THE newly formed Johannesburg Giants saw off the KwaZulu-Natal Marlins 79-76 in the men’s Basketball South Africa (BSA) National Club Championship final on Monday evening at the University of Cape Town. Despite a second-quarter lapse, the Giants would dominate proceedings for most of the game.
Joshua Ozabor sank several key shots, supported by Nino Dim. Nathi Sibanyoni was in strong form in the paint, with Pieter Prinsloo showing flashes of brilliance.
For the Marlins, Liam Reid effectively neutralised the threat posed by Prinsloo for much of their time against each other on the floor. Meanwhile, Evans Ganapamo had a strong offensive showing, and George Williams added firepower.
However, the chemistry and depth of the Giants ultimately proved decisive. With a full roster of players with ties to South Africa — among them dual nationals — they outfought a team stacked with quality foreign players.
Coached by former Cape Town Tigers mentor Florsheim ‘Flosh’ Ngwenya, the Giants headed into the final as favourites. They justified that tag in the first quarter, racing into a 27-19 lead. The second quarter started, according to plan, too, but missed shots would derail things. Ganapamo and Reid led the charge at this stage of the game and swung momentum in favour of the Marlins.
A two-pointer from George Williams gave the Marlins the lead right before the end of the half, but Ozabor responded with a timely three to put the Giants back in front 39-37 at halftime.
Ozabor and Sibanyoni hit key shots in the third quarter. The Giants raced into an eight-point lead, but the quarter finished with a Ganapamo dunk on the break to reduce the Marlins’ deficit to 62-56.
The Giants started the fourth quarter strong, but took their foot off the pedal again and allowed the Marlins back into the game. The final finished on a knife-edge, with a foul call against the Marlins in the last second enabling Ngwenya’s men to take one last sigh of relief before sinking their free throws.
The organisation of the BSA National Club Championships exposed the underlying issues which prevent South African basketball from reaching its full potential.
A strike by game officials exemplified these issues. Although it was resolved on Sunday night, it caused the women’s final to be awarded to the Montana Vikings by walkover after MBB failed to field a team for the delayed Monday morning game, as their players had already left Cape Town.
Another issue was how the top two men’s teams got to the tournament. The Giants were able to contest the Club Championships despite not playing in district leagues as per the competition’s regulations. Meanwhile, the Basketball National League (BNL) franchise, the Marlins, took legal action to force the KwaZulu-Natal Basketball Association to endorse them for the BSA National Championship. This is despite the national federation announcing last year that its licensing agreement with the league had ended.
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However, in terms of quality on the court, this was one of the strongest men’s finals in recent memory. There is no confirmation from the Basketball Africa League (BAL) yet on which teams will automatically be awarded spots. Nonetheless, the Giants will be South Africa’s representatives at the Road to BAL qualifiers.
“In terms of South Africa, the local talent we have is immense. We won this tournament without a single foreign player,” said winning captain Prinsloo after the game.
“We might have guys who are considered foreign… but [even if they are], they have been living here for a long time. There were no American players. This is all local talent.”
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