Basketball in Africa

(by Sherif Soliman)
Cup semi : Ahly pased the quarter final after a hard win over Misr Insuranse with only 3 points, Ahly looking forward to save the last chanse for the team this season after the great failure in the playoffs qualifications . While Gezira passed Inttaj 88-59, to face Ahly in a very hard semifinal game on tuesday at Mubarak hall in Port- Saied.
However, Itthad crushed Army in the quarter final game while sporting made a last second win over Shorta with only 2 po, An Alexandrian face to face to reach the final game will take place next tuesday next to the meditrranean coast.

from africabasket.com

Jeshi Stars beat Don Bosco lionesses by 58-48 points in a tension-packed encounter of the Dar es Salaam regional basketball women league at the National Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

The win has elevated Stars, who are among the stalwarts in the league, to stay in contention for the title while breathing heavily before the neck of equally competitive rivals JKT Stars.
Jeshi Stars made a resounding resurgence to overwhelm their opponents who looked dominant at the early stages of the match.
Don Bosco started the game promisingly to claim 14-11points lead at the end of the first quarter with towering centre player Nina Mliga thwarting a series of moves orchestrated by Jeshi Stars.
She intermittently attempted to surge upfront in support of teammates Amina Ahmed, Linda John, Jasmine Bablia and Sajida Ahmed to spearhead onslaughts.
Jeshi Stars opted for an aggressive game during the closing stages of the second quarter to pin their opponents into retreat.
Stars took a narrow one point lead (21-20) at half time mark in the spellbinding match.
Tensioned reigned high in the remaining two quarters as players from both sides committed a series of flagrant fouls in a desperate attempt to contain each other’s attacks.
Jeshi Stars effectively deployed their blistering pace down the lanes to open up Don Bosco defense in the third quarter.
Jeshi Stars’ Faraja Malaki and Jabu Shaaban played with impressive precision in the last quarter to besiege Don Bosco defense.
Shaaban had 18 points, Malaki pumped 17 and seasoned player Grace Peter finished with eight for Jeshi Stars, while Don Bosco lionesses scorers were Sajida Ahmed with 11 points, Linda John and Bablia had eight points apiece while Amina Ahmed had seven.

The men’s category saw Tanzania Prisons bounce back with 79-61 victory over PT Stars in a match played earlier at the same venue.

Knight Riders have been offered another lifeline to cement their place in the MTN-Fuba League men’s topflight. The Entebbe-based side had been condemned to the lower tier after last year’s league but a boardroom decision has ensured their stay.

KCC Lions and UCU Canons will also not be relegated implying this season, the First Division will increase by two teams to 12. The development comes after the local sport’s governing body Fuba failed to decide who between KCC Lions and UCU Canons gets relegated alongside Knight Riders.

The two teams were involved in off-court battles in a bid to survive the drop after UCU Canons had missed their rescheduled game. “We made extensive consultations with Fiba Zone 5 and other stakeholders, which resulted in the decision to keep all the teams up,” Fuba assistant general secretary Joseph Manano said yesterday. “However, at the end of the forthcoming season, four teams will be relegated to Second Division,” he added.

Another season
This will be the first time Riders are spending more than one season in the topflight since 2007. With St. Michael and Berkley getting promoted from Second Division, Riders can fancy their chances of conjuring up some victories and stay yet another season. But they are likely to do that without their skipper Collin Mukiza, who seems ready to join another team. “I have ambitions of playing in the postseason and I doubt I can achieve that goal with Riders,” Mukiza said. The league starts on March 19 but teams will test their squads in the Makerere University Open tournament due later this month.

By Timothy Muvunyi

local basketball kings APR have boosted their hopes of securing an unprecedented third league title in a row by chasing for two new players.

Although the club’s head coach Cliff Owuor could not reveal the players’ names, he said that he was looking to strengthen the point guard and shooting guard positions.
“For now, all you need to know is that we are talking to two players, a point guard and a shooting guard,” the former Kenyan international told Times Sport.
“Once, we have them on board, we shall let you know.”
Last year, the Indomitable lions swept three trophies; the league, Play-offs title and Gisembe memorial tournament.

