Basketball in Africa

Baya won a hard-fought battle against Premium Cobras to stay in touch with league leaders Beau Vallon Heat who beat MBU Rockers on Friday.
Beau Vallon Heat extended their unbeaten start to the season with another victory. This time it was MBU Rockers who succumbed to the Heat on an 86-76 score at Victoria Gymnasium.
On Saturday, three games were scheduled with the match of the day being Premium Cobras’ encounter with Baya. It took overtime to decide a winner and it was Baya who prevailed in the end by three points. Baya made a good start by winning the first quarter 12-7, but Cobras came back to tie the game at 32 apiece at the end of the first half with a 25-20 second-quarter performance.
The two teams battled it out in the third and fourth quarters only to find themselves tied at 70 points each at the end of normal time, thus needing overtime to decide who would win all the points. Baya showed more determination and with a 9-6 overtime score, they won the game 79-76.
Dan Come scored a game-leading 24 points while Amadou Sylla added 21 for the Cobras. Dave Roseline led the scoring for Baya with 17 points.
Defending champions PLS Hawks took on Mont Fleuri Dawgz. Coached by Nigel Ah-kong, the Dawgz provided little resistance against the more experienced Plaisance-based team.
Hawks had a 10-point lead by the end of the first half – 33-23 – and they managed to maintain their superiority to claim a 73-45 victory.
Rodney Lozé scored 19 points for the Hawks while Cyril Agrippine had 13 for the Dawgz.
RC Dynamics failed to register their first win of the campaign as they suffered yet another defeat. Anse Boileau-based Angels were their opponents this time and they proved to be too good for Dynamics who lost 64-85.
Barry Dubignon scored 24 points for Angels, while a 15-point effort by Jean-Paul Lesperance was not enough to prevent Dynamics from losing again.
S. N.