SESAD win first wheelchair basketball tourney

Naledi Lemogang | Tuesday November 28, 2017 15:11

 

The two teams were defensive in the opening quarter, but Selefo Mothusi opened the score line for the Diamond Wheelers, who led 2-0 at the break.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Wheelers were awarded a free throw after a foul, but they failed to convert. SESAD tried to fight back, with both sides missing a lot of scoring opportunities.

It remained goalless through the second quarter, which meant Wheelers took a 2-0 lead to the second break.

Third quarter was different, players appeared relaxed, with no evident tension, as was the case with the first two quarters.

 Wheelers extended their lead with Lesetedi Gofaone making it 6-0, but SESAD hit back immediately through a point from Tumelo Molengwa. The latter further reduced the deficit to 6-4 to raise his side’s chances of winning.

He was proving to be the star of the game as he scored three more times to put his side in the lead 10-6.

 Wheelers pulled one back to leave the scores at 10-8 in favour of SESAD. Wheelers coach, Thuto Macwilliams said the overall game was fair and balanced. He said it was not bad that his side settled for a silver medal. He said they need to capitalise on training and practice very hard in order to quickly adapt to the play during tournaments.

“The game was tougher than we expected in the first two quarters. That is why both teams did not score a lot of goals.

We did our best despite the fact that we don’t train sufficiently. Overall, I have no complaints about the game, it was beautiful,” Macwilliams said.

SESAD assistant coach, Moffat Louis said his team played very well with their strategy in the last quarters working for them. He said they were losing the game in the first 30 minutes as the players were still trying to understand each other’s play, as they hardly train together.

“We nearly lost the game in the first two quarters. We absorbed the pressure and my players were panicking. However, I told them to relax and play the ball; that is when the goals started coming.”  He said the only challenge they have is lack of training, but given a chance they could do well in future.

The tournament was organised by former national team basketball player and gender based violence activist, Malebogo Molefhe. Speaking to Mmegi Sport after the game, Molefhe said she was impressed with how the tournament turned out.

“I have no complaints because teams turned up and displayed beautiful basketball. Sponsors came as promised,” Molefhe said.