Whenever these 2 giants meet on the courts, the players leave everything on the floor. Like coach Craig Daniels (who was watching from the stands) told me after the game, it’s like playing against a big brother. In today’s game, I don’t know who big brother was but it was an intense game throughout.
This was to be my first taste of live basketball in the Cape and I am glad I picked Sunday 6th September to make my way to the University of Cape Town courts for the WCBA league games…
I got there in time for the jumpball, with Vikings lining up with (8, 7, 14, 5, 9) and CPUT going with (4, 13, 9, 15, 12) on the court. The crowd had gathered all around the court and the players were waiting anxiously for the ball toss. With three referees in hand to make sure the proceedings were well controlled, I was looking forward to some Cape action and I got it in loads… I am talking dunks, 3 pointers, blocks, flagrant fouls, technicals, fans all in one game.Vikings drew first blood with a basket from Lyle Robertson(Vikings 
but CPUT didn’t waste time for a reply from CPUT 4 and then some more from CPUT 9. With a first quarter marred by nerves from the 2 teams, CPUT looked the more settled team in the early exchanges with the old school players handling business on the floor. Brendan Mettler (who only lasted 1 quarter due to injury), Vincent Ntunja (CPUT 13) (taking it hard to the hoop all day), CPUT 9 (bringing the ball up and putting up some big buckets from down town now and then) and young buck CPUT 4 (cleaning up the baskets and doing the dirty work in the post) were causing problems to the Vikings defence all game long.
Vikings on the other hand looked like a well oiled machine with contribution from a wide range of players, from posts to guards and their coach utilising his full bench.
The highlight of the 1st quarter was Brendan putting it down on 2 sorry defenders out of the blue and then going off injured, much to the disappointed of the crowd… It was a close game and at half time the score was 31 – 30 to CPUT. If I thought that the referees in Gauteng made questionable decisions, then Cape Town referees are one level up in terms of professionalism; well the ones that were on show at the game made a few mistakes but they were fair throughout.
During the 3rd quarter, Vikings made a run and had a 10 point lead but they couldn’t close out the game for some reason and kept giving CPUT hope by making turnovers at crucial times. CPUT 4 kept cleaning up boards and making baskets for his team that kept them within striking distance. And they also made turnovers when they were up by a basket in the closing stages and they would rue them in the end.
This game was going to be won by composure and execution in the last quarter and Vikings 9 showed a lot of that by controlling the offence from the center and feeding his post Vikings 14 for easy buckets down low. Vincent Ntunja (CPUT 13) took the ball to the hoop over and over and kept going to the line for crucial free throws that kept his team in the game until the end. With 1 minute left on the clock the game was tied at 66 a piece. Vikings took care of business by making crucial plays in the end and closed the game out. This felt like a final and apparently it will be the final unless UWC has something to say about it. Final score: Vikings 70 – 66 CPUT
Article by Victor Shakineza
Man i love it when they meet on the floor you just know its going down to the wire. I cant wait for the finals.