Otago and Lincoln sustain peak performance to beat the basketball pack

The 2018 New Zealand National Tertiary Basketball Champions have been crowned with University of Otago winning the men’s championship for the first time and Lincoln University claiming the women’s title for a second straight year.

The three-day tournament, held at the AUT Sports Centre on Auckland’s North Shore, concluded on Sunday with two entertaining finals.

Men's results:

Otago beat 2016 winners the University of Lincoln in a hard-fought and high-scoring match, with the final score reaching 109-102.

• Otago 109 – J Aitcheson 38, H Robertson 20, M Bardsley 16, S Aruwa 7/10r 
• Lincoln 102 – J Williams 33, B Williams 16, B Bowie 15/16r, P Neale 13, P Leaupepe 11

Otago beat Auckland 75-66 and Lincoln defeated Canterbury 86-82 in two evenly contested semi-finals played on Day 2.

• 3rd/4th Play-off
Canterbury 87 – K Tota 28, P Stephenson 16, Z Dwan 16, B van Noorden 16
Auckland 75 – L Haraqia 13, S Aruwa 12, Z Easthope 10, S Graham 10, B Matambanadzo 10

• 5th/6th
Waikato 81 – C Johnston 17, H Sheridan 14, C Giddy 14
Victoria 72 – L Beck 13, T McGuiness 11

• 7th/8th
Massey 93 – L Thornton 30, J Laracy 13, K Nikolaison 13, A Dennan 13
AUT 70 – S Telfer 20, H Giacomini 15, B Thomas 14 

Men’s All-Star 5:

• Josh Aitcheson (Otago) MVP
• Finbar Argus (Auckland)
• Matthew Bardsley (Otago)
• Konrad Tota (Canterbury)
• Ben Williams (Lincoln)

Women's results:

Some standout performances from Lincoln stalwarts ensured the defending champions kept strong contesters AUT in the second spot. 

• Lincoln 72 – C Poletti 25/29r, A Pepe 18, S Schrader 16, C Grice 12
• AUT 60 – T Jenkins 19, G Agnew 12, S Motufoua 10, S Kiriau 9

In the semi-finals Lincoln had proved far too strong for Massey winning 83-54 while AUT won the City of Sails match up beating Auckland 77-67

• 3rd/4th Play-off
Auckland 94 – G Henare 32, T Gush 9, B Jones 9, K Kelly 9
Massey 59 – D Franklin 16, T Pilitati 12, T Young 7
• 5th Place Waikato University
• 6th Place Canterbury University
• 7th Place Victoria University

Women’s All-Star 5:

• Connie Poletti (Lincoln) MVP
• Georgia Agnew (AUT)
• Georgia Henare (Auckland)
• Tabitha Jenkins (AUT)
• Ajiah Pepe (Lincoln

Read the Basketball NZ tournament roundup here.