Basketball in Africa

IT’S now or never for PLS Hawks and Mont Fleuri as they try to avoid being swept in today’s game two of the men’s and women’s best-of-three Seychelles Basketball Federation (SBF) Cup final series.

HotShots and Premium Cobras have one hand on the trophies after taking game one a week ago and it remains to be seen if they can close in on the second-most-important trophy in local basketball. Although Premium Cobras and HotShots are just one game away from sweeping their series and hoisting the trophies to officially bring the curtain down on the 2006 basketball season, all will depend on how strong PLS Hawks and Mont Fleuri come out to play today.

HotShots out for a sweep
In their first final this year, HotShots used a 14-0 first quarter score to defeat Mont Fleuri 48-31 and they can lift their first ever SBF Cup with a game two win.

Hot Shots, who lead Mont Fleuri 3-1 so far this year in the head-to-head record, will once again rely on Beguitta Fontaine, who finished with a game-high 15 points including three treys in game one, and Jenita Toussaint for outside shooting, while strong forward Myra Solin and centre Tina Agathine will try to dominate the paint once again.
After seeing his team loosen their grip on the match in game one, coach Philip Arissol told Sports Nation that “we should not commit this same mistake in the second match as we want to close the series early.”
HotShots mean business then and it is up to Mont Fleuri to stop them from celebrating all the way to Anse Boileau.
Reached by phone, skipper Williana Dubois agreed that Mont Fleuri looked a shadow of their usual selves in the game one loss, but warned HotShots that game two won’t be easy.
“You will see a completely different Mont Fleuri in today’s match. We are determined to win and force a decisive third game,” said Dubois, who, at 39 years old, remains one of the best defenders in the game here.
Involved in their third final this year, Mont Fleuri badly want to win the SBF Cup to partly make up for the disappointment of losing the Curtain-raiser and Top-of-the-table finals to Anse Etoile Stars earlier in the season.
Mont Fleuri’s only previous SBF Cup triumph was in 2000.

Can Premium Cobras go 7-0 against PLS Hawks?


Winners of game-one on a 74-68 score, the cobras will answer this question on the court in today’s second match, but they know that they will be in for a rough ride against the hawks who would surely want to salvage some pride.This only way for PLS Hawks to stop the six-game losing skid against Premium Cobras is to rediscover their winning formula against their eternal rivals, whom they swept in two games in last year’s final when being under-strength to complete a League and Cup double.

Coach Tony Juliette is confident in his team’s ability and he knows that they can respond to the challenge.
“In game one, we adopted a rather slow approach in offence, but today, we will switch back to playing our quick-tempo basketball and at the same time we should remain concentrated in defence. It’s important for us to win today and to do so, we cannot put a foot wrong in either offence or defence. The decider will be on Sunday,” said Juliette, who will still be without playmaker Thomas Collie with a finger injury.
After coach Jude Talma guided them to reclaiming the Men’s division 1A League title, Premium Cobras expect Guy Hall, who replaced the latter at the helm, to deploy another winning strategy for a game two win to complete a League and Cup double.
Hall, who brings a lot of entertainment on the touchline with his continuous gesturing on each plays and basket scored, told Sports Nation that “we are going to prove our superiority and sweep the series as we don’t want to play again on Sunday.”
Present for game one when he brought with him a white pigeon, symbolising peace, Father Christmas is expected inside the Palais des Sports again today to deliver the gifts. It will be an early Christmas celebrations for the victors.

G. G.