All men’s teams were back in action last weekend in the 3×3.EXE Premier competition.
View the full 3X3.EXE ladder at nz.basketball/3×3/3×3-exe-premier/3×3-exe-ladder/
Northern Men’s Competition – Round 5
Swish.EXE started Pool A strong with two wins against HIAP and WAVE.EXE. HIAP took a 21-17 win over Wave to progress through to the Semi-Finals. In Pool B, Scam.EXE progressed undefeated while Stingrays.EXE narrowly scraped past Coasties.EXE with a 21-20 win to progress through to the next round.
Swish would comfortably pass Stingrays in a 21-14 win, while Scam would take the game by a few points against HIAP. Swish would come up against Scam in the Grand Final of Round 5, and would take it down to the wire. The game was neck and neck the entire way, with Swish maintaining the narrow lead for the majority of the game. In the end, Scam couldn’t provide enough points on the board and Swish took the game out 21-19 with 12.9 seconds to spare.
- Round 5 Winners – Swish.EXE (beat Scam.EXE 21-19 in finals)
- Northern Men’s MVP, Round 5 – Kirk Penney
- Round 5 Results & Team lists: CLICK HERE
- Re-watch the games at: BBNZ TV
Southern Men’s Competition – Round 5
Pool A contained the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seeds of the Southern competition, but the scorelines didn’t show with Gators.EXE cleaning up in each game, sending them to top of the pool and scoring a trip to the Semi-Finals. Wharenui.EXE bounced back from their 21-7 loss to Gators to beat UC Gold.EXE 21-13 and claim the second spot in the Semi-Finals for Pool A.
While over in Pool B, Rams.EXE took the top spot, winning comfortably against the two other teams. Crossover.EXE narrowly lost to UC Maroon 21-20, leaving them out of the playoffs for the fourth time this season.
Gators and UC Maroon both took to the court to win, but Gators just managed to get the edge on UC Maroon, winning 21-19 in a close and intense battle. Rams showed why they had been in the finals three weeks in a row with a 21-8 win over Wharenui. Rams would go onto their fourth finals appearance, while Gators had only seen the big dance once. The lack of experience in the Finals proved as Rams managed to sweep the 1st place title 21-15.
- Round 5 Winners – Rams.EXE (beat Gators.EXE 21-15 in finals)
- Southern Men’s MVP, Round 5 – Tanae Lavery
- Round 5 Results & Team lists: CLICK HERE
- Re-watch the games at: BBNZ TV
