Marc Juntilla produced a 23-point effort for Newlands. Photo supplied.Brian Kerr gives his report on semi-final action in Men’s A Grade basketball at the Oxford Street stadium on Wednesday night.

So, the first of the two semi-finals were between College and Newlands.

It had only been three weeks since College had toppled Newlands, so the confidence was there to repeat the dose.

The first quarter was scrappy as neither team were able to dominate, with College’s man-to-man defence generally doing a good job. However Newlands started finding their mark and went into the second quarter leading 23-15.

The second quarter found Newlands able to work their offence better as they pushed out the lead. College were getting the looks but the ball was not dropping. College trailing 48-33 at the halftime break.

Newlands came out fast and quickly pushed the lead out to 20 points, until College increased their defensive intensity. They went to a full court man-to-man and they were able to create turnovers drawing the score back to 63-53 by the end of the third quarter.

College continued pressing the Newlands team and worked hard on defence, however they could not get a break on the scoreboard. With three minutes gone in the quarter, Newlands hit a switch and everything changed.

They increased the tempo of the game and within a minute or so had pushed the score out past 20 points.

Even a time-out during that time did not stop the bleeding, as Newlands took charge of the game, eventually taking out the match 90-66.

For Newlands, Marc Juntilla top-scored with 23 points. He was always dangerous and made the College defenders work hard.

Randy Buenafe continued his good form as he accumulated 22 points, with Nick Fechney strong on the inside with 14 points.

College was led by Riley Sa with 24 points who was tireless at both ends of the court.

Kambell Stills finished with 16 points, even though being well managed by the Newlands defence.

Thomas Patterson finished with 11 points, however his defence was excellent. He had the unenviable task of matching up with Juntilla in what was a terrific battle.

The second semi-final was between defending champs MSA Team Donkey and Wildlife. The last time these two played, Wildlife had taken the honours.

Team Donkey came out meaning business as they found the net early to open up a lead. It took Wildlife time to settle, but things were already looking ominous as Team Donkey led 33-19 going into the second quarter.

Team Donkey started off the quarter as they’d finished the last one pushing the lead out further.

They then followed that up with a series of missed shots and turnovers as Wildlife found some life.

Back to 10 points and a real battle beginning to brew, Team Donkey flicked a switch and tidied things up at both ends of the court to restore the lead out to 56-40.

Team Donkey then took charge in the third quarter as things got a bit heated on court. Wildlife did not have any answers as Team Donkey went into the final quarter leading 81-55.

The pain did not ease for Wildlife as Team Donkey pushed the difference out to past 30 points.

It was here that Team Donkey sat on 99 for about four minutes until they finally managed to post three figures.

Wildlife weren’t able to take any real advantage of this scoring lull as Team Donkey took out the game 101-75.

For Team Donkey it was Cam Butler doing the job with 31 points. He was always a constant threat on offence and Wildlife just couldn’t shut him down.

Fotu Hala found a return to shooting form as he finished with 26 points including a 14-point run in the fourth quarter. Pip Johnston was again in the action, ending up with 24 points.

For Wildlife, Sean Hunter led the way with 21 points with Emiliano Guerra finishing with 18 points, Xavier Bartlett 13 points.

So, we have the two best teams to battle it out for the title next Wednesday at 7pm.

The only thing separating these two teams was a points differential and they both have a win each from the round robin.

This should be a good tussle.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 18 September 2020