A lights-out shooting performance helped Otago University to a national title yesterday.
It beat Lincoln University in the national tertiary championships men’s final 109-102 in Auckland, coming from behind in the finalquarter.
Josh Aitcheson showed his class as he scored 38 points, going 14/18 from the field, including 6/8 from beyond the arc.
He was helped by Hamish Robertson, who had 20 points on 8/13 shooting, while Matt Bardsley also scored his 16 points at above 50%.
Otago led for most of thefirst quarter and would have taken an eight-point bufferto the break had Lincoln’s Josiah Williams not hit apull-up three pointer on the buzzer.It still led 32-27, before Lincoln fired back to lead 56-54 at halftime.
The margin remained thin through the third quarter. However, 12 points in two and a-half minutes from Williams helped Lincoln to a 90-84 buffer at the final break.
Otago still trailed going into the dying minutes, but took the lead when Robertson made the score 104-102 with 1min 42sec to play.
From there it held Lincoln scoreless to close the game out.
Aitcheson was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
