U23 Men claim win over Kapiti

The Southland under 23 Men bounced back from a morning loss against Taranaki to defeat Kapiti 88-66 on the opening day of the National Tournament in Auckland today.

Southland will take on Counties-Manukau on Thursday morning (9am) with a win earning the team a quarter final berth.

Coach Connor Coll said his team caught fire this afternoon from long range.

"We really shot the sh*t out of it. E (Ethan Mitchell) drained seven three-pointers, TC (Tom Cowie) did usual TC-things and Campbell (Scott) played really well. The boys all stepped up when they needed to. We came out of the gates hot and got up by something like 15 early in the first."

"They came back into it and their shot started to fall but we ran away with it towards the end of the third," Coll said.

Mitchell finished with 27 including those seven treys, Scott had 23 while Cowie followed up his morning 29 against Taranaki with another 20 this afternoon.

Coll was pleased with the way his side bounced back from the morning 109-82 loss to Taranaki.

"We were outsized and outmuscled this morning. We struggled to rebound the basketball but this afternoon was a much better match up for us and we rebounded well. We'll rest up and look to keep it going against Counties in the morning," Coll said.