Basketball: Bay U15 boys toast of the nation

The Hawke's Bay U15 boys' representative basketball team who won the national crown in Dunedin on Saturday. Photo/supplied

The weather bomb in Dunedin had prompted a state of emergency but even that wasn't going to be enough to steal the thunder from the Hawke's Bay boys' basketball team.

The Regan Spooner and Shane Brown-coached teenagers fought gallantly into overtime to clinch the New Zealand Aon Under-15 tournament crown against Tasman.

"The boys, when they were shooting in play, sometimes felt the drip on them so we were just wiping up as we were going," said jubilant assistant coach Brown, who is mentoring Spooner as coach at the nationals staged predominantly at the Edgar Centre apart from the male and female finals.

The signs were ominous in Friday's quarterfinals on two courts although Brown said the main court for the semifinals wasn't so bad.

"One court was okay but it wasn't enough for them to keep the whole tournament going," he said after the boys' and girls finals were shifted on Saturday to the John McGlashan College court.

"All the other games were cancelled so, geez, that's the first because I've never come across that before," said Brown who has been coaching for two decades.

However, all that didn't rob the teenagers of the opportunity to beat the Ed Book-coached Tasman side who the Bay had already beaten in pool play.

"It was a bit of a bummer for the boys to not have a full stadium to play in front of but the school gym was packed so it was intimate, you could say."

The Paora Winitana jnr and Wairehu Waata co-skippered champions won the final 85-81 in overtime after they were locked 72-all.

Boys' tourney MVP Winitana had the opportunity to break the deadlock, with three seconds remaining, but it wasn't to be.

But the youngster picked up where he left, dropping two hook shots and then landing one from the carpark to open up a six-point lead after Joshua Book scored two from the free-throw line.

Tasman were relentless, pegging the score back to 83-81, with 12 seconds left on the clock but the Bay kept Book on check as his attempted three-pointer to draw a foul fell shy to spark celebrations on the floor.

Point guard Winitana scored 31 points, guard Wairehu Waata added 19, forward Lamour Spooner 10 and so did Jack Willis .

Little general Book scored a game-high 32 points.

Winitana, the son of former Tall Black Paora Winitana snr, Toby Kendon and sixth man Brodie Walker were named in the tourney team.

"Joshua and Paora are both different type of players but Ed Book's boy is a phenomenal shooter who was certainly 30 points in every game he played in," said Brown, revealing Kendon led the defence to keep Book in check.

Ironically Winitana snr and coach Book were rivals in the National Basketball League for the Hawks and the Nelson Giants although the pair were teammates in the Tab Baldwin-coached Tall Blacks side that made the historic maiden World Championship playoffs in 2002.

Brown said the victory was an endorsement of the hard work Spooner had put into the boys before the tourney as well as the commitment from the parents who raised funds.

Coach Spooner said last night the victory was also a credit to all the players on the bench, including Xavier Clarke-Lloyd, Kane Collier, Jordan Frisby, Lochlan Stent, Josh Quinn, Taz Shamrock and Walker.

Guard Walker scored 25 points in the semifinal victory over Auckland.

"If it wasn't for all those boys we wouldn't be where we are," said Spooner. "I was very proud of all the boys."

It is the first time a Bay under-15 boys' team have won a national title.

The last Bay age-group crown went to the U17 girls who Brown coach in 2009 and Tall Fern Josie Stockill was a member of. The U15 girls emulated that feat in the same year under Brown and with Stockill in it.

Henry Hill School principal Jason Williams mentored the Bay U13 boys to a national crown in 2008.

In 1997, Brown was at the helm of the Bay U20 men's champion team when Regan Spooner was a player along with Tai Winitana (Paora snr's younger brother), Stockill's partner and ex-Hawk, Arthur Trousdell, as well as Tall Black coach and former Hawk captain Paul Henare.

Coach Spooner drew on his age-group finals experience to ensure his proteges didn't mutate into the inclement weather under pressure.

"They realised it was tough but we had practised three times a week so they understood their roles," said the 39-year-old, thanking Hastings Boys' High School for letting them use the school court for practices in the six-month build up to Dunedin.

The former Hawk, who won the Bay head coach of the year award last year, is a technician at Kraft Heinz in Hastings.

The former Napier Boys' High School pupil, who lives in Hastings, is creating a regional basketball coaching development academy.

Spooner said their direct flight to Wellington was delayed yesterday because of black ice on the runway at Dunedin Airport in Momona.

The Bay U15 girls, who had a stopover at Christchurch, were delayed even longer.

The girls were scheduled to play for seventh and eighth place on Saturday but all the other games for placings were cancelled.

Bay player Melika Samia was named in the U15 girls' tournament team.