Basketball in Africa

Thursday’s loss on a 57-73 score against defending champions Premium Cobras was Baya’s first in the league and they now have to pull themselves together to avoid a second defeat on the trot when they meet the Hawks tomorrow at the Palais des Sports.

The Roche Caïman venue also played host to Thursday’s game in which Baya fell apart in the third quarter when Premium Cobras seemed lost as they committed four team fouls and were over the foul limit with just one minute gone.

Unable to take control of the game despite closing the gap each time the Cobras tried to pull away, Baya forgot about Amadou Sylla and he punished them with three 3-pointers in a row to help his team outscore their opponents 25-18 after they had already won the first two quarters 22-19 and 11-10.

Heading into the fourth quarter with an 11-point (58-47) advantage, the Cobras did not lose their head like in their first round match-up against Baya which they lost 58-70. This time, although Biko Biong, Francis ‘Toy’ Herminie and Amadou Sylla fouled out, they remained concentrated on what they had to do and Steve Allisop came off the substitutes’ bench to complete the job with seven individual points as Premium Cobras again won the fourth quarter 15-10 to wrap up the match at 73-57.
Nigerian power forward Reuben Kolawole was Premium Cobras’ and the game’s top scorer with 20 points and he was helped on the offensive end by Tanzania international Abdallah ‘Dulla’ Ramadhan and Amadou Sylla who got 17 points apiece.

Baya’s skipper and Seychelles international Robert Léon finished the game with 13 points although he looked lost in crunch time just like coach Michel Malbrook who sat at the end of the bench and watched his players slump to their first defeat.

Hendrick Denis and Seychelles playmaker Giovanni Laval got 12 points each, but it was Jean-Paul ‘JP’ Camille who failed to come to life for Baya, getting a paltry six points compared to his usual high-scoring games of 20+ points.

G. G.

# posted by afrbk : 17:29