Basketball: Men’s SBF Cup final – game two-Cobras sting Baya to force game three |24 October 2009

“I told you it would go all the way to three games,” Premium Cobras coach Guy Hall told Sports Nation after his team’s 72-66 game-two victory on Thursday at the Palais des Sports.

“My predictions were right and we will win game three just as planned. A coach always gets his predictions right,” he added.

If coach Hall’s predictions were right, Baya’s mentor Michel Malbrook got his wrong as he had forecast a clean sweep.

After his protégés wiped out a 15-point deficit to earn an 80-76 game-one win, coach Malbrook always believed they could turn the game around once more, even though they trailed for long spells.

But this time his magic did not work as his side only led twice – 5-4 and 19-18 – and pulled level at 24-24 on a basketballer of the year Jean-Paul ‘JP’ Camille 3-pointer with 4 minutes 26 seconds (4:26) left in the second quarter after using a 17-6 run starting late in the first quarter.

Cobras, who went for the break 10 points up – 36-26 – in a low-scoring first half, won the first three quarters, 18-13, 18-13 and 22-17.

When Collin Japhet scored on a lay-up with seven seconds played in the fourth quarter, Cobras’ lead had ballooned to 17 points – 60-43 – but Baya refused to give in.

Less than a minute before fouling out, Baya’s Dave Roseline completed a 3-point play after being fouled by Dominic Pillay to give his team the momentum and they went on to score 18 points in less than six minutes to come within five points – 66-61– with 3:36 left on the clock.

As time expired, they were down by four – 70-66 – and on probably Baya’s last possession, Francis ‘Toy’ Herminie made an important steal on Hendricks Denis with 9.4 seconds left to feed Jackson Auguste, who put the final nail in coach Malbrook’s team’s coffin as the game ended 72-66 in Cobras’ favour.

“We are not disappointed with the loss,” said Roseline.
“We struggled in the match, but I’m happy that we kept trying. I also don’t feel the referees did a good job spotting the many fouls committed by the opposing team’s players. We still have a third game to play and we will come ready for victory on Sunday,” he added.

Cobras’ Nigerian forward Alao Solomon led all scores with 19 points, while Amadou Sylla and Dominic Pillay added 10 apiece.

Roseline finished with 17 points for Baya who had two other players – Robert Léon (11) and JP (10) – scoring in double digits.

G. G.