Basketball in Africa

Playing against Magic at their Tudu is one of those stressful match every team in the Greater Accra league looks forward to. Main reason is that most of those who trip in will for sure be supporting the home boys of Tudu. This Saturday Hoops was to prove a point. Taking notes from Magic comeback win against Reformers last week wherein they came from a eleven points deficit in the final minutes to win with an array of three point shooting. Although most of the Hoops regulars were not present for the match, the eight who were showed that the team really has depth. Making his debut for the senior side was junior point guard Michael M. He has been awaiting this moment wherein he will be call to action. He only got to know he was starting about 30mins before jumpball and made it to the venue right on time. Also traveling from Kumasi was Cyprian A., another smooth player, dropping down for his second cap for Hoops. Remember he made his debut last season in the season opener victory over Police. Others in the line up included Debra B., Fred Y., Abdulrazak A. Ishmael S. and Zizi R. A seven man roster who knew it was time to bring out their Spartan game. Magic seeing a short roster tried to draw early fouls. Their aggressive drives to the rim showed that was their game plan. Hoops on the other hand played motion offence with free flow of the ball and looking to give the extra pass. A couple of fast breaks also and Debra aka Sky Walker scored 12pts of the team 19pts for the quarter. Fred was the contributing factor in most points as he handed most of the assists and collected rebounds which lead to fast breaks. Mike also made his first shot for the senior side. Sinking a three in his first attempt which silence the vocal crowd at the venue and drew some applauds from a section of the fans in attendance. Nii Awuley, a former Hoops player, now playing for magic tried to show his former team mates he gat better game by scoring five of their thirteen points for the quarter. First quarter ended 13-19. The second quarter saw a better compose Hoops running its new offence call X adding the drive and drop for big man Abdul who easily score 8pts in the quarter. Foul trouble had him go to the bench with Cyprian steeping in his shoes. Tight defense especially from Mike who seem to appear from nowhere on each fast break attempt wither deflecting the ball, intercepting or putting pressure on his opponent causing them to miss easier layups. There was an instant he had two of his opponents missing series of tries while his team mates stroll down and collected the defensive rebound. This drew applauds once again from a section of the fans. Magic was held to 6pts in that quarter. Score at the half was 19-37. You could tell that the Hoops players were smelling blood in the water and was ready to go for an all out kill in the second half. Unknowingly, some administrative issues delayed the start of the third quarter and by the time it could be settle it seems the Hoops players became out of sync. The third quarter started on a rather sloppy note with turnovers. Which had Magic to go on a 18-2 run despite a time out from Coach C. of Hoops to gather his boys focus. That help by slowing down Magic run but Hoops shot a low percentage for the quarter and score its fewest point in a quarter in team history. With sky Walker and Ishmael managing only a field goal each. Score entering the final quarter 37-40. In the early 4th Hoops had an amazing run with brilliant plays from Mike, and three point shooting from Fred, aka Osofo. But each time Magic same to claw back within three. It seems like déjà vu for Magic when they shot two three pointers back to back tying the score at 52 apiece with 35seconds remaining. This sent the Tudu crowd in a frenzy. A quick time out form the Hoops bench was called. Game plan was to work the ball and find a sure shot hopefully just before the final whistle. With twentyfive seconds remaining, Sky Walker attacked the open lane and was foul on his way up. A time out by Magic Coach Soweto was called. It was the final time out as both sides had used up all their timeouts. The game rested on Sky shoulder. He made both free throws taking Hoops up 52-54. With 20secs remaining, Magic tried to settle for a game winning three point shot but the man on man defense from Hoops cause a turnover with 10 seconds remaining. Quick passes between Osofo and Mike ran down the game clock and it was a relieve to hear the final whistle. Once again, the crowd was entertain to excellent basketball from both sides. Although a short roster with many key players not in attendance, Hoops pull out victory, remaining one of two unbeaten teams in the 2011 L Sky walker had 19pts while player of the week goes to Michael M for his steadfast performance scoring 11pts, 5assts, 2stls in playing 40mins. Abdul added 8pts 4rbds, Fred 8pts 8assts 8rbds, Ishmael 4pts 6rbds and 2blks

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