WESTVILLE Boys’ High School travelled to Maritzburg College looking for revenge after narrowly losing a highly contested game in the first term.
Playing College on its home-ground is always a tough task but the highway visitors were highly motivated and their matriculants were especially pumped up as this was their final fixture against their great rivals.
At the start, WBHS lost the jump ball and College immediately started going through their offensive patterns. Both teams battled to find rhythm early on and a scrappy affair unfolded on the court. College managed to catch WBHS on the break and forced them to play a scrambled defense. The visitors played patiently but failed to find the basket. WBHS brought on Kasonga and Quinn Lambert which changed the dynamic of the game and allowed WBHS’s offense game to kick into gear.
Marcelle Barnard began to dominate the paint area and he gave College’s main central defender such a a tough time, that eventually he committed so many fouls against Barnard that his game ended prematurely, WBHS were up 23-16 at the half.
The visitors took the momentum gained in the first half of the game through to the third quarter. Quinn Lambert and Captain Tonny Mahlangu displayed brilliant skill on the court and must be commended on a superb performance. WBHS had tightened up on their defense and despite College making a few consecutive baskets, the visitors remained calm and kept the score board ticking over on the other end.
Gabriel Baah put on a great performance making back to back jump shots inside the paint and the team fed off of his energy. WBHS forced College to make a few turnovers which turned into points for the visitors and the home team started to show signs of frustration. Nonetheless, College kept trying to penetrate WBHS’s impressive defense and WBHS kept catching College on the fast break. This resulted in a comfortable lead and a well-deserved 48-39 victory.
Top scorers were Quinn Lambert (17) and Marcelle Barnard (16).
