Heat stay unbeaten before Hawks clash
Baya lost centre Timmy Adam early in the first quarter, but Alex Baron and the rest of the team did not let his absence bother them as they powered to a 75-60 win, inflicting a third defeat on Mont Fleuri Dawgz so early in the season.
The mens division one championship is really getting interesting; probably the most interesting it has been in many years [read more]
Heat stay unbeaten before Hawks clash
Baya lost centre Timmy Adam early in the first quarter, but Alex Baron and the rest of the team did not let his absence bother them as they powered to a 75-60 win, inflicting a third defeat on Mont Fleuri Dawgz so early in the season.
The mens division one championship is really getting interesting; probably the most interesting it has been in many years. And on Saturday, the big crowd at Victoria Gymnasium got their moneys worth as Baya and Mont Fleuri Dawgz brought the game to the basketball garden. After Adam was taken off the court by teammates after spraining his right ankle, he was not there to exhort his team to play hard as he was transported to the English River health centre. But his teammates read the defence and took advantage of any openings they found against the Dawgz. As coach Michel Malbrook diagrammed plays, Baron filled the void left by Adam, dominating the offensive and defensive boards and also finishing with a game-leading 22 points. Steve Denis banked four treys for 13 of his 20 points, while captain Dave Roseline added 15 as Bayas starters scored 67 of their teams 75 points. After winning the first quarter 20-13, Baya lost the second 18-21 but still went for the break with a four-point 38-34 advantage. The two teams tied each other 14-14 in the third quarter before Baya stepped on the accelerator to pull away from the Dawgz as they won the fourth quarter 23-12 for a big 75-60 win. Were playing good basketball, skipper Roseline told Sports Nation. We needed to win and we played as a team. We will be all out in the remaining matches, added Roseline whose team are second in the nine-team standings with nine points after four wins and a loss. Steven Andr was the Dawgz top scorer with 15 points, while young and talented Kevin Romain finished with 14 the same total as swingman Cyril Agrippine who fouled out after coming off the bench. The defeat was the third in six games for the Dawgz coached by Nigel Ah-kong and they have to start getting their strategy right if they want to stay in the title hunt. Also Saturday, Beau Vallon Heat extended their win run to five games with an 80-59 victory against Angels and they are the only unbeaten side in the championship with a maximum 10 points to lead the standings. With their next opponents PLS Hawks watching from the stands, Beau Vallon turned up the heat on Angels as they won the first three quarters 21-17, 22-5 and 26-18. Although they lost the fourth 11-19, it did not have much impact as they had three players scoring in double figures Jean-Paul JP Camille with 27 points, centre Robert Lon with 25 and Christopher To Camille with 12. Heats starters outscored those of Angels 63-39 and it remains to be seen if they can produce the same result this coming Saturday against PLS Hawks who are still licking their wounds from a first defeat in two years on a 73-82 score at the hands of Baya. Before that, the Hawks will be in action tomorrow when they take on RC Dynamics in a match scheduled for last Saturday but was postponed due to rain which rendered the Victoria Gymnasium court slippery. Also on Sunday, the match between MBU Rockers and Drifters had to be stopped with six minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Rockers leading 67-58. Meanwhile, in the mens second division league, Praslin Warriors collected two weekends during the weekend 59-50 against Anse Etoile and 62-59 against Wolf to go third on the seven-team table with nine points (four wins and a loss). Cascade Bullets, who lost their top flight status at the end of last season, are leading the chase with 10 points after five wins in as many games and Razors are also on 10 points but have played six games winning four and losing two. G. G. Courtesy of: http://basket-in-africa.blogspot.com
Fight takes gloss off Rockers/Hawks show - Apr 20, 2013
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Seychelles basketball doesnt need another relentless stream of bad publicity after the remarkable progress made by the players on the court, but there are still those who continue to shoot first and then ask why theyve done it [read more]
Seychelles basketball doesnt need another relentless stream of bad publicity after the remarkable progress made by the players on the court, but there are still those who continue to shoot first and then ask why theyve done it. The Victoria Gymnasium looked like a battlefield on Saturday night as a fight broke out between PLS Hawks and MBU Rockers players and supporters at the end of their first division encounter and the fighting continued on the parking outside the gym as the Seychelles Basketball Federation had apparently not made any provision for police presence during and after the game. When police officers arrived at the scene, the fight was over and some of those who had been fighting seemed to be making peace with each other. At least this was something good to see!!! The ugly incident shouldnt be news at all it's something that happens across all sports and because female and male athletes energy drive are intense, it's bound to spill over occasionally and something must be done to prevent it from happening.
