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WCBA League: Montana Vikings beat spirited CPUT Cats

By on September 5, 2010 in League

In a game that is almost a preview of the end of the season final, Montana Vikings played against their perennial advisories CPUT Cats at a packed UCT indoor arena.

In a game that would be remembered for dodgy referee calls and low scoring, the entertainment came with 2 minutes left in the last quarter.

The game began at a very slow pace with both teams making plenty of “unforced errors”, with the travelling call being the order of the day for all 3 referees involved. It’s probably accurate to say that 3 quarters of those calls were questionable. Despite the bad calls, Vikings managed to maintain a consistent lead throughout the first half with a slender lead of one or two baskets. At the half the score was 22 – 24  to the Montana Vikings.

One distinct difference between the two teams is the height advantage that the Vikings have over the CPUT Cats; but what they lack in height they make up in speed on the fast break.

At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, Vikings had a better rhythm and started to build a lead over a sluggish opponent with their point guard (Vikings 7) controlling the flow of the game. But it was a total team effort with everyone contributing some part during the quarter. Their guard play in particular was impressive with some inside outside combination troubling the Cats. The Vikings forward (Number 10) was also having a good game, scoring some crucial basketball in the low post and collecting the rebounds. When it wasn’t working inside, Vikings took the ball outside, with Vikings (8) giving the CPUT Cats some problems with his strong drives to the basket. At the end of it Vikings had a 10 point lead and their fans were cheering every basket as if the game was already won…

The 4th quarter was probably the most interesting of the whole game;  instead of surrendering to the Vikings, the Cats came out and put up a fight to last whistle. The score was 52 – 40 to the Vikings with about 2 minutes left on the clock; with the CPUT Cats playing a full court press, they forced a couple of turnovers and closed the gap. The key plays in the last few minutes came from the Cats power forward (Number 15) who made some crucial free throw to take the score to 55 – 53 with 53 seconds remaining. With the Vikings struggling to break the press, they managed to get to the line where they only made one of their free throws. With the game heading for an intense finale, Cats 15 made another 2 crucial free throws to make it 56 – 55 with 22 seconds on the clock. That’s when the referees spoiled what could have been an intriguing end to the game with an intentional foul and a technical against the Cats to end any hope of taking the game into extra time… After all that Vikings made it 58 – 55; and with 9 seconds left on the clock, Cats (9) missed a three pointer that would have sent the game into overtime.

Article by Victor Shakineza

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