Basketball season review |17 December 2013

Thrilling season with tougher competition

With another basketball season done, teams now have the chance to rest and reflect upon another hard year and at the same time look forward to the next.

It was another thrilling season as the competition became tougher and some teams have caused a few surprises.

The men’s first division provided the biggest surprise with newly promoted Beau Vallon Heat enjoying a great return to the top flight under the guidance of coach Guy Hall. The team pushed champions PLS Hawks all the way, as they had to wait until the last day to claim the title.

PLS Hawks won the league title by only two points ahead of Beau Vallon Heat in the end, with the Hawks beating the Heat 100-60 in the title deciding game.

Hawks manager James Joubert told Sports Nation: “I believe the season went very well. We did not have a good first round, losing two key matches, but we made up for it in the second round to win the title.”

Hawks had both the best offensive and defensive records in the league, reaching the 100-point mark four times during the season.

Hawks will, however, start the new season without star man Alao Solomon who has left the team. “We will not be recruiting any foreign players for next season, although the fans can expect to see some new faces in the side,” added Mr Joubert.

PLS Hawks made a clean sweep of titles, by winning the Curtain-raiser tournament, the league as well as the Seychelles Basketball Federation (SBF) Cup.

For Beau Vallon Heat, after a very promising first season back among the elites, to finish in second position is surely a very good platform to build on for next year.

“I believe last season was fantastic for us, considering where we had come from and we will be aiming to build on that performance through training and recruitment,” Heat coach Guy Hall told Sports Nation.

Former champions Baya and Premium Cobras failed to live up to their past performances, although they did finish in the top five.

The Cobras ended the season in third place, while Baya finished in fifth place.

Mont Fleuri Dawgz, who did not have the best league campaign, managed to get through to the final of the SBF Cup where they lost to PLS Hawks. Their coach Nigel Ah-Kong had this to say when contacted by Sports Nation: “It was not the best season for us as I had expected us to perform better than we did before. However, we did find consolation by reaching SBF Cup final and with the number of players on our roster it was a good achievement.”

Meanwhile, RC Dynamic will find themselves battling it in the second division after failing to win a single match this season.

Praslin Warriors will be replacing Dynamics in the top flight next season after edging out Cascade Bullets on points difference to claim the second division title.
 
Juniors finished at the bottom of the second division table, but they did however make it to the second division knockout final only to lose against Cascade Bullets.
 
In the women’s league, it started out as a very good season for Anse Etoile Stars after winning the Curtain-raiser trophy and they managed to retain their league title ahead of rivals Mont Fleuri by going undefeated.

But still, coach Michel Malbrook told Sports Nation he thinks “the season did not go too well for us, as I also wanted to win the SBF Cup”.

“We had a depleted team through injury which weakened us for the SBF Cup and the Indian Ocean Club Championship (IOCC),” added coach Malbrook.

Anse Etoile were denied a clean sweep of titles as they lost the SBF Cup final to Mont Fleuri.

“It was a better season for us, although we finished second in most competitions, we managed to win the SBF Cup which shows the progress we have made,” said Mont Fleuri coach Tony Juliette.

Both teams will be looking to compete for the league title next year, and they have both said they intend to get younger players in their squads as they push for better performances next season.

PLS Hawks and Mont Fleuri also finished third in the men’s and women’s categories of the Indian Ocean Club Championship in Mauritius.

S. N.