At the CBA Championship finals day at Cowles Stadium on Saturday 14th September LU Basketball were in the finals for the Women's U21, Men's U23 and Premier Women.

It is always a big occasion making the finals in any sport and the CBA Big Show is no exception. Lincoln University were proud to have three of our four teams in the finals for their respective grades.

The Women's U21 side had the early match of the day against Christchurch Girls High School. LU ended the first spell down 17-20 and were looking to gain ascendancy heading into the half, however Girls High's defense was strong and forced our players to take out high risk wide shots rather then getting into the boards for the bread and butters to eventually trail 28-34 at the break.

The pressure began to mount for the LU ladies as CGHS pulled out to a thirteen point lead with a quarter to go. Try as they might Lincoln could not close the gap and on the day had to settle for the runners up tag eventually going down 52-70. A massive thanks to Tony Irvine for coaching the side and to the players who often had to step up for the Premier Women's team throughout the season.

The second match of the day pitted Lincoln University Men's U23 side against a much improved Gators team. LU shot out to a 9 point lead 30-21 in the first quarter only to have that margin close to just 3 points at half time 44-41. 

Fast defense and accurate shooting from both sides set up an epic finish to the match when scores were tied 59 all with a quarter to play. With scores tied, an interesting technical foul against Gators allowed the LU Bulls to sneak in front to take the match by 85-82 and put their name on the Trophy for the fifth time in  six years. Once again thanks to all the players who doubled up every Saturday for the premier Men's team and to their super coach Tyla Harrison-Hunt for his great insights and clarity throughout the season and to Josh Thompson for his assistance and technical knowledge that he imparted on the players.

In the final match of the day Lincoln University Premier Women took on the might of North Canterbury, who had managed a clean sweep of 3 and 0 throughout the season against LU. Our girls were out to avenge this but unfortunately were not able to find the passes and hit their shots as NC shut them down out wide or were in their face when close. 

LU trailed by eight at the end of the first and then were down by ten at the half time break. The pace of the match and the tight full court defensive pressure did not allow LU to play their usual accurate wide shooting game or develop their fast breaks. NC maintained their lead to take the third by eleven points 60-49 and then moved out to a seventeen point full time margin to take the game and the Championship title 72-55. Once again a massive thanks to the coaching and management staff of Shea Crotty, Hoani Smith and Joshua Thompson for all their efforts in what proved to be a very challenging season in 2019.