Rowville Secondary College and St Augustine’s College have taken out the gold at the 2014 Australian Schools Championships, in the weeklong tournament held in Canberra.
Rowville played John Paul College in a rematch of 2013’s women’s final, once again taking the honours in the 73-62 win. Meeting earlier in the tournament, Rowville smashed John Paul by 42 points, but the Grand Final was a much closer contest.
A late run by Rowville at the end of the second quarter saw them go into the main break with a five point lead, in which they continued to build on in the second half as they gradually ran away from John Paul.
Taylor Lee and Sonia Dirito led Rowville with 14 points, while Jayden Fuiava was the best for John Paul with 23 points and eight rebounds.
The men’s game was much closer, requiring two overtime periods to determine a winner between St Augustine’s College and Sacred Heart College, with Daniel Pitcher from St Augustine’s scoring with 0.2 seconds left in the second overtime to give his team a 102-101 thrilling victory.
With St Augustine’s leading 77-74 with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Sacred Heart’s Isaac White made a fall away three to force the game into overtime tied at 77. St Augustine’s Deng Gak once again tied the game up in overtime with 11 seconds remaining by making two free throws, forcing a second overtime.
In the second overtime, Sam White made two free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining to give Sacred Heart a 101-100 lead, but Pitcher would go on to spoil the party. Inbounding the ball, Pitcher then cleverly back-cut carving his way to the ring and finishing the tough lay-up to give St Augustine’s a 102-101 win.
Pitcher finished with 33 points, 10 steals, six rebounds and four assists in a massive performance, while Jonathan Marsh had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the winners. Isaac White for Sacred Heart led all scorers with 34 points, while Akol Deng finished with 23 points and 25 rebounds.
Monte Sant’ Angelo were the bronze medalists in the Women’s Championship division winning 68-47 against Palm Beach Currumbin with captain Madeleine O’Hehir finishing with 20 points and seven rebounds for the winners.
As for the Men’s Championship bronze medal game, it was Sydney Boys High that defeated St James College 101-57, with Geoffrey Gerlach finishing with 30 points, 20 rebounds and six assists, while point guard Nathan Sutton was one rebound away from a triple-double with 11 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.
Listed below are the Champions from each Division of the Australian School Championships. Click here for full list of final placings.
Championship Men – St Augustine’s
Championship Women – Rowville Secondary College
U20 Men Division 1 – Newington College
U20 Men Division 2 – Central Coast Adventist School
U20 Men Division 3 – Braemar College 1
U20 Men Division 4 – Avondale School
U20 Women – Redlands Girls
U17 Boys Division 1 – The Scots College
U17 Boys Division 2 – Whitefriars College
U17 Boys Division 3 – Berwick Grammar School
U17 Girls Division 1 – Tenison Woods College
U17 Girls Division 2 – Canberra Girls Grammar School
U15 Boys Division 1 – Barker College
U15 Boys Division 2 – Rockingham SHS
U15 Girls – Cabra Dominican College
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.