Seychelles men’s basketball team return empty-handed |04 September 2023
Ervin Agathine’s effort is blocked by a Mayotte defender (Photo: Patrick Joubert)
Team Seychelles men’s basketball were unable to take revenge on Mayotte on Saturday as they lost the bronze medal match 67-86 to the latter in the Indian Ocean Islands Games’ basketball competition to return home empty-handed.
In Saturday’s encounter, the boys of coach Michel Malbrook looked like they meant business when they scored the first basket by Damian Chang-Time, followed by some aggressive team movements both in defence and attack, including two quick 3-pointers from Timmy Adam, to lead 20-9 in the seventh minute. The aggressiveness of the Seychelles team caused their opponents to lift up their game and scored 11 points in the remaining time to draw level 20-20 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was more or less balanced between the two teams but the Mayotte players managed to score 19 points compared to 15 points for Seychelles to lead 39-35 at half-time. Timmy Adam had the hot hands for the Seychelles team with 17 points in the half which included three shots behind the three-point arc – two in the first quarter and one in the second.
Mayotte came off the bench stronger in the third quarter and they took total control of the game to lead 67-49 at the end of 30 minutes of play. Their defence was so tight, leaving Seychelles’ leading marksman Timmy Adam scoreless in that quarter.
Coach Malbrook’s boys came out more aggressive in the fourth quarter and following an early five points from a 3-pointer by Adam and a shot by Ervin Agathine that reduced the score to 54-67, Mayotte’s coach took a time-out to attend to his players’ game on the court. Entering the court after the time-out, the Mayotte players took complete control of the game, defensively and offensively, as they capitalised on the many errors made by our local boys. They went on to win the match 86-67.
Known to be a three-point sharp shooter, Timmy was tightly guarded and was limited to only one basket for the entire second half, a three-pointer in the last quarter, to finish as the best scorer for Seychelles with 20 points.
“Today the team lacked confident. Our defence and offence did not go like we had planned; we made too many errors and Mayotte simply capitalised on those weaknesses to win the match,” assistant coach Grégoire Scholastisque told Sports NATION.
Assistant coach Scholastisque added that given the team are very young, the idea is to keep them together in preparation for the 2027 Indian Ocean Islands Games.
Drawn in pool B, Seychelles won their first game 67-43 against Mauritius and lost to Mayotte 68-80 in the second game to take second position in the group. In the cross knockout semifinals, they faced group A winners Madagascar who beat them 86-55.
Hosts Madagascar won the gold medal after beating Reunion 62-54 in the final. Madagascar also won the women’s title thanks to a 59-53 victory against Reunion.
Patrick Joubert