GBL: Magic almost ambushed by Panthers in Soweto– 14/03/2009
March 20, 2009 in GBL
There has been much talk about the level of competition that the institutions will bring to the GBL this year. Considering that they had travelled a whole province to attend this game, the desire of CUT was not to be questioned and Egoli Magic will attest to it because it wasn’t as easy as the score would suggest.
With Egoli’s big 3, namely Joseph Mazibuko, Lesego Molebatsi and Quintin Denyssen stepping up to the plate, the feeling was that this was going to be a walk in the park for the team from Tshwane. With a win already under their belt, Egoli were confident from the get go but CUT panthers were looking for a major scalp. With Vusi Sithole (CUT) back to terrorise opposition defenses, it was going to be an intriguing contest from the first whistle. After the 1st quarter, CUT were down 10 but throughout the game the referees were taking the limelight away from the action on the court with some strange calls that both teams were not happy with.
Let’s just say that Naftal Chongo, who is one of the best referees in the province was the man in the middle with Clement being one of the other referee. Clement was making dodgy calls all night, showing his huge inexperience at this level.
With the game on a knife edge after CUT had rallied to bring the score down to 4 points by the end of the 3rd quarter, the 4th was marred by strange calls from the officials in the middle, key players being fouled out and technical fouls being handed to the coach of CUT for inciting the crowd.
“I have never heard of such a call in my 15 years of coaching” said an emotional CUT coach, Kimathi. The quarter wound down with CUT going to a full court man to try and force turnovers which led to Egoli stretching their lead to 20 points by the end of the game. Final score: Egoli Magic 87 – 67 CUT
Next up for CUT is a clash against TUT on the 22nd March at Wits University.
Article by Victor Shakineza
