Fotu Hala brings the ball up for Ashburton College during a Thomson Trophy basketball game. Photo supplied.With a semi-final spot already secured, Ashburton College senior boys headed into their last round robin Thomson Trophy basketball game against Kaiapoi High School on Tuesday night wanting to keep the ball rolling after a couple of good wins.

But Kaiapoi started the better side in the Canterbury secondary schools’ basketball division II game at the Oxford Street stadium and took a 21-13 lead into the second quarter. Then Ashburton got into early foul trouble which meant changes had to be made earlier than anticipated.

They produced a much improved second quarter though, improving on their zone press and getting the ball inside their taller opposition, and taking the lead three minutes before the end of the quarter.

Kaiapoi regained their composure though and went to the break ahead 40-37.

Ashburton started the third quarter as they had the week prior in their win over Lincoln, doubling their intensity and getting their positional play on the full court zone press right, with their offensive option taking spot on.

They caught Kaiapoi off guard and although they again rallied, Ashburton didn’t let that impact on their momentum and the home side led 73-61 heading into the final quarter.

After an even start to the final stanza, it was Ashburton who gained the edge and pulled away despite the fact they were losing players who were fouling out – three in the final quarter. But by then Kaiapoi had tired and no final rally came, with Ashburton winning 112-91.

Ashburton coach Brian Kerr said it was a mixed bag game, and his side’s headspace just wasn’t right.

“At times we were underwhelming and then at times, absolutely awesome,” he said.

“We had some real brain fades out there, just little things that should never happen and it seemed that we saved them all up for this one game.

“We got into foul trouble early which meant a couple of our starters got less minutes, however the bench guys stepped up well.  Young Kambell Stills got stuck in and played really well. He grabbed some good boards at both ends, made a couple of good baskets but ran good support lanes on the break ready to put back any missed layups.”

Fotu Hala top scored with 26 points in another good display, and Penuel Pantaleon scored 14 points, but both got into foul trouble which cut back their time on court.

Marc Juntilla kick-started the fight back in the third quarter and he ended with 21 points with some good sniping drives, while Quinn Ritchie also had a good all-round game netting 17 points, playing good aggressive defence without the fouls.

Abel Wilson also produced some wonderful drives to the basket for a 20-point haul.

Kerr said his side didn’t adjust their game to how the officials were calling the game.

“They set the scene of how they expect the players to play and the players have to react accordingly.

“We got a lot of calls with our hands in the cookie jar so to speak, meaning we were reaching with our hands rather than getting into good defensive positioning by sliding with our feet. That disrupted our flow a little,” Kerr said.

“No matter what, it’s always good to get the win and crack the ton but we leaked 91 points in doing so. That’s the bit that we need to work on.

“Overall we produced enough good basketball to win the game and to be honest at times some of the play was excellent.  That’s what we’ll take into next week’s home semi-final.”

Meanwhile the senior girls finished their 2018 Whelan Trophy division I competition on a high, despite not actually winning their final game.

They took on Middleton in the Canterbury secondary schools’ competition in Christchurch on Tuesday night and came away with a 65-56 loss, but coach Mark Douglas said it was the best game they’d played all season.

When the two sides met in the first round, Middleton won by 34, so to reduce that gap to just nine points a few weeks later was a big positive, Douglas said.

“It was by far the best we have played. We played with a bit of moxie which is good and the girls were pretty positive,” Douglas said.

“We just couldn’t quite get over the line. We got it back to four with not long to go but we ran out of steam.”

The result meant they finished the competition in seventh place.

Douglas said their goal at the start of the season was to finish higher than their seeding of eighth, so they had achieved that.

Their other goal was to keep improving into the Whelan Trophy’s second round, as they looked ahead to the South Island secondary schools’ tournament in Invercargill at the start of next month, and they had done that.

They’d now play friendly games against Timaru Girls’ High School and Craighead over the next couple of weeks as part of their preparation.

Douglas said the top six teams at the South Islands would qualify for the nationals, so that was the goal.

“This season we have talked about it, and it’s a bit of a stretch goal for us because we are pretty green, but that is still the goal and we will see how we go,” Douglas said.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 15 August 2018

Veronica Wall in action.. Photo supplied.Ashburton’s Veronica Wall has made it to the A finals of the women’s single sculls at the World Rowing Junior champions in Racice, in the Czech Republic.

She will take a lane alongside five other top scullers, including reigning champion Esther Briz Zamorano of Spain in the final at midnight tonight (NZ time).

Ashburton’s second rower at the world event, Mollie Gibson, will be competing with her crew in the B final of the quadruple sculls.

That race is 8pm (NZ time).

Ashburton College rowing coach Justin Wall is also travelling with the New Zealand team as specialist coach.

Several world best times were recorded on the Racice regatta course on semi-finals day.

The weather has been great with temperatures starting out in the low 20s Celsius though a swift tail wind at the end of the day made for challenging conditions.

In the women’s single sculls first semi-final, Maria Sol Ordas of Argentina set a world best time of 7.31.50, joining with Italy’s Greta Martinelli and Tabea Kuhnert of Germany to progress to the A final.

In Wall’s semifinal, Briz Zamorano took an early lead, while in second was China’s Jiaqi Zou with Romania in third. Briz Zamorano was then able to get a small margin over Zou, who was eventually overtaken by Wall and Romania’s Tabita Maftei.

Maftei pushed up into second, but a bad stroke with 50m left to row saw Wall take the advantage and the Romanian fell back into third.

In the quadruple sculls B final, Gibson and her crew will face off against crews from Russia, Italy, Denmark, the USA and Lithuania.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 12 August 2018

Taonga Mbambo is on a cross-country mission. Photo Mike LewisAshburton cross-country runner Taonga Mbambo’s build-up to the Australian Cross-Country Championships took a big leap forward at the weekend.

The Ashburton member of the Canterbury University Athletics Club participated at the New Zealand Cross-Country Championships as part of the Canterbury athletics team and from a field of 43 runners, finished third in the men’s under-18 race. He covered the 6km distance in a time of 22.07 minutes to come home with a bronze medal.

With that done, he is now turning his attention to a trip to Australia later this month with the New Zealand secondary schools’ team where he’ll compete in the Australian Cross-Country Championships.

Mbambo said all he did would not have been possible without the help of the Ashburton community, which had supported him as he set about raising funds to be a part of that team to get to Australia.

It has been a big year for Mbambo. Earlier this year he broke a record that had stood for 37 years at the Ashburton College athletics finals day, with his new record time of 9.24.8 minutes in the 3000m around six seconds faster than the previous record set by Bruce Gabites. He then went on to set a new record for the under-19 men’s 3000m at the Aorakis, and at the South Island Secondary Schools’ Athletics Championships Mbambo was fourth in the under-19 men’s 3000m, finishing just seconds behind the winner in 9.01.39 minutes. He was also eighth in the 1500m.

At the Ashburton College school cross country he was first to cross the finish line in the 4km senior boys’ race in 12 minutes 47 seconds.

Mbambo was also part of the Ashburton College team that contested the Canterbury secondary schools’ road race in May. The team was third overall, with Mbambo the fourth individual across the line.

His selection into the New Zealand secondary schools’ cross-country team to travel to the Australian Championships followed his sixth place finish at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Cross-Country in Taupo where he ran a time of 19.50 minutes.

Mbambo will travel to Australia’s Sunshine Coast in August for the Australian Open and Schools Cross-Country Championships later this month.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 11 August 2018