The army side also took the 2009 Fiba-Africa Club Championship by storm when they finished third in the twelve-team competition, behind eventual champions Primeiro Agosto and losing finalists Petro Atletico.

APR will resume their pre-season training next week. The team was forced to take a break after the death of Mike Buzangu (one of the club’s top players)’s relative.
The league throws of February 22.

Kampala — NATIONAL basketball league players are in the process of forming an association.

The group has been engaged in several meetings and is reported to be nearing their target.
"We have so far picked an interim committee to lead the process," said Mountain Dew Falcons forward Eric Malinga.
The interim team has D'Mark Power's David Kiberu as president, Mavita Ali (A-1 Challenge) secretary, Steve Omony (Falcons) and Albert Ahabwe as organising and publicity secretaries respectively.

The association seeks to protect players' rights among other duties.
"We expect players from all the four divisions to come on board so that we can move forward," Malinga observed.

Basketball coaches have an association already.

Usher Komugisha

(by Isaac Kwapong)
LCS Lions of lincoln Community School (LCS) today won their second season game against Labone Senior High School at the Lincoln Multipurpose Sports Facility. The game started with both teams not taken good care of the ball resulting in many turnovers by both teams. Both teams did not take advantage of the turnovers which ended the first quarter at lincoln leading by just a point after 10minutes running time.

The second quarter started with labone passing the ball and going for a quick two. Labone maintained its lead through out the second quarter and ended the first half with a three point lead over the home team with 6 -3.

The lions came back in the second half with more fighting spirit and with just three minutes to go in the third quarter they led by a point 7-6. The score was the same at the end of the third quarter. Both teams had alot of attempts at the basket but both had a low percentage shot through out the game. At the end of the third quarter LCS was shooting 3/21 Field goals whiles Labone was shooting 3/25 Field goals. T.

The last quarter saw great ball movement from the lions who seemed to end their second season game with a win after loosing to Action Progressive Institute a week before in their season opener. With just five minutes to go both teams made fastbreak points after playing some good defense. Labone after missing five of their freethrow attempts finally made one and that got them to nine points. The play of the day came from the lions after one of their players mentained her composure to finish a basket after been pushed in the process of shooting the ball. The game ended with lincoln lions rawing quietly with a win over Labone Senior High School (17 - 9)

by: Isaac Robert Kwapong Jnr

Below is the Full Time game Stats. click to go to Highschool news page
Lincoln FG 8/23 , FT 1/7, RB 10, TO 14 , STL 6 TOTAL PTS: 17
Labone FG 4//21, FT 1/6, RB 13, TO 14, STL 9 TOTAL PTS: 9

For more info visit http://www.ghanabasketballassociation.com

The President of Nigeria Basketball Federation, (NBBF), Tijjani Umar, spoke to Slam and Dunk on the federation's readiness to take the game to the next level. The former Bauchi Nets Basketball Club, Kaduna Superstars Basketball Club and Kwara Falcons Basketball Club forward also took time to assess other issues relating to the growth of the game in the country. Excerpts;

What does the future hold for the game in the country?
We are going to lay out a blueprint tor the development of the game. We have some local players in the country. I believe we have a programme that would be suitable for the local players and this would be sustainable.
There is no way we can have more than 12 players in the national team, DTigress, at a time. We have a technical crew that we believe in. Before we went to Libya, the coaches sat down to make the final selection and they all agreed on the players that made the team to Libya. Even the coach who conducted the Kaduna camp is a member of the technical crew, he also agreed that was the best for now. All the same, they are all Nigerians who came to represent then: country, I don't want to categorise one as foreign or local based, I always distance myself from sentiments.

Sir, do you believe this team can be relied on?
Absolutely, I think they can be relied on. But we need to prepare them and also motivate them to do well in championships. We need good preparations and planning which have been lacking for a long time and that was because there were no clear cut programmes. We saw the Ivorians and everybody was talking about their team work, but we failed to realise that these Ivorians have been together for about three months, in fact, they have been building this team for all most six years now.

