Canterbury and Waitākere West are through to the 2026 Foot Locker U20 National Championship game, both teams securing their spots in hard fought semi-finals tonight at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua.
Semi Final 1: Canterbury 86 – 83 Nelson
A Mana Martin one handed buzzer beater has sent Canterbury dramatically through to tomorrow night’s Foot Locker U20 National Grand Final.
The classic rivalry game between Canterbury and Nelson kicked off semi-final night, and it didn’t take long for things to heat up.
Nelson orchestrated a fast start, with Tall Black and Wisconsin guard Hayden Jones leading the way for the Nelsonians, running out to a quick 13-6 lead after the first four minutes of action.
Canterbury would fight back to cut the deficit to two, before Jones and Elijah Inwood pushed Nelson’s lead out to double digits with a minute and a half left in the opening stanza.
Inwood dropping 14 points in the first quarter alone, to see his squad up 29-17 at the break.
A thunderous Ihaka Cate dunk began the second quarter, with the Cantabrians looking to mount a comeback, opening Q2 on a 7-2 run.
But it didn’t take the Nelson duo of Jones and Inwood long to re-assert themselves, Jones joining Inwood in double figure scoring with a nice ten foot jumper.
The pair combining for 35 first half points, to see their Nelson squad up 13 at the half.
The second half started somewhat slowly from a scoring perspective, but the passion and physicality levels were raising at a rate of knots.
Canterbury fired the first real shot of the third quarter, with Martin and Cate both getting downhill for tough finishes at the rim, in turn cutting the Nelson lead to single digits for the first time in the quarter.
Canterbury continued to claw back the lead numerous times throughout the quarter, down five at the turn towards the home straight.
Nelson entered the fourth quarter, teetering on the edge with foul trouble.
Canterbury continued their fightback at the beginning of the final quarter, and after a Milan Newton bucket it was suddenly one-point game.
Tanoa knocked down a massive triple for Nelson, to re-establish a two possession game, now up four.
The first of Nelsonian to foul out was Jack Mellor with 6:21 left in the fourth.
Another huge Tanoa triple saw Nelson extend the lead again, before Toby Langrell answered right back. Ihaka Cate dropped another bucket, and Canterbury jumped into the lead for the first time since the first quarter.
Ashton Walker and Jerome Sinclair also fouled out for Nelson, and suddenly they were down to seven active players, with Inwood and Jones sitting on four and three fouls respectively.
However, Inwood would continue to work hard for his team, retaking the lead for Nelson through a tough inside bucket.
Jones secure an elusive triple double with an assist to Tanoa to re-take the lead (24 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists).
Newton spilt a pair of free throws to tie the game up with two ticks under 40 seconds left in the game.
A couple of empty possessions later, up step the man of the hour, Mana Martin.
A heavily contested one-handed chuck up from Martin, kissed gently off the glass and fell, sending Canterbury through to the grand final.
An absolute heart-breaker for Nelson and their fans, but an incredible effort from them despite being in foul trouble for a large portion of the match.
Canterbury through to yet another age-group tournament finale.
Canterbury 86 (Martin 23p, Newton 18p, Cate 15p) defeat Nelson 83 (Inwood 28p, Jones 24p, 14r, 10a, Tanoa 11p)
Q1: CAN 17-29 NEL
HT: CAN 36-49 NEL
Q3: CAN 59-64 NEL
FT: CAN 86-83 NEL
Semi Final 2: Waitākere West 77 – 69 Franklin
The second semi-final was a contest between two teams from the North, Waitākere West up against Franklin.
The game started in a tight contest, with both teams coming out of the gates hot.
Waitākere West sharing the scoring load early, with their leader Kingston Kailahi-Aso leading the way with six points.
Franklin’s Junior Tall Blacks duo of Zeek Otunuku and Harry Kelso combining for 10 points to keep Franklin within touching distance of Waitākere after one.
Five quick Franklin points at the start of the second saw the scores at 24-a-piece, before Kelso put Franklin up 2 through a nice mid-range jumper at the end of the shot clock.
But it was Hunter Te Ratana who really started to kick into gear for the West Aucklanders in the second, throwing a sweet dime to a cutting Mahonri Schwalger before chipping in two points of his own to go to nine points, his team opening up a bit of a buffer at 37-30 with 2:18 left in the second.
Te Ratana and Kailahi-Aso combining for 23 first half points for WWABI as they headed into the half-time break with a seven point lead.
Kelso came into his own in the third quarter, fighting hard for his Franklin squad to get back into this one.
The guard scoring 12 points in the quarter to tie the game and eventually give his team the lead.
Te Ratana continued to provide for Waitākere West to keep the game a single possession game, but it was Franklin who took a one-point lead heading into the final ten minutes of action at Te Rauparaha Arena.
Kelso and Te Ratana continued to trade buckets early in the fourth, but it was the West Aucklanders who re-gained the lead with just under seven minutes to play in the fourth.
Soane Tavite’s triple out of the Franklin timeout was huge, but Kelso answered straight back with five straight points to wrestle back the lead.
Yet again, Te Ratana gave Waitākere the lead back – the game see-sawing at every single turn.
His squad pushing out to a six point lead heading down the stretch.
Franklin nudged back, Nathaniel Short knocking down a pair of free throws to make it a one possession game.
But Waitākere would really knuckle down on defence in the final minute of the game, converting on three straight Franklin turnovers to push the lead out to eight to secure their spot in tomorrow’s grand final.
Waitākere West 77 (Te Ratana 21p, 10r, Kailahi-Aso 19p, Gibson 15p, 13r) defeat Franklin 69 (Kelso 28p, 13r, Otunuku 14p, Short 12p)
Q1: WW 24-19 FKL
HT: WW 42-35 FKL
Q3: WW 55-56 FKL
FT: WW 77-69 FKL
