WCBA: Vets upset Montana Vikings to advance to finals
In the deciding Game 3 of the series played at UCT, the Vets showed their experience and hunger by knocking out the defending champions Montana Vikings in a game that was all about hustle. After being blown out by 20 points in Game 2, Montana Vikings were expected to make easy work of their opponents to secure a passage to the finals where they would have met CPUT. But sports has a way of showing us that if you have the hunger and the will to win anything is possible and the Vets were not going to lie down and play dead for the defending champions.
With Age not being on their side, The Vets controlled the tempo of the game throughout while the Vikings were finding it hard to get anything going. Vets showed a lot of control in their play by speeding up the game when they needed to and using the clock when they knew they had a good lead. Their ability to shoot the ball under pressure or go for that vital rebound proved to be their strongest asset with a lot of the players showing amazing courage to compete against a Montana Vikings team considered by many to have the best squad.
For the Vikings, it looked as if the players were not interested or were not mentally ready for the game, maybe that 20 point victory in Game 2 gave them a false sense of security as far as the outcome was concerned. There were a few good moments in the game for some of their players but collectively this game passed them by. They couldn’t find their shooting range all night and this led to a lack of confidence in their offence. By half time the score was Vets 38 – 28 Montana Vikings
The tone of the game was set by the point guards of both teams with the Vets relying on their ability to get second chance opportunity through their hustle play on the boards. Meanwhile, the Vikings point guard was creating opportunities for his team to score but the players were not being aggressive enough to attack the hoop. With nobody willing to take responsibility, this led to a numerous number of turnovers which led to silly fouls being committed and frustration with the officials.
The Vets managed to maintain their 10 point lead throughout the second half of the game and even when Vikings threatened to make a run, they would shut it down quickly with a huge 3 pointer or by forcing their opponents to make unforced errors.
Final score: Vets 56 -46 Montana Vikings.
Article by Victor Shakineza
Reporting:
I have an issue with a report that does not have any names on it as it may just be from the writer’s head. the articles are informative but with no names and scorers per period leaves a lot to be desired. Let us uphost the level of reporting.