Can you recap how the D'Tigers lost the wild card for the FIBA World Championship in Turkey?
Well, we made efforts to see if we can be considered for the wild card, and don't forget that we are not the only country looking for the wild card. We are ranked higher than Cameroon who defeated us in the quarter-finals, in fact, we are number two in Africa after Angola. But the most important thing for us as a nation is to sit down and organise our programmes so that we won't need to be banking on wild cards to make world championships. We have a lot of potentials in this country, but poor administration and funding has always been the bane of sports. How can one comprehend a situation where you get less than N20 million from the sports governing body in the country which is not even enough to buy tickets to the United States for the national team full camping. It been very challenging, so to be honest with you, I Think wild card is not something we should be contemplating for now.

What other plans do you have for basketball in the country?
I don't my things on sentiments. I warn to leave the administration of basketball in this country on a good note. So, by the time I leave the office, I will be happy that I laid a solid foundation which someone else would build on.

Can you let us know the efforts that has been put in place for the Women's national team the D'Tigresses just like their male counterparts?
For me, adequate preparations is key to success. In thelast few months that I have led this federation, I have done everything within my power to attract the private sector and interested individuals to assist us. When we came back from Libya, it was so frustrating and I asked if we really want to do other sports apart from football for obvious reasons. If we do, then, we have to give this other sports some attention. We also need National Sports Commission to release our budget in good time for us to perform and they should not hesitate to hold us responsible if we fail.

For instance, they wanted to know why we fail to qualify for the World Championship when we came back from Libya and I said they have no right to ask me because we were not funded to go to Libya.
Respectively, I told them politely that they should forget about wanting to reap where they did not sow.

I'm sure you are aware of how some individuals supported the team in their own little way. We used the small resources to hold a two-week camping in the United States and the other camps here in Nigeria before the final selection of players that represented us in Libya was made. We won seven out of the nine games played in Libya which was exceptionally good. Unfortunately, we lost to Cameroon in the quarter-finals and don't forget that Cameroun have been out throughout the summer holding camps, playing friendly matches and different tournaments unlike Nigeria that went for just two weeks camping in the United States.

The flagship competitions of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) the DStv and Zenith Bank Leagues now have start off dates following last Saturday meeting at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja between the NBBF and stakeholders in the Nigerian basketball system.

The DStv League for men has been scheduled to start February 27th. The league will run in full this season with the standard Road Trip designed for the Nigerian Premier League. The last season played without Road Trip. The First Phase of the Zenith Bank League for Women is billed to take the jump ball March 10th and end 22nd in Kano.

And for quick fix of the men’s league the NBBF has set up a Fixtures sub-committee for the DStv League pending when the Federation’s Technical Committee will take off effectively. The fixtures drafting committee has Muktar Khaleh (Malone) the Federation’s First Vice President, Sam Ahmedu (Dodan Warriors), Tanko Dutse (Yelwa Hawks) and Rotimi Savage (Union Bank). The NBBF President Mr. Tijjani Umar said that with effect from this season erring officials (clubs or officiating officials) will be heavily sanctioned. Appropriate fine or suspension will be handed out to such persons of clubs.

“The dates were carefully chosen after due consultations and barring any unforeseen circumstances we’ll take off on these dates. The Federation is quite impressed by the turnout and cooperation of all clubs and their officials and we hope to maintain continuous reach out for every programme. The issue of discipline is quite high on the agenda this time and henceforth. Therefore, we cannot afford to let go any case of indiscipline. And that is why the sanction has to any club or referee putting the game into disrepute. This is to ensure that club officials do not mar the gains we are all making neither would we allow referees to hold us to ransom with clear unprofessional officiating or conduct.”

The Pre-season Clinic for Stakeholders will hold from February 18th to 21st in Ilorin, Kwara State situated in the middle belt region of Nigeria. The clinic and subsequent ones has been declared compulsory for teams and officials in the Nigerian basketball system by the Federation. Defaulters will be fined of N30, 000.

