Spitfire regional basketball champs

Spitfire wrote their own piece of basketball history when they clinched the Southern Region championship after beating Bricks 83-75 in a nail-biting K450,000 Sprite regional basketball affair on Sunday at Blantyre Youth Centre. It was a hard fought battle that Spitfire deservedly won. Southern Zone Basketball League (Sozobal) general secretary Simeon Gama, who also turns out for Spitfire, confessed the game was nothing short of a thriller, "It was very tight and the points difference throughout the game was five which was an indication that it was a very close encounter," said Gama. Spitfire led in both halves and at half time the scoreline was 33-31. But both teams committed a lot of fouls which proved that the match was really tough. Spitfire's Farai 'Powers' Dube, Richard Chavula, Gama, Madano Thepetheya and Zitto Phillips made four fouls each while Bricks' Weruzani Chingota, Chikondi Mwendera, a Charles, George also committed four fouls each and Alinafe made three. 'Powers' of Spitfire was the highest scorer with 28 points followed by Thephetheya (22) and Hope Chisamanga (20) while Chingota topped the Bricks' side with 27 points followed by Chikondi Mwendera and Chimwemwe Mlagha (12). Chisamanga was the most outstanding player of the finals. Southern Bottlers' (Sobo) tournament coordinator Emmanuel Kasambara said despite the disruption caused by rain on Saturday the tournament was well organised. "I would like to thank the organising committee for a job well done in this tournament although it had to go on to another day because of rain," said Kasambara. Gama encouraged the Sozobal teams to train extra hard to ensure that the cup should come to the region. "I wish all the Southern Zone teams all the success and I hope they are going to train hard with only one week left before the national finals," he said. Spitfire received K12,000 for being the champions and the runners-up Bricks got K8,000 while Chanco Hawks, who beat Crazy Warriors 39-24 in the third place play off, will also represent the Southern Region at the national finals to be held on September 7 in Lilongwe. (Malawi Nation)