Pukekohe High School Boys’ Basketball team have made Nationals for the first time ever!  After playing in the Zone 1 “AA” Basketball Qualification Tournament for many years, 2023 will be a year to be remembered for the South Auckland team.  After finishing 9th in 2022, and narrowly missing out on qualification, the team set the goal for changing this outcome and came back fighting to win the final 7th spot in 2023 recently during Winter Tournament Week.  The team had wins over Whangarei Boys’ High School, St Peters College, Waitakere College, and Liston College during pool play to make the top 8.  During the top 8 they had some tough encounters but managed to win the one that counted to qualify for the National Tournament.

In addition to Pukekohe High School making Nationals for the first time ever, there will be some new teams from the Zone 1 qualifiers entering the tournament. Dilworth School have made Nationals for the first time since 2010 after finishing 4th and Mount Roskill Grammar School have also qualified for Nationals for the first time ever. Kathrynn Jelas, tournament lead for Basketball NZ said “It’s good to see a variety of teams competing at the top level and we are super excited to host the Basketball New Zealand National Secondary School Championships in Palmerston North in the October school holidays.” 

The NZSS Basketball “AA” and ‘A” National Championships will be hosted in Palmerston North from 25th – 28th September.

Good luck to all the teams who have qualified.  More details on the final results at the regional tournaments and who has qualifiers can be found here

Article added: Thursday 14 September 2023