PLS Hawks 91 MBU Rockers 83
It wasnt a nice scene for local basketball, especially after an entertaining encounter between PLS Hawks and MBU Rockers the second time the two teams met inside a week after the Hawks had luckily edged the Rockers 96-91 in the Curtain-raiser tournament final after trailing in double digits for long spells. Again on Saturday, the Rockers looked like shooting down the Hawks for the first time in over a year as they carried the game to the defending champions, who somehow found the way out with a big fourth-quarter 24-12 performance for a 91-83 win thanks to their vast experience and Nigerian all-rounder Alao Solomon once again top-scoring with 28 points. Skipper Bernard Bristol and Jean-Paul Desaubin were the only other hawks in double figures with 12 and 11 points each. The Rockers won the first and third quarters 25-22 and 29-23, while the Hawks also took the second on a 22-17 score. While the Hawks should be congratulated for showing that they still have the ability to prey on their opponents and are looking forward to enjoy another good season after staying unbeaten last year when they made a clean sweep of all the titles curtain-raiser, league and SBF Cup the Rockers should also be commended for their persistence and team play as they got balanced scoring with five players finishing in double digits playmaker and captain Nigel Sinon (27), centre Daniel Hoareau (15 before fouling out cheaply early in the fourth quarter), Pascal Bibi (14), Selwyn Tambo (11) and Brian Morel (11). Without a coach on their bench to guide them on how to run down the clock especially when boasting double-digit leads and not to rush their shots in crunch time, and having the right players on the court when the game is on the line, the Rockers again proved that they have the qualities to trouble any of the so-called big teams. But once again they had themselves to blame for the defeat as they shot themselves in the leg before this coming weekends encounter with Baya whom they beat 87-80 (77-77 normal time) in overtime in the Curtain-raiser semifinal.
Baya 66 RC Dynamics 43 Centre Timmy Adam came off the bench to carry Bayas scoring load with 24 points including a 3-pointer in a 66-43 win over RC Dynamics. Fellow centre Alex Baron finished with 14 points, the same total as Steve Denis (184-G) who like Adam started the game on the bench for Baya who won all four quarters 11-6, 18-10, 17-16 and 20-11. Veteran Emmanuel Jupiter top-scored for RC Dynamics with 14 points and he was helped in offence by Terrence Sirame with 12 points.
Beau Vallon Heat 89 Drifters 68 After trailing by four points 20-24 Beau Vallon turned the heat on Drifters in the remaining three 10-minute periods (23-14, 29-18 and 17-12) to earn an 89-68 win on the back of a game-leading 34 points from centre Robert Lon who is enjoying a new lease of life after falling out with the Baya management last year and not playing for almost the whole year. Jean-Paul JP Camille, who like Lon and playmaker Giovanni Laval joined the Heat from Baya, drilled in three treys for nine of his 18 points, while Christopher Toto Camille added 14 and Laval got 11. Ervin Agathine got 23 points, while Arnaud Arrisol banked three shots from downtown and finished with 14 points for Anse Boileau-based Drifters.
Angels 63 Premium Cobras 66 Amadou Sylla scored 19 of his team-leading 24 points in the second half as Premium Cobras overcame a 10-point (23-33) half-time deficit with a 43-30 second-period performance for a 66-63 win against Angels. Dominique Franoise had the hot hands for Anse Boileau-based Angels with 27 points and Barry Dubignon added 19 but their efforts went in vain as their team, captained by Steve Antat, lost a close match.
