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Junior A's: Hawke's Bay Senior Secondary School Competition

First Ever Junior Team To Win The Hawkes Bay Senior Schools' Competition

The Hastings Boys Junior A Basketball team managed to pull off a stunning comeback against Hastings Boys High School Seniors in the final of the Hawkes Bay Division 1 Secondary School Competition.
 
Down 12 points in the third quarter the team pulled together after a timeout and managed to show the form that had got them to the final. The Junior A team previously beat Havelock North Seniors in the Semi-Final and beat every other senior secondary school team in round play of the competition to progress to the final. A year 9 and 10 team entering this competition full of mostly year 12 and 13 students is unheard of. Winning is unbelievable and it is safe to say that 2010 will be the one and only time a junior team will win the top senior secondary school competition ever again.
 
We had a game plan, and after executing under pressure, we came out on top”, Coach Thomas Bartlett said after the game. “These young men showed a lot of character to bring themselves out of the start they had. Many young teams would have crumbled under that situation. It showed in our cohesive defence leading to many easy baskets from steals and trying to apply pressure where we could. It was our best defensive game of the year.” Hastings Boy’s Junior’s managed to win 64-62 taking their first lead with 7 minutes to go and maintaining their composure to win by two points.
 
Harlan Soloman showed heart guarding his 6 foot 7 opposition in the form of Matthew Wilson. Even though Matt came away with 24 points, Harlan managed to keep the big man out of the paint enough to give the rest of his team an opportunity to clean up the rebounds. Harlan also came away with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Geoffrey Heather also had 22 points and 12 rebounds. The most impressive part of Geoffrey was the 3 charges he took putting his body on the line. This showed the rest of his team what he was willing to do to win and this spurred on his team mates. Ash Robinson played the best he has all season with his full court pressure defence, 12 points and 5 assists.
 
Outstanding defence and team management from Mataeus Marsh controlled the tempo of the game and even though Soul Sadler did not have his best shooting night, he managed to hit a crucial three pointer in the final quarter with minutes remaining.