Basketball: International friendly tournament-Seychelles selections start on the wrong foot |16 July 2011

The Seychelles ‘A’ team lost 53-67 to the Mozambican selection, while the Italian side defeated the local ‘B’ selection 79-70.

The tournament, which serves as preparation for our local selections who will compete in the forthcoming Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG), features four men’s teams – Seychelles ’A’, Seychelles ’B’, a Mozambican selection and an Italian side – and three women’s selections – Seychelles ’A’, Seychelles ’B’ and a team from Mozambique.

The Seychelles ‘A’ teams are made up of players who will represent the country at the IOIG, while the ‘B’ selections feature players who are not part of the national team.

In the first match, the local ‘B’ selection held their opponents and trailed by a single point – 35-36 – at halftime.
It was during the last two quarters that the foreign side outscored the boys of coach Nigel Ah-kong 25-18 and 20-17 for a 79-70 final score.

Ugbaje Ajodoh was the Seychelles ‘B’ team’s top-scorer with 17 points, while with 18 points, G. Zampolli led the scoring for the Italian side.

For their part, the Seychelles ‘A’ selection lost the first three quarters – 8-12, 12-15 and 11-28 – against their Mozambican opponents. It was only during the last quarter that captain Cyril Agrippine and company managed to outscore the Mozambicans 22-12. It was too little too late as the Mozambican selection had already sewn up the match for an easy 67-53 win.

Abdel Sylla scored 13 points to finish as the Seychelles ‘A’ team’s top-scorer, while I. Matavel led the Mozambicans with 15 points.

Yesterday, Seychelles ‘B’ were to meet Seychelles ‘A’  in a women’s match, while Seychelles ‘B’ were to play the Mozambican selection  and Seychelles ‘A’ were to meet the  Italian side in two men’s matches.

R. D.