There were more losses than wins for Kiwis in March Madness on Saturday with success for Tobias Cameron and Akienne-Tera Reed but disappointment elsewhere.
Tobias Cameron and Abilene Christian University, seeded second at the Southland Conference Tournament secured a convincing 93-71 victory over Lamar University in the semi-final.
The former Junior Tall Black scored 7 points scoring from both his shots from the field and a perfect 2 from 2 from the foul line. He also produced 2 steals and 2 rebounds for the victorious Wildcats who will face Nicholls University in the final – now just one win away from the NCAA Tournament.
However, here was disappointment for brother Flynn Cameron as University of California Riverside were well beaten in the semi-final of the Big West Championship defeated 78-61 by UC Irvine.
The younger Cameron finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Akienne-Tera Reed contributed 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists as Virginia Commonwealth University defeated Rhode Island 64-57 in an overtime thriller to advance to the semi-finals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
In the semi VCU will face top-seeded Dayton in a rematch of last year’s grand-final.
It wasn’t such good news on the other side of the draw where Fordham were upset 80-70 by Massachusetts. Kendell Heremaia scored 5 points and added 8 points and 7 assists in the defeat.
Yuat Alok was immense for Coppin State University but unfortunately couldn’t prevent the top seed from bowing out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament.
The former Rangitoto College centre led Coppin State in scoring and rebounding as he amassed 17 points (7/10FG), 11 boards and a pair of steals in the 81-62 loss to Morgan State.
More North Shore disappointment followed with former Westlake Boys standout James Moors and Colorado State bowing out of the Mountain West Championship beaten 62-50 by Utah State.
Moors finished with 4 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Thomas Webley and Hartford University Hawks are already through to the America East Conference Final on Sunday.
Also on Sunday Will Heather (Dallas Baptist University) will be playing Southern Arkansas at the NCAA Division II National Championship.
