St Kevin's College won its second secondary schools national title in four years last night in Palmerston North.
The Oamaru school beat Manukura 71-68 in an overtime thriller to win the final of the A competition, for small schools.
Matthew Brien scored 11 of St Kevins’ 13 overtime points, finishing the game with 24 points to go with nine rebounds.
St Kevin’s started strongly, shooting out to an early lead on the back of an energetic start from point guard Alex Gonzales.
That carried through to the second quarter and it went to halftime holding a 29-22 lead.
In a big third quarter, Manukura fought back, edging into the lead for the first time.
It was back and forth down the stretch and when Manukura opened up a five point gap, Brien responded with back-to-back three-pointers to prevent it pulling away.
Both teams had opportunities to clinch the game in the dying stages, but were unable to break the 58-58 deadlock.
Two baskets from Brien had St Kevin’s taking an early overtime lead, which it was able to hold, as a last second heave from Manukura went astray.
Youheng Peng finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds for St Kevin’s, while Gonzales had 14 points and four assists.
St Kevin’s last won the title in 2013, when current coach Hamish Robertson was named tournament MVP.
Kavanagh College won the title a year later.
Meanwhile, Josh Aitcheson scored 56 points as King’s High School beat Nelson College 79-58 in their AA bottom eight quarterfinal.
Otago Boys’ High School was beaten by Hamilton Boys’ High School in their bottom eight quarterfinal.
