Basketball: League championship-Titles go to Premium Cobras and Bel Air |13 September 2004

Saturday’s (September 11) early (2 p.m.) match-up between PLS Hawks and Premium Cobras had all the ingredients to be a title decider, except for poor shooting on the part of the losers.

In fact, PLS Hawks were poor down the stretch and even the reliable Heribert Derjacques missed when it mattered most.

With the score tied at 79-79 with nine (9) seconds left in the match, Thomas Collie, committed his fifth personal foul on Premium Cobras’ Nigerian playmaker Benjamin Adayehi. He scored three of the four free-throws awarded to him and the electronic scorebard flashed 82-79 in Premium Cobras’ favour.

On their last trip up the court, PLS Hawks, who had lost the first round match 63-65 and needed a three-point-margin win to steal the title from Premium Cobras, got the ball into Derjacques’ hand from behind the arc and he was fouled by Adayehi when attempting a 3-pointer as time expired.

With most of the players on PLS Hawks’ bench on their feet, confident that Derjacques, who had replaced Collie, would sink all three shots to send the match into extra-time, the former Seychelles small forward went to the stripe. He looked at ease but his shot was too hard and the ball bounced off the rim and out.

Premium Cobras’ fans could start celebrating as their team had rode their luck to stay unbeaten and defend their league crown.

Even though Derjacques netted his third free throw, it was not enough to save PLS Hawks. The final score was 82-80.

What was going through Derjacques’ mind when he went to the free-throw line.

“I wasn’t in the groove because I’d been on the bench for too long, I felt tight when I attempted the 3-pointer. When walking to the free-throw line, I heard someone say ‘he is going to score’. But, frankly, I was not focused and my first shot was too hard. It was only after having missed the first shot that I realised that I had a chance to tie the match,” said the 36-year-old who has since 1986 been playing for Plaisance (during the time of regionalisation) and PLS Hawks (since re-introduction of club here in 1993).

As for Adayehi, who won the match for Premium Cobras and nearly lost it nine seconds later when he fouled Derjaques, he had this to say:
“That was crazy. At first I thought it was not a foul and then realised it was my mistake. It is not easy for someone to sink three free-throws in crunch time. I kept faith and when he missed the first, I knew we were the champions. It has been a great season with Cobras.
 
When I signed for them, I knew they were a championship team and I’m happy to win another league title after the two I won in Nigeria over the last two years.”

Agrippine on fire

With swingman Cyril Agrippine on fire with five 3-pointers in the first half for 15 of his 18 points, Premium Cobras, who led 24-10 at the end of the first quarter and 47-31 at the breather, dominated PLS Hawks who were not helped with the ejection of Rodney Lozé seconds before half-time.

After an unsportsmanlike foul was called on PLS Hawks’ Bernard Bristol,  elbowed referee James Joubert who hit him with a disqualifying foul.

With Lenny ‘Bad’ Aglaé fouling out with eight minutes left in the third quarter, Premium Cobras looked out-of-sorts in defence and PLS Hawks succeeded in trimming the deficit to five points (53-48) on a Jefferson Nganga lay-up with just over one minute remaining in this quarter.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Nigerian Reuiben Kolawole and veteran playmaker Nigel Ah-kong, playing as a shooting guard, helped Premium Cobras to regain the initiative as they started the fourth quarter with a healthy 12-point (64-52) lead.

All out to reverse the score, PLS Hawks, with Ugandan all-rounder Stephen Omony and Collie combining for 18 of their team’s 28 fourth quarter points, came to within two points – 69-67 – on two free-throws by their foreign player with five minutes left to play.

Omony, who, despite scoring a game-high 20 points, had one of his worst game since signing for PLS Hawks three years ago, equalised 79-79  for PLS Hawks with 20 seconds to go only for Collie to lose his cool and foul Adayehi 11 seconds later.

After the two sets of players had shook hands, a spectator threw a bottle onto the court and it shattered into pieces as Premium Cobras players were preparing to pose for a souvenir photo. Another spectator came onto the court and threw a mop in the direction of Mont Fleuri players who were warming up for their match against Bel Air.

Meanwhile, in a late night Men division one fixture, Beau Vallon Heat beat PLS Dynamics 64-60 to finish the season in fifth position.

Heat’s were led in scoring by sharp shooter and captain Danny Bertin with 24 points, including six 3-pointers.

Skipper and centre Emmanuel Larue had the hot hands for PLS Dynamics with 17 points.

Bel Air breath fresh air

 
Year in and year out, Bel Air had watched from the sidelines as Anse Etoile Stars and Hot Shots won the league championship. Veteran captain Thyra Boniface and company did not want the chance to be crowned champions pass them this time as they went into Saturday’s match against Mont Fleuri.

A win would guarantee them the championship title, while a loss would see the Stars being crowned.

Against Mont Fleuri, Bel Air got balanced scoring from Boniface (14 points), Malagasy forward Lalatiana Razaiarisoa (17), Lindy Aglaé (18) and Patricia Samynadin (20) in a 92-48 victory.

It was one-way traffic all along and Bel Air, whose coach Robinson Boniface could afford not to use his time-outs but asked for the short breaks to constantly remind his players of their aim, were in command in all four quarters which they won 19-8, 13-10, 30-12 and 30-18.

Mont Fleuri were not helped by the absence of coach Lenny ‘Bad’ Aglaé who had decided to go and celebrate his team’s (Premium Cobras) championship win, and seasoned international Williana Dubois who had to leave early for La Digue.

Third-placed finishers Mont Fleuri’s top scorer was Christine Eulentin with 20 individual points.

What they said

Steve Hoareau (Premium Cobras’ coach): “We knew it was going to be a tough match. We made the difference in the first half, but in the second my players lost their head and only managed to sneak the win in the final seconds. Even so, we were confident all along that we were going to beat PLS Hawks.

I also believe it is time that players of both teams decide what they want to show supporters who come down in numbers every time PLS Hawks and Premium Cobras play.

Do they want to show the spectators a bad image of Seychelles basketball or give them their money’s worth with beautiful actions on the court.”

Tony Juliette (PLS Hawks’ assistant coach): The referees killed the game today (Saturday). Also, my players made too many mistakes of missing easy shots and lay-ups.”

Robinson Boniface (Bel Air’s coach): “This is our first league title since we decided in the early 1990s that Mont Fleuri and Bel Air should be two teams. I believe the trip to Tanzania earlier this year was a morale booster for the team. Our game reached a new high after we competed in Tanzania. We will now start preparing for the SBF Cup as we want to achieve the double.”

G.G