Pip Johnston scored 27 points for Team Donkey on Wednesday night. Photo supplied..Brian Kerr offers his report on Men’s A Grade Basketball at the Oxford Street Stadium on Wednesday night.

The first game of the night was MSA Team Donkey against Nomads.

Team Donkey started well and grabbed a 9-0 lead early in the match. Nomads struggled for much of the quarter as Team Donkey eased to a 28-14 lead.

Nomads found themselves performing better at the start of the second quarter as their offence began to function, and they chipped away at the lead to draw the score back to 28 – 24.

A couple of quick transitions from defence to offence by MSA Team Donkey stopped the Nomads’ roll.

From there they got back on track and through some crisp passing and good fast breaks, they broke away from Nomads extending their lead back to 51- 32 at the break.

The second half was no different as MSA Team Donkey continued on their way.

Again, Nomads tried to work their combinations, but came up short as they just couldn’t get the ball in the basket with any consistency.

MSA Team Donkey eventually cruised to victory 99-73.

For MSA Team Donkey, the scoring was led by Pip Johnston with 27 points, and he controlled things well across the court.

Also, with 27 points was Cam Butler continuing on with his solid recent form.

Fotu Hala hit 20 points and Brad van der Eik, finding some shooting form, finished with 13 points.

For Nomads, Nick Ross led the way with 22 points whilst Kody Stuthridge netted himself 16 points.

The second game of the night saw Wildlife taking on College.

College matched up and their defence worked well as they were able to manage Wildlife’s offence well.

In the meantime, they worked their own offence well enough to take a 20-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second was messy for both teams as they failed to convert scoring opportunities into points.

However, College began to fall off their defence a little, allowing Wildlife to grab the lead 32-30 at the halftime break.

The third quarter was again scrappy as Wildlife upped their defensive intensity.

College struggled again with their defence, especially their help defence.

This seemed to affect their offence as they struggled to make any sort of impression at the scoring end.

Wildlife pushing out the lead 52-43.

In the fourth quarter College went to full court man to man.

It paid instant dividends as they managed to restrict Wildlife’s scoring whilst managing to score with smart plays, and suddenly it was back to a one-point game 56- 55.

However, Wildlife reset and sped up their game, which spread the College defence, allowing one on ones to occur.

Within three minutes Wildlife had pushed the score back out to 10 points.

From there they controlled the quarter and shut College out, winning 82-62.

For Wildlife, it was Sean Hunter leading the way with 22 points.

He was a handful to defend, especially on the drive.

Liam O’Connor had a top game as he defended well and found his shooting range scoring 21 points.

Sam Pearce continued on his good form with 14 points with Jase O’Connor adding 13 points in a hard-working display.

For College, Kambell Stills scored 22 points in another good display with Riley Sa finishing the game with 11 points.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 21 August 2020

Diego Quispe-Kim gets his forearm going during the Kiwi Indoor Junior Championships in Christchurch a fortnight ago.Photo supplied.Diego Quispe-Kim has added to his overflowing trophy cabinet with another national title.

The 14-year-old tennis talent took out the under-16 Kiwi Indoor Junior Championships singles event in Christchurch a fortnight ago.

The latest accomplishment comes a year after the highly decorated young star, who is a member of the Fairton club, dominated the under-14 singles competition at the corresponding event in 2019.

It is understood it is the first time in decades that a junior has won both the under-12, under-14 and under-16 Kiwi indoor titles.

Quispe Kim’s coach and father Juan Quispe-Chavez said he was very pleased for his son.

“It was very unexpected, because he only went to Christchurch for a trial,” he said.

“He did really well.”

He again was in commanding touch as the top seed qualifier did not drop a set across the tournament.

His march to the final began with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Zino Varouhas-Poole before beating Jack Chapman 6-0, 6-2.

It took less than an hour for the teen to prevail over Liam Barrett in straight sets.

His final opponent, Finlay Emslie-Robson, was forced to retire through injury, after losing the first set 6-1.

Quispe-Kim’s father said that he observed even greater progress from Diego, both physically and mentally, on the court.

“He’s getting taller and he’s playing smarter.

“He’s also very calm and composed on court.”

The Mid Canterbury teen has been working closely with mental wellness coach Pete Smith (The Coach Smith).

After a somewhat disrupted season, Quispe-Kim is building up a good head of steam ahead of the under-18 National Junior Championships in December and next year’s Junior Davis Cup.

Earlier this month, Quispe-Kim won Junior Male Player of the Year at the Tennis Canterbury awards.

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 21 August 2020

Ash Hutt 1st XV. Photo supplied. Vaughan Ward breaks down an important victory for the AshHutt Girls 1st XV on Wednesday night against Roncalli College.

The AshHutt Girls 1st XV rugby side have earned the right to play off for third and fourth in the Aoraki competition, after a strong victory against Roncalli this week.

The side were up against it after their match against Geraldine the week earlier had been called off and the subsequent two points, from a match they expected to gain full points from, left them needing to win on Wednesday night at Hampstead.

The game was initially meant to be played in Methven, but Roncalli were unwilling to travel that far.

Ashhutt Girls had a dream start, with a perfectly timed and error-free warm-up, team focus in check, everyone was positive and looking forward to kick-off.

The kick-off proved difficult to handle for AshHutt looking directly into the sun, but they were fortunate enough to come away with a lineout.

That opened the opportunity to start a long period of possession, with three excellent tries being scored early, to Margret Eli, Megan Hurley and Madison Trusler/Clark.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the game for Megan Hurley, who suffered a serious knee injury.

Two late tries to Roncalli in the first half brought them back into contention, with the AshHutt team leading 17-12 at the break.

Further possession and territory from the pumped AshHutt squad kept Roncalli in their own half for the first 15 minutes of the second half. That provided scoring opportunities for sisters Roi and Rangi Makutu in mid-field.

Fatigue sparked yet another strong comeback from Roncalli, when holes appeared in the AshHutt defence line around the breakdown.

Clever restart kicks from Roi Makutu forced errors from Roncalli, and again AshHutt were able to score points from errors, with an awesome piece of individual work from ever reliable Trusler-Clark to score midway through the second half.

With the score at 34-22 to AshHutt, and with less than 10 minutes to go, another defensive breach saw Roncalli break through and seem certain to score again, except for the excellent cover defence from both Roi Makutu and Naumai Terekia forcing another handling error from Roncalli.

Late possession from AshHutt, great handling, and relentless phase play allowed Madison Trusler-Clark to cross the line for her third try of the night.

Roncalli were determined to finish well and crossed the line again in the same fashion to close out the scoring.

Final score AshHutt 39 Roncalli 29.

The side now plays off for third and fourth next Wednesday in Timaru against Waitaki and St Kevin’s, with all eyes fixed on a strong finish to the season.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 21 August 2020