Seychelles Basketball Federation (SBF) Cup finals Heat, B Challenge retain titles |27 November 2017
B Challenge and Beau Vallon Heat are the champions of the Seychelles Basketball Federation (SBF) Cup for the year 2017. B Challenge retained their title by won last year by beating 2017 women’s league champions Mont Fleuri 62-54, while league runners-up Beau Vallon Heat defeated Baya 83-66 to keep the cup in their possession.
B challenge’s Irene Bau and Beau Vallon Heat’s Timmy Adam were the game’s most valuable players (MVPs).
Before the start of the matches, there was a moment of silence in memory of late basketball coach Alix Allisop. SBF secretary general Adrian Pillay presented a memorial plate in coach Allisop’s honour to his family and this was accepted by his big brother, Barnsley Allisop.
B Challenge v Mont Fleuri
In the first final played at the Palais des Sports on Saturday afternoon, Mont Fleuri started on a good note as Kenyan international Linet Atieno Obonyo gave them an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes before B Challenge scored their first point through Sylvie Meme at the free throw line. The gap was reduced to one point ‒ 8-9 ‒ in the 7th minute as B Challenge stepped up their game to win the first quarter 12-11. With Mont Fleuri making too many turn-overs, the lead increased to 10 points ‒ 25-15 ‒ as B Challenge’s Malagasy player Miantratsiory Rakotomandiamby easily laid the ball into the basket on fast breaks. Obonyo reduced the score for Mont Fleuri with two free throws in the last seconds as B Challenge led 31-25 at half-time.
B Challenge continued to put pressure on Mont Fleuri and captain Simone Malbrook fired a shot from near the centre line to score and was fouled in the process and the scoreboard read 41-28 after 25 minutes. Teammate Lilianne Biong, who was quite effective in the paint, rolled on Mont Fleuri’s Bernadette Songor to score the last basket of the third quarter as B Challenge won it 19-10 to bring the score to 50-35.
Mont Fleuri’s coach Tony Juliette switched to a man-to-man defence in the last quarter as his girls managed to crack the 2-1-2 B Challenge’s zone defence to win the fourth quarter 19-12 but it was too little too late as B Challenge, who had won the first three quarters 12-11, 19-14 and 19-10, celebrated victory on a 62-54 score.
Mont Fleuri’s Kenyan player Obonyo was the game’s top scorer with 24 points.
Beat Vallon Heat v Baya
Beau Vallon Heat won the first quarter 14-12, third 23-13 and fourth 28-18, but lost the second 18-23 in their 83-66 victory against Baya to retain the men’s SBF Cup.
The match was a balanced affair in the first two quarters as both teams played tough zone defence on each other and after a couple of missed baskets from both sides, the Heat opened the score through James Oliseh who tipped the ball in.
At the end of the first quarter, the Heat led 14-12 but Baya captain Dave Roseline leveled the score at 14-14 at the start of the second 10-minute spell as the two teams played on equal par. The score stayed level at 20-20 and later 25-25 as Marcus Victor set the pace as he scored in the paint in the dying seconds for Baya to lead 35-32 at half-time.
The Heat changed their playing tactics in the third quarter as they switched to man-to-man defence but Baya, with their zone match-up defence, were still in the game as the score stayed level at 40-40 in the 24th minute.
It was the Heat who came out stronger in the last six minutes of the third quarter to lead 55-48 and at the start of the final quarter Baya were unable to outplay their opponents’ man-to-man defence and committed too many turn-overs which the Heat players scored on fast breaks.
When Timmy Adam slammed the ball home, the scoreboard read 63-48 in the 33rd minute before the difference margin increased to 21 points, the largest in the game, when Denzel Mutyambizi laid the ball in the basket for the Heat to lead 73-52 in the 35th minute.
Sensing victory, the Heat ran down the clock in the last four minutes as they won the game comfortably 83-66.
Mutyambizi was the game’s top scorer with 23 points.
What the players and team officials said:
B Challenge captain Simone Malbrook: “Last year we finished the season with a treble and before coming into this match, we told ourselves we had to win this title because we lost the league title. We were under pressure at the start of the match but were able to pull up our socks in time to win the game as we also wanted to show Mont Fleuri and their foreign player that we can beat them”.
Mont Fleuri coach Tony Juliette: “We could have played twice better than we played today even if some key players are not present. With the team we have, if the players had remain concentrated in the game as we started strongly, we could have won the match”.
Beau Vallon Heat manager Oliver Bastienne: “The title means a lot. We were very disappointed after losing the league title on the head-to-head rule to Premium Cobras and to win this title, it makes us very proud”.
Baya captain Dave Roseline: “We were able to contain Beau Vallon Heat in the first half and we slacked down in third quarter and that’s when they got into the game and even though we swapped to man-to-man defence in the last quarter, still things didn’t change and this is why we lost by this margin”.
P. J.