Meanwhile, in the womens league, HotShots got 17 points from Sheriffa Agathine and 12 from Samia Asba in a 57-40 victory against Juniors whose top scorers were Laura Franoise with 19 points and skipper Sarah Rose with 13.
In the mens division two, AAP Brothers beat Anse Etoile 54-46 and Cascade Bullets earned a 54-44 win against Razors.
G. G. Courtesy of: http://basket-in-africa.blogspot.com
Hawks steal victory from the jaws of defeat - Apr 9, 2013
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The Rockers surely showed they have the will to win and the energy to play hard with the return of playmaker Sinon from a six-month suspension, but at the same time it is obvious that they lack depth and crunch-time experience as they let the Hawks steal a 96-91 victory from the jaws of defeat in the mens final [read more]
The Rockers surely showed they have the will to win and the energy to play hard with the return of playmaker Sinon from a six-month suspension, but at the same time it is obvious that they lack depth and crunch-time experience as they let the Hawks steal a 96-91 victory from the jaws of defeat in the mens final.
With player-coach Gonzague Loupi Agrippine making the tactical switches, the Rockers looked like giving the Hawks a dose of their own medicine as their high tempo play gave the still rusty-looking Hawks, who usually win games with a tough defence, a tough time.
The Rockers led by 11 21-10 on a Sinon layup with 2 minutes 58 seconds (2:58) left in the first quarter. When Bernard Bristol (G) was called for goaltending on a Pascal Bibi layup with 2:48 on the clock in the second quarter, the Rockers were up by 15 45-30 , but soon started running out of steam as the Hawks used a 12-0 run to close the score to 45-42 at half-time.
Nigerian Alao Solomon tied the score at 47-47 on a layup after a Mike Estico miss with 1:06 played in the third, but a Brian Morel 3-point play gave the Rockers back the lead at 50-47 and when he buried two treys inside 24 seconds his team regained their double-digit lead 65-55 with 4:16 to play. But the Hawks again trimmed the score and took the lead for the first time at 68-67 on two Bristol free-throws with 1:39 left and started the fourth quarter with a two-point advantage 71-69. With big men Keven Morel and Daniel Hoareau fouling out with two minutes apart and with 6:33 left to play, many and including the Hawks bench thought the Rockers would just disintegrate but they stood firm and even led 83-77 on a Selwyn Tamboo layup (5:34 left) before the Hawks equalised again at 85-85 on Steve Allisops 3-point play. After Solomon gave Hawks the lead at 93-91 with 44 seconds to play, Bibi made an eventful trip to the free-throw line missing two shots denying his team of a chance to tie the game once more, while Wilby Domingue and Bristol scored to give the Hawks a 96-91 victory. Solomon led all scores with 37 points, while veteran power forward Jim Domingue, whose love for the game and winning mentally is still getting him more playing time than his younger teammates, added 17. Bristol contributed 12 and Rodney Loze (194-C) finished with 11 before fouling out. Playmaker Bristol was happy with the win, but cautioned his teammates that this season wont be easy like the last when we made a clean sweep of all the titles. The Rockers came out strong and proved to us that they have worked on their mistakes and we need to get down to some serious work if we want to win the other competitions, added the 36-year-old. Morel was the Rockers top scorer with 24 points, followed by Sinon with 20, Hoareau with 12 and Bibi with 11. We could have won the match but lost it! We have ourselves to blame for the loss and the mistakes we committed but even though many might not agree, the officials did not do us any favour, lamented Sinon who caused the Hawks open defence also sorts of problems with his penetration game.
Saturdays game gave an indication of what the 2013 season will look like as the Hawks, it seems, wont have it easy as last year when they reached the century mark in almost every match, including the landslide 111-61 win against the same Rockers in the season-ending Seychelles basketball Federation Cup final. Courtesy of: http://basket-in-africa.blogspot.com
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