Sliding down to fifth spot in their pool groups, Tassie’s boys and girls went on to suffer similar fates but headed down different paths.

Pulling off their biggest under-16 nationals win, Tasmania’s 95-52 victory over Northern Territory completed the boys’ part of the deal to reach the knockout stages.

Jett Grey top-scored for the first time this past week with 22 points, backed up with solid contributions of 17 points from Taran Armstrong and 16 from Reyne Smith.

Launceston pair Jackson Lowe and Tom McShane also added 11 and nine points.

But New South Wales Metro – that Tasmania defeated on Tuesday – sealed the last finals spot in a 82-58 victory over South Australia Metro in the last game of the night.

Tasmania’s girls had their fate in their own hands needing to win to finish in fourth.

But a tiring offense in the last term handed New South Wales Country a 68-55 win.

The shining light proved to be Tornadoes development player Aishah Anis scoring 17 points, while Sharn Hayward with 12 points was the only other Tasmanian to reach double figures.

Tassie trailed 41-31 at half-time, but held their opponents to just 10 points in the third quarter to trail by three.

But scoring just seven points in the final term, the Tasmanians faded in the final five minutes to slip from three points behind to 13.