Manguang, Bloemfontein was a buzz as teams from around the province gathered to battle it out to see who would earn the title of King and Queens of the Free State. Saturday 23 May 2009 was the date and ballers had been waiting for this day for a very long time. The last games that I attended were a mess with no executive members around to give guidance, no refs for ladies games and some unpleasant words were said to opposing teams. I was hoping that this would turn out to be much better and it really did.This time clubs came prepared. CUT (Panthers, BLOEM) and CUT (Wolves, WELKOM) were proactive when they saw that no officials were available and decided to play each other. This was a day of solutions and not problems so the first fixture was for ladies, CUT Panthers vs. CUT Wolves. The Panthers team was confident even though they hadn’t been practicing for the past 3 weeks due to exams but they were the first team out of the gates scoring the first 12 points without reply. Fast-breaks were the order of the day. Not to be out done, the Wolves mounted a comeback of note. The wolves were enjoying support from the crowd and by half time they had cut the score to 5 points. Number 4 and 10 for Wolves were getting to the basket at ease and making life difficult on the defensive end. At the end of the day Panthers had more fire power to outplay and came out victorious with a 52-41 win going the way of Panthers. Sadly that was the only ladies game for the day.
The second game featured CUT Wolves (Welkom) vs. Hoop Stars (Bloem).The hoop stars were favorites’ after winning a recent tournament but the wolves were not having any of that. Hoop Stars were clear that they want to make a statement and made easy fast-break points whilst Mpho from wolves kept missing easy baskets. This was a very fast game with both teams not being shy of running up and down the court. Hoop Stars looked more organized and as such enjoyed the lead going into the second. The game got very interesting with both team playing some good basketball and having the crowd entertained. Abe from Wolves vs. Mojalefa from Hoop stars was becoming a reality with both players trying to give their teams a much needed boost going to the close of this tight game. At the end Wolves took the game 59 – 53.
Other Games to take place:
A rebuilding CUT Panthers Out battled the Allanridge Gladiators 78-40
Rockland Mets lost 53-66 to Khayalami
Snipers were thumbed 74-58 by Alumni
Notes on the day
It was great to see teams reclaim basketball as their rightful sport. Even though there were no officials to co-ordinate the games teams pulled in the same direction to ensure games were played whilst ensuring clubs provided refs as well. Thank you to all the refs that volunteered and Ms Aleta from Panthers for taking score for ALL the games that played. I hope next time that the executive come to games they come to ensure THEIR program is running well but not just passing by. At the end of the day basketball was a sure winner. Noticeable absentees were teams from Bethlehem and QwaQwa. Hope to see those teams at the next games. Lets get more women teams playing in the league is also a must.2 teams is not enough.
FREE STATE BASKETBALL, A GIANT AWAKENS……………………..WE DO BASKETBALL!!!
Article by Kimathi Tobothi
