July 8, 2009 in MASTERS
This event is hosted by BETHUSILE SALES
The first of the annual Masters’ Tourney in Johannesburg!
From Friday Evening 18H30 @Mandeville (2 games)
Sunday from 09H00 till the FINAL
May 8, 2009 in GBL
University of Johannesburg vs. University of Pretoria – Ladies Premier
This was a rematch of the USSA 2009 semi final that UJ won convincingly. This time there were a few added surprises to the game with Tuks recalling their veterans in Nicky de Villiers and Sibongile Maswanganye to their squad while UJ looked like they didn’t have a bench, or a recognized point guard.
With 3 minutes gone in the 1st quarter, the game was still scoreless. UJ were missing easy opportunities with Tuks playing some good defence. Tuks were playing as a team while UJ were relying on the enterprising play of Makgotso Moloantoa (UJ 4) who seemed to be doing everything on the day. Her best moves happened when she took the ball to the hoop. Strangely enough her other colleague, Lungile wasn’t shooting the ball well on this particular day and it affected the rest of her game. Read the rest of this entry →
April 15, 2009 in USSA
There was a funny undertone to the final day of the USSA with the UJ teams feeling like this was their time for some silverware and VUT wanting to claim the title back for the ladies while the guys were trying to defend their 2008 title. I still remember that after last years game in Cape Town, Thabang Kwedi a Vaal player had gone to the UJ coach, Simon Badibanga and said “You will never beat VUT as long as I am playing” so you could feel the tension around the court.
University of Johannesburg vs. Vaal University of Technology – Ladies
VUT started like a house on fire with great inside play from the ladies from Zimbabwe (VUT 4, 14 and 15) and UJ started small to everyone’s surprise in the stands. This played into VUT hands and they had a 10 point run in the first 5 minutes. With 2 minutes left, VUT coach-Zanele Ngwenya took out his starting 5 and played his second unit, which enabled UJ to get back in the game. In hindsight, this looked like a very bad move from VUT coach, Zanele Ngwenya but after looking at the overall game, this move led to UJs key players picking up fouls against the 2nd unit and the VUT starting 5 had enough rest for the rest of the game which helped them wrap things up in the fourth. After speaking to Zanele Ngwenya after the game on his overall thoughts on the game, he said: “I outsmarted the UJ coaches”. Read the rest of this entry →
April 13, 2009 in USSA
University of Johannesburg vs. University of Western Cape – Men
UJ started like a house on fire and scored 10 unanswered points. Their counterparts UWC couldn’t match their speed and quick transition and when UJ were not running they were running their sets. Given their advantage in height UJ were always going to be a handful. UWC were playing a 2-3 zone defence but somehow it was leaking when the ball movement became too much. The UWC guards (9 and 7) were probably the best combination of the tournament and they were causing problems for the joburg team as soon as they got their game going. They were shooting well from beyond the arc but UJ 7 was also having a great shooting game. At half time the score was 44 – 27 in favour of UJ. Read the rest of this entry →
April 9, 2009 in USSA
Sport is a funny business… After beating the University of Johannesburg the day before, Wits ladies were defeated by the University of Limpopo in another upset. Wits Ladies might have underestimated their opponents or just simply psyched themselves out of the match by thinking that the tournament was done after beating their rivals UJ. The girls looked tired while the University of Limpopo were doing plenty of lay ups and great defense by denying Wits easy baskets throughout the game. They showed great heart and the huge crowd spurring them on helped them withstand any run that Wits was trying to make in the 4th quarter. Wits lost by 10 points to a team that UJ had trashed the day before, it was total disbelief for the coaches.
Before all that took place, Wits men were about to cause another upset by leading Vaal University of Technology (VUT) for 3 quarters until Thabang Kwedi (VUT) made a “Paul Pierce” entrance in the game and took the game away in the last 6 minutes. In other male games, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) defeated the hosts Tuks by 23 points in what seemed like a formality. They really look like champions elect, let’s hope they don’t underestimate any opposition and continue playing in the composed manner. They are en route to meet VUT in the final if they keep up their winning streak.
In a match that would decide who would go to the finals, CUT men played CPUT and at half time CPUT were up making them the strong favourites to play VUT in the semis. In the other semis it looks like UJ will end up playing UWC.
