Game 6: South Africa 101 vs. Nigeria 103
(58397)Record: 5-1
Standing: Currently 1st place, locked into advancing to the next round of the tournament
(Note: In this initial Round Robin of games, the top 6 of 8 teams will advance after each team has played each other.)Opponents continue to like to take a shot at our team as Nigeria also put in more enthusiasm against us. Close games have been our thing as of late and this time the Baby Boks came up
just short.
- Though he struggled from the field in this one going 9-26,
Umi Mugabe still played 44 minutes (though he was oddly substituted out in the final seconds of the game...) and kept us in it with another double-double producing 22 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. A rare off-night for him offensively but we're certain he'll bounce back.
- Similarly,
Derek Dingane's shot was off tonight, though he came through with another clutch 3 with 18 seconds left to almost bring us to overtime, and posted his own double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Impressive performance on the boards for the game's starting SG.
- While the offense from the starting lineup struggled, 19-year-old
Shafilshuna Machemko had a strong showing off the bench producing 15 points in 18 minutes, including hitting 3 threes. The team is eager to see his further development in the seasons to come.
- Some oddities the coaches noted were poor shooting by all of our starters, the fact that our team took more 3s than theirs even though they were the ones playing the outside offense and losing despite a significant advantage in rebounding and field goal attempts.
This is just a reminder for the squad that every game from here on out is going to be a tough one. We don't like losing and it stings a little more because we were so close but our focus is now on to the next opponent. To close out this 1st round of the tournament we'll play a good Senegal team.
Player of the Game: Umi Mugabe
(48097274) trained by JimyW
On a separate note, our 18-year-old with the highest potential and most big skill points,Â
Kamangeni Tlhoome (49001167), is on the market! If anyone is training bigs, he'd be a great one to bring aboard as he's already on a good path, thanks to some training by Ebene, to make the team in the future. Let's keep him in good hands!