By Pius Ayinor, FIBA Africa

By Brown Msyani

Onform Haleluya Kavalambi yesterday steered ABC to defeat Pazi 58-55 in a hot Regional Basketball league contest at the National Indoor Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Kavalambi posted his career best of 25 points as colleague Ibrahim Mwinyi put in a 9-point rejoinder to hand Pazi their season's first defeat.
ABC, who beat Oilers at the same venue last weekend, were leading 30-25 at the end of the first half. The third quarter saw the teams tying at 14 points.
Pazi went on fighting to post a slim 15-14 lead at the end of the fourth quarter, but they failed to beat the 3-point margin sealed by their opponents.
Hard fighters Dennis Kibula who scored 25 points and colleague Mohamed Mshale who added 14 points, played impressively for Pazi.

At the same venue yesterday, title holders JKT defeated PT Stars 66-56 in the second RBA match.
JKT opened a 33-23 lead until the breather, then recharged their victory with a 14-point haul in the third quarter while restricting their opponents to mere a 3- point gain.
Come the final quarter and JKT wrapped up their onslaught, zipping ahead to 18 points as their opponent trailed at 15.

Another triumphant squad yesterday were Chui, who clobbered Mgualini 73-45 in a one-sided encounter, as Jeshi Stars beat Police 90-4 in the fourth match of the tournament.
The matchées top marksman Dotto Charles who posted 30 points, followed by team mate Benedict Mkangala, who carded 21 points.

JKT's Himid Choka, who penned 14 points, was the matcheés top scorer. Others who played impressively were Osea Balaigwa and Gwakisa Mwasakyeni who chalked 14 points each for PT Stars.

By Brown Msyani

Pazi outsmarted holders JKT to claim a hard-earned 78-61 victory in the Regional Basketball League match played yesterday at the National Indoor Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Pazi, who narrowly lost to ABC on Saturday, yesterday played aggressively to eclipse JKT who had fielded all their key players.
Brothers Ladislaus and Andrew Ikunguru were instrumentals in their team's spectacular show.
The reigning champions began the duel earnestly, posting a slim 36-34 lead by the end of the first half before they lost steam in the last two quarters and allowed their rivals to dictate terms.
JKT's miseries set in at the third quarter in which Pazi managed to post 20 against 15 points converted by JKT.
Pazi kept up their rhythm to haul in 20 more points in the last
quarter while restricting JKT to a ten-point gain.
Andrew Ikunguru, who penned 26 points for Pazi, was the match's top scorer while Fred Kagambo added 13 points for the winners.
JKT checked in their points through Francis Mlewa who churned out 14 points and Frank Kusiga who hooked up 13 points.

In another showdown at the same venue, Savio beat Tanzania Prisons 66-46 in a thrilling face-off.

There was a surprise for Oilers, one of the basketball giants, who had to use extra tactics to beat Changbombe United 63-57 in a fiercely fought encounter.

Tanzania Prisons's John Damas was the match's top marksman after converting 20 points, as Savio's George Tarimo scored 19 points.

By Erick Ochieng’ and Titus Onserio

Hosts Lenana A continued their good run in basketball when they beat Wachoro High 24-20 in a tough thriller at the ongoing Lenana Founders Day Championship yesterday.

The contest, which saw Lenana sail to the quarter-finals, had Innocent Adagala scoring a game-high 12 points in the match.

Wachoro’s pointman Joseph Njera mustered seven points in the closely-contested match. Despite the defeat, Wachoro coach Patrick Njagi was optimistic, saying his charges are now ready for the forthcoming zonal school games. Lenana coach, Raymond Kinyua, was upbeat, saying his team would strive to show the same form at the national schools’ championships.

Tough Match

"It was a tough match and, as you can see, the crowds were agitated, I hope Lenana goes this way in the national schools championships," said Kinyua.

However, Lenana’s victory was short-lived as Friends School Kamusinga overcame them in the quarter-finals. Defending champions Mangu beat Nakeel 19-5 to increase their chances of retaining the coveted basketball trophy. In another match, Sunshine taught Dandora Secondary a lesson as they won 17-2. But Friends School Kamusinga sailed to the quarter-finals without breaking a sweat when their opponents Kijabe failed to turn up at the court.

