The University of Canterbury have won the Hoben Trophy in the Miles Toyota Premier Men’s League for the first time since 2008
Portions of this article provided by Piet Van Hasselt. Photographs courtesy Arjan van Hasselt where stamped.
UC avenged last season’s loss in the same game to Gators this year, with a win over the same club on Saturday at Cowles Stadium, 92-69. This moves UC to a 7-1 record to start the season with six round robin games remaining before the Championship playoffs. Five players reached double-figures in points headed by Canadian Teaching & Learning student Max Allin who had 32. UC had a disciplined effort to restrict the high-powered Gators offence.
Looking at the final score you would be forgiven for thinking it was a UC steamroller in this game, but this is far from the truth. Gators battled UC almost to a standstill in the first quarter, before a Ben Anderson basket broke the 13-13 tie to give UC a two-point lead heading into the second quarter.
UC did build a nine-point lead before the half, but Gators would fight back. Ben Carlile-Smith closed the gap to 60-56 late in the third quarter, before UC finally stamped out the Gators, as they went on a 19-5 run, extinguishing any chance Gators would have to keep hold of the Hoben Trophy. Final Score 92-69 in the University of Canterbury’s favour.
UC 92 (Max Allin 32, Paul Stephenson 14, Josh Petermann 13, Brent Fisher 12, Hayden Collier 11)
Gators 69 (Connor McLaughlin 13, Jozef Knottenbelt 11, Ben Carlile-Smith 10)
UC is now almost assured of making the playoffs, owning a 7-1 record. Two more wins and they officially make the top six, but they will have eyes firmly focused on finishing first or second, in order to have direct entry into the semi final round.
