A series of massive first half performances help lead teams to key playoff victories in the first round of the 2020 Elite League playoffs. Jacob Murphy starred with 44 points in a Texans win while Denim Tuala-Fata had 38 for Hastings BHS in a loss to Akina where his uncle Reece Tuala-Fata had 30 points. Josh Anderson’s 32 lead Toro Atu to a semi-final place while Zoe Ebbitt had 29 to lead Ahuriri Flyers to victory over Hastings GHS. Aaliyah Beamsley & Ash Poi had a combined 40 to give Napier GHS victory over Heretaunga while Dom McGovan had 21 for Kings in a win against a spirited St John’s side.

In the Women’s competition it was the lower seeded teams enacting revenge on their higher seeded counterparts who had beaten them during the regular season round robin. Zoe Ebbitt had 9 first quarter points as Ahuriri Flyers exploded out of the gates to a 21-6 first quarter lead stunning Hastings GHS. These two teams played a 3 point game in the regular season and the second quarter reflected that more closely as Hastings GHS collected themselves. Despite an even second quarter, Ahuriri still took a 37-20 lead into half time. Peta Heather led Hastings GHS with 6 points at the half and had a strong third quarter adding another 6 to bring her total to 12 at three quarter time. An 18-18 third quarter wasn’t enough for Hastings GHS to close the gap with time running out for their comeback bid. Ebbitt was still helping Ahuriri’s total tick over with 23 points heading into the final stanza. The fourth quarter was exactly what Hastings GHS were after, winning the final quarter 23-11 to make the game exciting down the stretch but it ultimately wasn’t enough to overcome a slow start as Ahuriri Flyers took the quarter-final victory to keep their championship hopes alive and book their place in next week’s Semi-Final.

Ahuriri Flyers 66 (Z Ebbitt 29, M Isherwood 11)
Hastings GHS 61 (P Heather 16, K Awa & J Johnson 11)

In the first semi-final on the Women’s side Heretaunga entered as favourites with the #1 seed and a regular season victory over Napier GHS in their pocket; but it was Napier GHS that came out of the gates quickly as Ashleigh Poi had Napier GHS’ first 7 points of the game. Poi combined with Aaliyah Beamsley for 16 first quarter points. Frances Huia had a buzzer-beating layup to end the first quarter but Napier GHS still had an 18-6 lead. The second quarter was much more even as Heretaunga found their flow and scored a series of layups on the back of Shannon Mitchell post-ups. Mitchell had 6 in the quarter; combining with Huia to score all but 4 of Heretaunga’s first half points. The door was still open for Heretaunga with the score sitting at 33-17 at the half, but an impressive third quarter for Napier GHS where they hit three 3pters saw the lead expand to 50-26 after three quarters. Kath Nahora got involved scoring 11 second half points as Heretaunga continued to dominate with post scoring, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Napier GHS in the end. Napier GHS will advance to the Grand Final in two weeks’ time while Heretaunga will play in a semi-final next week against Ahuriri Flyers in an attempt to book their place in the Grand final for an opportunity to avenge this loss.

Napier GHS 59 (A Beamsley 23, A Poi 17, A King 9)
Heretaunga 45 (K Nahora 13, S Mitchell 11, F Huia 7)

On the Men’s side of the competition, the higher seeds entered as heavy favourites in their respective quarter-finals. #1 seeded Texans swept aside the Blazers with ease despite missing MVP favourite Alonzo Burton. It was Jacob Murphy stepping up in his absence with 44 points on the night as Texans won every quarter. Matt Edmondson continued his good scoring form as one of the competition’s leading scorers with 22 points in this one. #2 seeded Stirling Sports Kings were without 2019 MVP Kareem Johnson in their quarter-final but still shot out to a 26-15 first quarter lead thanks to 17 combined points from Darryl Jones & Dom McGovan. St John’s continue to apply themselves very well in the Elite competition and never ever laid down in this one as they held Kings to just 14 points in the second and third quarters. Lochie Stent & Sam Start continued to push the St John’s score with a combined 17 points through three quarters as the schoolboys trailed the defending champions 41-54 heading into the final quarter. St John’s were incredibly impressive in this one but never quite got the score close enough to truly threaten Stirling Sports Kings with defeat in this one – a performance they should be proud of.

Texans 109 (J Murphy 44, M Edmondson 22, J Kenny 14)
Blazers 38 (J Russell 9, C Kotuhi 8)

Stirling Sports Kings 74 (D McGovan 21, D Christensen 14, D Jones & K Rayner 12)
St John’s College 64 (S Start 15, L Stent 14, J Keenan 12)

Hastings BHS weren’t about to lie down to their older Akina counterparts in their quarter-final with Denim Tuala-Fata coming out with 14 first quarter points including three 3pt shots to let his elders know he’s more than old enough to give them buckets now. The 30-26 first quarter Hastings BHS was quickly extinguished as Denim’s uncle, Reece Tuala-Fata scored 5 points in a row to open the second quarter for Akina helping them to a 54-44 half time lead thanks to 18 first half points from the older Tuala-Fata, while the younger Tuala-Fata remained Boys High’s leading scorer with 17 first half points of his own. While Hastings Boys kept their own score ticking over, they struggled to stop Akina in the third quarter as Akina poured in a massive 37 third quarter points as Jacob Nahora and Sheldon Mataira took turns to score along with Tuala-Fata. Also featuring heavily for Akina was Year 9 Hastings BHS student Kaden Makea with 18 second quarter points. The talented youngster showing his seniors he is ready to hoop with them with some flashy finishes in his repertoire. Denim Tuala-Fata opened the fourth with yet another three pointer, his fourth for the game, to show that Boys High weren’t about to give up – but it wasn’t enough to stem the scoring flow of Akina as they ended up with 121 points on the night to send them to a semi-final next week against Kings which will be a re-match of the 2019 Grand Final.

Akina 121 (R Tuala-Fata 30, K Makea 20, J Nahora 18)
Hastings BHS 85 (D Tuala-Fata 38, P Flavell & L Spooner 10)

Toro Atu were without captain Ravi Mani for their feature quarter-final match against secondary school national championship contenders Napier BHS. But it didn’t look like it would matter as Toro Atu took a phenomenal 29-11 first quarter. The team’s leading scorer Josh Anderson had 14 with Nick Agnew & Mana Barber providing assistance with a combined 11 points between them. Napier BHS weren’t able to pick themselves up in the second quarter despite star player Clifton Bush III opening his scoring account to lead the team in scoring with 5 points at the half, tied with Jakob Gooch and Tommy Fergusson who also had 5 each. Toro Atu looked to have the match wrapped up with one quarter remaining with the score sitting at 64-40, but Napier BHS had other ideas. Napier BHS came out firing in the quarter and even took the game to within single digits with just minutes remaining. Like a lot of the other round 1 playoff games, a late comeback wasn’t enough to overcome the winning team’s spectacular first half efforts. Cool heads prevailed and Toro Atu took the victory and booked a semi-final against the #1 seeded favourites Texans.

Toro Atu 78 (J Anderson 32, N Agnew 17, M Barber 14)
Napier BHS 74 (T Fergusson 15, C Bush III 14, J Gooch 11)