In girls’ basketball, Parklands beat Loreto 6-0 as Kenya High fell to Pangani Girls 24-0. It was not a lucky day for Kenya High as they lost again to Precious Blood Riruta 9-1 and to St Francis 14-0.

By eroick ochieng’

Lenana A beat Mutongoni 19-4 in basketball as the Lenana School Founders Day tournament tipped off in Nairobi.
Innocent Adagala, Derrick Malinga and Kelsen Mwirigi scored six, four and three points for the winners.
Musa Wallah and Meshach Muthama notched two points each for Mutongoni.
Lenana B, who opened the tournament against Maseno School, found the going tough, losing 26-11.
Maseno won the quarters 12-4 and 14-7, with Jeremy Opiyo scoring a game-high 15 points for the winners.

In the boys’ events where Nyeri High are the champions, Friends School Kamusinga thrashed Kirangari 47-0. Thika High won 14-4 against Kairi High in a one-sided match.
Pangani Girls beat Precious Blood Riruta 22-1 in a one sided match in the girls’ category. St Georges are title holders.

Michel Njoki scored Riruta’s only half a basket in the dying minutes.

With barely a month left for the second season of the prestigious Junior Basketball Championship (JBC) the customary bated breath and apprehension that usually typify the competition has already reared its head.

School authoritities and students have begun the taugh-talk ahead of the big –Day. Some will be out for revenge, others will rekindle old age rivalry and the rest will be eager to settle old scores next month in an expected charged game.

The second season of the competition among students of the Junior High Schools in the Greater Accra region takes centre stage on the 27th of February, 2010 at the Aviation Social Centre.

Already the jitters have hit high among the junior high school students ahead of the one-day cliff hanger at the Aviation Social Centre and the expectation will be huge.

Defending champions Great Lamptey Mills have promised to repeat their heroics achievement but will face unbendable competition from equally great schools like Association International School, Alpha Beta School, St Theresah’s, Seven Great Princes Academy, SOS, Akosombo International School and Datus among others.

What makes the junior ball excessive thrilling is the fact that it is interspersed with music and dance competition where winners stand the chance of winning individual awards from sponsors at the same venue.

Young and burgeoning talents are expected to be exposed at a platform where they will get the opportunity to nuture their dream.

Junior Ball is one of the major brands of Rite Multimedia, leaders in basketball development and promotion in Ghana.

source : http://basketballghana.com

Dozens of international basketball scouts are expected to flock the Aviation Social Centre on the 27th of February,2010 for the second campaign of the Junior Basketball Championship.

Scouts from some high schools in America and Europe and local scouts will shift their attention to basketball players from the junior high schools in the West African region.

Some of these scouts who are billed to arrive in the country next month for the championship were in Accra last year for the 2009 grand finale of the Sprite Ball Championship.

Basketballghana.com sources say some of the players who excelled individually at the Sprite Ball Championship last year at the El-Wak stadium are believed to be on the radar of top American and European clubs for a possible trial and could be handed a long term sponsorship deal by some schools in the States if they impresses.

Details remain sketchy but reports suggest they could leave when the transfer window opens later in the year.

Ghana has now become a haven for international scouts since Rite Multimedia began the development and promotion of the sport in the country some few years ago.

Later in August this year, the company is expected to be rewarded by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) for their immense contribution to the development and promotion of the game among communities and schools in the country.

Over fifteen Junior high schools are expected to showcase their mushrooming talents at the one-day tournament at the Aviation Social Centre where they would have equal opportunity of being assesed by top notch scouts from abroad – and that will be a massive motivation for them to go all out.

Junior Ball is one of the major brands of Rite Multimedia, leaders in basketball development and promotion in Ghana.

Small Forward for Association International School, Joshua Larbi, has been talking up his team’s chances ahead of this year’s Junior Ball Competition (JBC) after a disappointing season last term.

