LAST year in October, Saul Phiri and his Matero Magic teammates looked unstoppable in the early stages of the Road To BAL – their unbeaten campaign in Zimbabwe held a lot of promise – it looked like they would be the first from Zambia to qualify for the Basketball Africa League.
Somehow, in Nairobi, Kenya, at the Elite 16 stage, the wheels came off for the Magic. The promise they had dimmed as they got bounced out of the Elite 16 without a win to their name.
According to 28-year-old Phiri, a player no stranger to continental terrain, the Kenya experience quickly went south due to a lack of preparation.
“Being a guy who has been to this stage a couple of times, I feel I know what to expect and tried to prep everyone for how tough that next round will be. It’s the BAL before the BAL… At that stage, every team has a good chance of qualifying, and we had to put our best foot forward and give it all we have,” said Phiri, a former La Salle University player. “Our first game, I think a lot of people were shocked at the atmosphere and the stage we were on. It’s a big stage. We played a lot of good teams like the club from Burundi (Urunani). They came undefeated (from the preliminary stages). That’s what we want. We wanted to compete against the best, but it was a tough adjustment.”
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That Elite 16 nightmare is in the distant past. Tamanga Boys’ focus is on the ongoing three-match National Club Championship final, which will feature them and the army club Green Buffaloes. Matero already has the advantage with a 91-67 over their adversaries.
Before their Game One victory over the Buffaloes last Sunday, Phiri, who joined Matero in September, was impressed with his teammates’ performance in reaching the finals.
“I did come in a little late in the season, so the team held down the fort. I think before I arrived, we had lost only one (league) game, so my teammates had done an incredible job, and I feel I came into a great situation,” said Phiri. We dropped to more (league) games after the BAL qualifiers… There was fatigue when we came back (from Kenya), but we were still first (in the league), so we stayed positive.
“We have built momentum going into the finals, and we just have to keep it up so that we can go back to the BAL (qualifiers). We want avenge what happened at the Elite 16… It still stings because we could have played better. We are preparing for a war since we are playing the army guys… We will stick to our gameplan to get the job done.”
Phiri, who has roots in Zimbabwe and Zambia, has enjoyed playing in the Zambia Basketball League and the physicality. He has also felt at home with the Magic and the family atmosphere within the club.
“The thing I like about Zambian basketball is everyone here is tough. In the league, there are no pushovers. Players here play with pace. They will run up and down or play slow,” said Phiri.
On Matero, he said: “It is the family aspect that I like about them, the support you get from management to the fans, everyone involved with Matero Magic feel like family. That is a big thing for me. Every time I come here I feel like I am at home. I am grateful for that.”
Phiri and Matero have two more games to secure a 12th ZBL title. For the forward especially, bringing home the trophy would be a show of gratitude to the club and its fans for making him part of the family.
