Royals cause an upset with first defeat of comp leaders
The Portland Blazers proved they were not invincible after all when they suffered their first defeat in the Super Six Competition.
Round eight of the 11 round competition tipped off at the weekend, after a month-long break over the festive period, with Raumanga
Royals causing the first upset of the New Year.
Portland still comfortably lead the points table, following seven straight wins on the trot, but their winning streak came to an abrupt stop on Saturday at Kamo High School when their closest rivals Raumanga threw all they had at them and comfortably defeated them by 77-67.
After two narrow losses already to Portland before the break, Raumanga's Caleb Henare dug deep to reverse the result in their third clash of the round robin competition.
The shooting guard/power forward stood out on court, putting up a stellar 36 points for his side - still a way off from his season best of 49 points he shot before Christmas.
"It was satisfying to finally get one up on them," Henare said. "It took us a while to get into the game, but once we get going we are a hard team to beat. The game was pretty close until the last part of the final quarter when they started slipping away. We picked up our defence and were making the shots." Meanwhile, Walter Smith's presence on court was strong for Portland, and he shot 18, producing the top score for his side.
Earlier in the round, Kaikohe Cougars shut down a depleted Maunu Lights unit in the second half.
At the three-quarter mark, Maunu was still in the running, but as Kaikohe applied more pressure, Maunu's wheels fell off and Kaikohe extended their lead to win 85-52. Atama O'Donnell was instrumental in Kaikohe's victory with his 26 points, while Maunu struggled with key player Josh Martinac away fulfilling New Zealand representative duties in Australia with the Under-17 Koru team.
In the final game of the round, City Hawks stormed home to a 105-69 thrashing over Kamo Stars, despite a honest effort by Jason Edwards who top-scored for Kamo, with 22 points. City's Travis McIlroy hit the ground running after the break and shot a season high of 50 points in Saturday's game.
