GBL: Magic wand not so magical – 15/03/2009
After last week’s season high of 33 points from Joseph Mazibuko, 29 points and 12 rebounds from Quintin Denyssen, Pretoria Heat shut down Egoli Magic’s key players, sending Quintin home with an upsetting 5 points to his name.
This mental battle got off to a mind boggling start where it was difficult to really pick up what was going on in the first two minutes of the game. Heats shots weren’t falling, but soon after the first time out was called by Victor Fouda; Gideon from Pretoria Heat made the opening basket. That’s when they started shutting down Egoli making the game a one point game.
“We knew if we shut the key players down in the first half of the game it would give us a bit of an advantage”, said SA captain Neo Mothiba who runs with Heat. Valter, a new lad playing for Heat, is someone to look out for this season; rocking the same ‘sneakers’ his old man wore playing pro in Mozambique. Not forgetting Shane Bamuza who held it down for PTA Heat, giving Joseph Mazibuko a good run for his money all night.
Pretoria Heat started slaking a bit once Neo sat bench; leaving Quintin unmarked and allowing him to capitalize. Yep this was the first time Mr. Denyssen put something up on the score sheet and while all eyes were on Quentin, Mr. December (Sifiso) led his team to victory with 2 crucial free throws after a foul on the half way line.
It was unfortunate seeing Cedric Kalombo on bench, a call made by the Egoli assistant coach James Mthetwa, because when he was on court he made a big difference. This young chap was blocking shots and playing defense that Heat couldn’t get around. We hope to see more of Cedric in the near future. Final score: Egoli Magic 82 – Pretoria Heat 79
In the end, the victory was marginal and it could have been a huge scalp for Pretoria Heat in their first game of the season. Next up for Heat is VUT on the 28th March at the University of Pretoria while Egoli Magic faces Wits University at Wits on the 27th March.
Article by Nthabiseng Mushi
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