Rosmini fires warning shot to competition with 3x3 win

Rosmini College has made a statement ahead of the main school basketball season, with its 3x3 team winning at nationals in a nailbiting final.

Rosmini had to fight its way back into the game against Hamilton’s St John’s College after going down by five points early on. The lead later went back and forth multiple times, until a bucket from Rosmini’s Zion Anderson tied the short version of the game 14-14 sending it to overtime.

After opening the scoring in extra time, Rosmini did not look back, with tournament MVPAnderson netting the winner, in a 16-14 comeback.

Coach Matt Lacey said the pre-season 3x3 tournament gives a vital chance for senior and junior players to learn the team’s system and polish skills for the 5x5 season. Its consistency, pace and physicality forced players to be “relentless in transition from offence to defence”, further developing that aspect of their game.

Rosmini, which last year won the Auckland secondary schools competition and made the national final, has lost four of its starting five players. But the 3x3 win has given it hope for 2023. Lacey said the Auckland competition was “by far and away” the most competitive in the country, having produced 12 of the last 20 national champions. With half a dozen schools having consistently strong basketball programmes, easy matches were scarce. The Auckland competition tips off on 5 May.