The airport – residential based school has declared their readiness to stage a huge claim for title in their second appearance as the players set their sight on winning the ultimate. Led by Coach Lawrence Offei, the airport city boys have put their preparations into full gear with an intensive and rigirious training session. The U-14 boys have vowed not to suffer a second defeat.

A clear case of inexperience and naivety robbed the team in 2007 from lifting the ultimate diadem at the Aviation Social Center but the young lads are poised to come back this year as a much improved side. Association International is one of the finest basic schools in Accra endowed with huge potentials and if carefully nurtured could be a force to reckon with in juvenile basketball in Ghana.

Larbi who also doubles as the captain is a form one student of the school but his exploits has earned him rave reviews and the subsequent captain’s armband.

He has been touted as the key to the school’s quest to unseat defending champions Great Lamptey Mills on Saturday 27th February, 2010 at the Aviation Social Centre.

According to the 12-year-old, his colleagues are ready for the challenge and enthusiastic to write their names in gold plate.

‘‘We have been training very hard for the Junior Ball Championship this year and I am convinced we will do our best to win the competition’’ Larbi told basketballghana.com on Wednesday.

‘We are very serious with our training and our coach has been teaching us new techniques and tactics that will help us to improve this time around and win the ultimate’

‘This is the first time that I will be playing in this important competition and I am really looking forward to it with high hope’

Over fifteen (15) schools are expected to vie for honours in the second season of the Junior Ball Championship which will attract thousands of crazy basketball fans to the Aviation Social Centre on February 27th, 2010.

Alshabab and Ahli Benghazi remain on top as the teams won the latest games of the leagues. Shabab overcame Ahli Tripoli 60:55 to take 7-2 record. Ahli Benghazi is with the same record after the victory over Madina 69:60. Hilal and Nasr won also in the round for 6-3 records. Hilal rolled over Al-ittihad 99:84 and Nasr beat Wahda 69:55. Wahda and Madina are on the bottom with 1-8 records.
The next round will be on January 30-31.

LAGOS (Schools basketball) - International School, Akoka, Lagos opened their campaign this year with double wins as the annual AKOFA Ivy Basketball League took the jump ball across Lagos on Wednesday. The University of Lagos, Akoka secondary school boys drilled Mayday Secondary School, Iponri 66-24 in one of the starters played at the university grounds. The Akoka boys were good but it was their ladies who were even more business like and merciless as they thrashed visiting Mayday girls 37-2 in the other categories. The result of the female match should easily make a good read in the Guinness Book World Records.

While the Yaba Zone of the league produced so many wide-margin wins, the actual contests were done in other zones as Honeyland College who were guests of Doregos Private Academy won the match by 33-32 score line. Doregos as hosts had more of the fans but they were let down as the last quarter efforts of the visitors paid off. It was in the boy’s category as the Doregos girls whitewashed the Honeyland girls 24-1 in the first match of the centre.

“We had to admit quite some very new schools into the league this term and many of them are still far behind in standard and that has resulted in some of the funny results recorded on Day One of the competition,” John Bimbo Faniran, the CEO of AKOFA Sports explained.
“By the time we enter the next stage we should be able to see the usual standard and exciting games we have seen over the years. And we believe in short time these new schools just developing their skills and playing arenas will close up the gap a bit. We just had to encourage them.”

The league meant open to all private secondary schools in Lagos began about a decade ago with less than 10 schools. A total 29 schools are competing in the league this season. The competition which began January 27th will play through March just before the schools vacate for the Easter break. The teams have been divided into four zones with the top two each group making it straight into the quarter finals of the league.

By Pius Ayinor, FIBA Africa

BY TIMOTHY MUVUNYI

THIS year’s basketball league has been pushed forward by an extra week. The decision was made after clubs’ failure to adhere to the registration deadline. The league will now throw off on February 22 as opposed to February 15.

“We have been forced to postpone the start-off date because of delays in registration. They now have until February 2 to register,” said Innocent Karuhije, technical director of the national basketball federation (Ferwaba).