It was another standout performance from Riley Sa for College A on Tuesday night. Photo supplied.Ashburton College’s A Boys’ Basketball team registered another frustrating loss in Thomson Trophy this week, as their season begins to build into a case of what could have beens, as opposed to what is.

Playing St Thomas College at the Oxford Street Stadium on Tuesday night, College headed into the match with confidence off the back of some strong recent efforts.

The emphasis was again on their help defence with man-to-man defence as well which had improved markedly in recent weeks.

The game started evenly as both sides got a feel for the match, before the home side gained a good advantage as they executed their game plan well, pulling away from St Thomas who were forced into calling an early time-out.

That time-out stemmed the flow somewhat, but College still took a good lead into the end of the first quarter, up by eight at 30-22.

College picked up where they left off in the second but soon into the quarter the game started to break down for the locals.

A drop in intensity in defence saw the visitors exploiting gaps, and they edged into the lead 43-46 at the halftime break.

St Thomas came out firing in the third and upped their defensive intensity, and College became guilty of easy turnovers.

At one stage, St Thomas led by 20, but College got back into the match to trail 63-77 at the end of the third.

With everything to play for in the fourth, College took to the court focused.

They chipped away at the lead with some smart plays and dragged the score back to a seven point buffer before unforced errors returned, and some poor shot options and St Thomas took advantage to win the game 83-93.

Riley Sa was yet again the shining light for the College side.

Good on the drive and tireless on defence, he stood out with 27 points for the match.

Kambell Stills chipped in with a solid 14 while James Reid continued his good form with 14 points as well.

Coach Brian Kerr said his side played well for the majority of the match.

“A lack of discipline on their offence and the issues around their help defence re-emerged, he said.

“This allowed St Thomas to not only overcome a deficit but to also put a 20 point spread on the College team, meaning once again they had to play catch-up basketball.”

Kerr was impressed with the way his side fought back to get back into the game, but simple mistakes again lost that momentum and ultimately the match.

“Simply a frustrating loss when again, this game was for the taking,” he added.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 21 August 2020