A combination of youth and experience helped ‘Rsb’ claim the 3×3 Quest Tour’s Tauranga event on Saturday, booking them a spot in the Finals in March.
Father-son duo Andy Mackay and Derone Raukawa, along with family-friend Eru Wills, went seven from seven at the third leg of the tour, with the final seeing them come back from three down and eventually winning 12-11.
Mackay said they were “pretty buggered” by the knockout stages but dug deep to finish the tournament on top.
“Unlike a few of the other teams, we had no subs throughout the day and were forced to trudge it out to get the results we wanted.
“The final was a tricky fixture because we fell behind by three and in all of our previous games, we were with the ones leading from the front.
“In the end, the difference was a couple of twos from Derone and then the hustle he showed to dive on a loose ball. I think if they had of got to that ball first, they’d be the ones talking to you right now and not me.”
Three other grades featured at Harbourside Netball Centre on the weekend, one of which was Youthtown’s Junior Girls’ competition that accounted for nine of the forty teams that entered. ‘The Muppets’ went on to win the sole girls’ grade, whilst averaging a whopping 15.6 points per game, beating ‘MJLK’ 18-7 in the big dance.
Four teams made up the Youthtown Senior Boys’ grade, meaning everyone qualified for the do or die stages. ‘Unicorns’ dropped two of their three games in pool play, but then went on to find their stroke and knocked off ‘Sweats’ in their semi-final (15-13) before trumping ‘BTG’ 11-10 in their title game.
The final grade contested in Mount Manganui was the Youthtown Under 15 Boys, where ‘Slurpee’ triumphed over ‘YKTR’ 10-6 in the first final played out at the event.
The 3×3 Quest Tour’s next leg is in Wellington and will be held at Odlins Plaza on Saturday (February 22).
Results of Auckland West leg of 3×3 Quest Tour (week three):
Open Men’s Winners – Rsb
- Andy Mackay
- Derone Raukawa
- Eru Wills
Open Men’s Runner-up – Coasties
- Chris McIntosh
- Adam Dunstan
- Ben Castle
- Karl Magon
Youthtown Senior Boys – Unicorns
- Caylum Daniels
- Beau Miller
- Stephen Notoa
Youthtown Under 15 Boys – Slurpee
- Kameo Wagner
- Oliver Taylor
- Seth Whinney
- Usher Robson
Youthtown Junior Girls – The Muppets
- Kaylah Waihi
- Hana Lacey-Rameka
- Lani Albert-Neha
3×3 Quest Tour Schedule, 2020:
- Sat 18 Jan Auckland (West) – The Trusts Arena, Henderson, Auckland
- Sat 1 Feb Auckland (North) – Eventfinda Stadium, Wairau Valley, Auckland
- Sat 15 Feb Tauranga – Harbourside Netball Centre, Blake Park, Mt Maunganui
- Sat 22 Feb Wellington – Odlins Plaza, Wellington Waterfront
- Sun 1 Mar Dunedin – The Octagon, Dunedin
- Sat 7 Mar Christchurch – Hagley Park Netball Courts, Christchurch
- Sat 28 Mar Final (Christchurch)* – Ara Recreational Centre, Christchurch
* This final event is the World Tour Qualifier Final and is only open to the Open Men’s Grade teams that qualified at one of the above regional events. No other grades will play at this event.
More info:
- More details on the tour here.
- Sign up for the tour via play.fiba3x3.com.
- Follow the event on Basketball New Zealand’s Social media accounts on @BasketballNZ via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
