Three weekends ago, a ragtag team of underdogs made history by becoming the first Waikato men’s team to ever hoist the UTSNZ shield. Not known for their 3×3 basketball, Waikato handled Lincoln University in the final with a game winning free throw from Te Maire van der Leden.
The 22-year-old guard left his stamp on the National Tertiary tournament, scoring the winning point in all three of the team’s playoff games. van der Leden describes his emotions moments after scoring the championship winning point:
‘Thank fuck I made one of those free throws.’
Having finished last and second to last between their men’s and women’s team in 2021, the Waikato Kāhu squad seemed longshots to make any real noise in Palmerston North. Despite all this, they took home gold in the men’s competition, finished fourth in the women’s, and had two players named to the tournament team – Jack McManaway and Maya Taingahue.
‘We were pretty much all the exact same guy,’ van der Leden remarked when asked about team chemistry. ‘Most of us were 6’2, 6’3, two-way guards, and if one of us wasn’t hitting that day, someone else was. There was always someone with a hot hand.’
Joining van der Leden on the men’s team was Jack McManaway, a streaky scorer who came alive in the playoffs, Jayden Taufale, a lethal sniper from deep, and Dan Dobson, a rookie unphased by the moment, playing his best basketball in the final.
‘Heading into the final, everyone was pushing the narrative of us being underdogs,’ van der Leden said. ‘Yeah we lost our first game, pretty badly, but I thought we were the team to beat.’
Going up against Lincoln University, runners up from last year, Waikato faced a daunting opponent in the final. Known for their interior defence and a dangerous point guard, the white and blue kept it close at the start, but fell away down the stretch.
‘The boys lit it up from deep and stuck with it. We stayed locked in.’
Now a veteran for Waikato, van der Leden ranks this championship right up there near the top of his sporting achievements, on par with a full court buzzer beater in Year 8.
‘It’s probably the highlight of my tertiary career. The whole weekend was great. The experience and the culture, it was cool to be a part of. We were just as hyped for the girl’s games, and vice versa.’
