills continued his great form, picking up 19 points with some impressive dunks thrown in for good measure. James Reid was tidy with his 15 points.

As he has been all season Riley Sa was again right in the thick of it with 15 points of his own.

Kalen Tait produced probably his best performance of the season and drove hard to the basket and was dangerous on the fast break and Thomas Patterson turned in another good shift for 13 points.

Kerr said the College side were well aware of the Middleton Grange full court defensive options and worked hard to mitigate it.

For most part they handled it well,” Kerr said.

“Unfortunately it was their own defence that was ultimately the problem.

“They had a bad second quarter where their defence went flat which also impacted on their offence.

“Because of that, Gators offence found gaps and outscored College 31-14.”

Kerr added that he was proud of the fight his side showed and that when they maintained their composure they were definitely a match for Middleton Grange.

 © The Ashburton Guardian -  7 August 2020