HCH’s Shoniwa Ushe and Paul Maturure broke the Troopers defence, which was not well structured. Due to lack of a formation, Troopers failed to score points, leaving Joseph Setlhare to fight a lone battle and create opportunities for his team. HCH led 11 – 3 in the opening stages as Troopers’s Blessing Tshupelo and Bokang Sekgwama tried to salvage the game for the home side. At the opposite end, Marcel Chitsinde and Titus Njovu increased the tally for the visitors. HCH then slowed down and Troopers capitalised, albeit briefly, with Thuto Shai and Tshupelo finding gaps to score. At the end of the quarter, the game was in the balance with HCH leading 29-25. HCH returned from the break rejuvenated with Maturure taking full control of the game scoring a number of points, getting assists and rebounds from his teammates.
Within a few minutes into the second quarter, HCH had increased their points to 45-30. After a quick time out call from the Troopers bench, the local team, returned the aggressive side with Shai and Setlhare shooting for three pointers. But HCH stood their ground and stretched their lead to 63-41 in the fourth quarter. The visitors did not take the foot off the pedal, eventually, running out 90-47 winners. HCH coach, Langton Moyo applauded Troopers saying they were competitive. “I was not happy with the way we started, we were a bit jittery but managed to find our ground. We came here to learn. We learnt a lot from Troopers,” Moyo said. Troopers coach, William Nyangu said he was impressed with his boys’ play despite the loss. He blamed fatigue towards the end of the game.
