GBL games round up for 04/08/2008

Once again there was entertainment galore at the Tuks indoor stadium this past Sunday. This round of fixtures started with the girls games that were a bit uneven in terms of team quality. Then the boys took over with some exciting brand of basketball.

Raptors vs. University of Johannesburg – GBL ladies

During the week prior to this round of games, I decided it was high time to cover a Raptors’ team of girls that has been setting the league alight with their performances. Unfortunately this was not the show piece event that I was hoping for. It was another mismatch of big proportions.

In the 4^th quarter with the game already won, Raptors were still playing with the right intensity and sticking to their game plan. It was nice to see that all the players on the Raptors bench got some game time. The UJ 2^nd team was well organized but despite this, they didn’t have the quality or experience to compete with this team of girls. Hopefully UJ will have learned a thing or two about the game after another body blow. Final score: Raptors 77 – UJ 2^nd 23

Witwatersrand vs. University of Pretoria – GBL ladies

You would expect the Tuks ladies to take their foot off the pedal after their exploits during this year but these ladies don’t like collecting the “yellow score sheet” after a loss so pink is their colour of choice. Before this game there was talk of Wits giving Tuks a tough game and judging by the SASSU qualifiers results where Tuks struggled to a win, those fears were founded. But to everyone surprise except maybe the ladies from Pretoria, Wits had a major capitulation from their part and were whipped by their rivals. Final score: Wits 14 – Tuks 68

Witwatersrand vs. University of Pretoria – GBL men

This was a match between traditional rivals that was expected to go Tuks way. But with Tuks teams you should always expect the unexpected. Having defeated Wits to qualify for the USSA 2008 tournament, Tuks came into this game with a lot of confidence and a reinforced team but Wits had other ideas. Looking at the floor before tip off, Tuks had height advantage but whether they would put it to good use was another issue.

During the first 5 minutes of the game, both teams were sizing each other up and the game was dominated by defence and turnovers from both sides. But Wits were missing easy lay-ups and should have been ahead by plenty by the time the 1^st timeout was called. But with the score being 16 – 8 in favour of the visitors, Tuks were still truly in the game despite their incoherent display on the floor. With Wits in the lead from the 1^st whistle and still running the floor like energizer bunnies, they stretched the lead and at one stage they were 14 points up behind their guards play. Towards the end of the 2^nd quarter, Tuks made a run on the back of some good defence and rebounds from their forward Gideon and Junior Yekoladio. But they still went into the half trailing by 7 points (27 – 20). In keeping with the start of the game, the 3^rd quarter was another trail of missed layups from Wits but they stayed disciplined and when the fastbreak was not on, they went to their number 15 post (Wayne) who had a good game inside and outclassed his much taller opponents offensively. Tuks were trying to play catch up with 3 points shots from their guards (Ulrich, Shane and Kago) but they were all cold except for the odd one so maybe inside play would have been a better option. In the end Wits proved too strong for Tuks and were deserved victors. Final score: Wits 66 – 57 Tuks

University of Johannesburg vs. Vaal University of Technology – GBL men

In a repeat of the USSA 2008 final that was full of drama, the crowd looked at this game with huge anticipation. UJ spent a lot of time going through their warm-up routine while VUT were waiting for their kit to arrive.

With UJ being in the groove and warm already, it wasn’t surprising to see them starting like a house on fire and if the 1^st quarter was an indication of what was to come then UJ were in for a good afternoon. Jeremiah Phiri (UJ number 10) started like a runaway train with 3 from 3 field goals and there was a dunk on the fast break from Amogelang “Angola” Kegatile (UJ number 11), all this during the 1^st quarter. Vaal was being bullied around on the boards both on defence and offence. And as soon as they had the ball, UJ were running the break to good effect. VUT was relying on perimeter shooting through Ayanda Shange (VUT number 4) but his shooting was off and that was maybe due to not warming up properly. At the end of the 1^st Quarter, the score was 24 – 6 in favour of UJ and this looked like it was going to be a blow out victory for the joburg team.

But VUT are not champions by luck and you should never write off a winner no matter what. When UJ showed a hint of insecurity, VUT exploited it and made an amazing run cutting UJ’s lead from 23 points to a meager 5 points at one stage. The half-time whistle was welcomed relief for the UJ boys and it ended with UJ leading by just 7 points (36 – 29). When the game resumed, the experience of Thabo Letsebe (UJ number 15) came to the fore as he pulled the strings and stabilized the charge of the VUT team. With VUT missing the power and presence of Thabang Kwedi and Toka Motaung on the boards, UJ played them smartly by going to their impressive posts Thabang Glass (UJ 4) and Amogelang Kegatile (UJ 11) and working the mismatches on the floor. Despite their size advantage, VUT found a consistent scorer in Vusi Radebe (VUT 6) who seemed to carve the UJ defence open time and time again; but his heroics were not enough as his team went down to UJ. Final score: UJ 63 – VUT 45

Witwatersrand 2^nd team vs. Central University of Technology (Panthers) – GBL men

Well this game was over in the 1st quarter. Wits found themselves out losing 66 – 26.With CUT having a superior height advantage, it was more like the UJ vs. Vaal game with the only difference being that Wits couldn’t make a run. With 6 Centers/power forwards in the line-up, CUT continuously attacked the basket and the smaller but determined WITS players kept fouling. CUT was clumsy however as they missed numerous layups, 3 on 1 opportunities and fumbled the ball when it seemed easier to score. V Sithole (CUT number 7) once again proved to be the main contributor from the CUT outfit having a good day at the office on both ends of the court.

CUT looked too eager to win the game and as result made childhood mistakes although they showed signs of improvement in defense and zone offense execution. Wits played well in the second half, having runs where they broke the CUT half-court press but were let down by their finishing and their coach needs to work on their lay-ups for starters. Wits can take that as a positive and should continue working hard. As for the CUT team, only time will tell whether they are the real deal when they come up against stiffer competition.

Tags: Basketball, Central University of technology, Raptors, SASSU, TUKS, UJ, University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, University of Witwatersrand, USSA, Vaal University of Technology, VUT