Basketball in Africa

Drifters stunned Beau Vallon Heat on Sunday at Victoria Gymnasium, while the other potential title contenders all grabbed wins.

In the women’s league, HotShots had to fight hard to defeat rivals Mont Fleuri.

The men’s division one match between Drifters and Beau Vallon Heat looked likely to be an easy win on paper for the latter, but as we all know in sports anything is possible.

The game started as close as it ended, with the Heat leading 19-17 at the end of the first quarter. Drifters came out stronger in the second quarters, outscoring their opponents by three points (20-17), to head into the half-time break with a one-point lead (37-36).

The second half started with more of the same, this time Heat managed to regain their advantage, taking the score to 54-53. The final quarter saw both teams battling hard to try to take the spoils and despite fatigue, this was the highest scoring quarter with Drifters scoring 28 compared to Heat’s 25 to grab an 81-79 victory. Ervin Agathine led the scores with a 34-point contribution for the Drifters, while Robert Leon scored 26 to lead the Heat in scoring.

In other games, Premium Cobras managed an easy win over RC Dynamics who are only back in the division after the disbandment of Angels.
It was always going to be a tough task for the Roche Caïman side and Cobras’ quality shone through as they collected a 76-47 win. Amadou Sylla led the scores with 15 points for Cobras.

MBU Rockers were up against Praslin Warriors, a side who showed up at Victoria Gymnasium with only five players.
For the five players to play the whole game without rest was surely a very tough ordeal but they remained determined throughout, and had they had a full squad, the result might have been different. At the end of the game, despite the impressive Jackson Auguste’s game-leading 21 points, the Warriors were unable to get the win, as MBU Rockers ran out 74-62 winners.

In the other big game of the weekend, Baya met Mont Fleuri Dawgz in a match billed as a close encounter. But in the end, Baya who were led in scoring by Timmy Adam with 20 points, managed to win it easily. The final score was 68-54.

The only second division match played at the weekend saw Serge Radegonde score 26 points for Razors who collected a 65-62 victory over Juniors.

In the women’s league, Mont Fleuri met HotShots and the Anse Boileau-based team started the brighter to lead 11-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Mont Fleuri fought back in the second and outscored their opponents 16-9 to lead the game 22-20 at the end of the first half.

Mont Fleuri played with the same momentum in the third quarter, winning 10-4 to lead the game 32-24. It was in the final quarter that things went in HotShots’ favour as they managed to score 25 points compared to 15 for Mont Fleuri, edging ahead for a 49-47 win.

HotShots’ Sheriffa Agathine and Mont Fleuri’s Bernadette Songor scored 12 points apiece.

S. N