RSA - Durban hosts PBL triple overtime thriller

DURBAN (PBL) - Kwazulu Natal played host to two thrilling double headers this past weekend where the coastal teams were all in action. The Cape Town Kings and Eagles flew to Durban where they were first hosted by the Maritzburg Tuskers on Saturday afternoon at the YMCA in Pietermaritzburg.

The basketball fanatics of Pietermaritzburg witnessed their home team Tuskers host two teams from Cape Town for the first time. However the excitement faded fast when the Tuskers lost their 4th straight game at home to the Eagles 91-82. The Marlins fan base, made up mostly of Durban High School students, had plenty to cheer about as their team glided past the Kings 69-62 on Saturday.

On Sunday the action moved to the University of Durban-Westville indoor court, which is arguably on of the nicest basketball facilities in Durban. However, they need to replace the flimsy rims which make shooting very difficult for all the teams.

The first game of the day saw the Maritzburg Tuskers up against the Cape Town Kings. The Kings got out to an early 7 point lead midway through the first quarter and led 13-6. But a 14 and 4 run at the end of the 1st quarter, by the Tuskers saw the Tuskers end the 1st quarter up by 3 points.

By half-time the Tuskers had increased their lead to 5 points and went into half-time leading 41-36. In the 3rd Quarter Elmman Stemmet dropped 10 points to bring the Kings within 2 points going in to the 4th Quarter, Maritzburg led 55-53 at the end of the 3rd Quarter.

The 4th Quarter belonged to the Kings who took their 1st lead since the end of the 1st Quarter after an Elmann Stemmet basket giving the Kings a 72-70 lead with under a minute left in the 4th Quarter. On the next play Linda Sibankulu was fouled and made two free throws to take the game to overtime.

The first overtime ended 80-80. In the second overtime the Tuskers threw away a 6 point lead with under 2 minutes to play, when the Kings went on a 6 and 0 run to send the game into a third overtime.

In the third overtime with under a minute left the Kings led 106-103 and Tuskers point guard, Mtu Zulu, drained a 3 pointer to tie the game. The Kings had the last possession with 10 seconds remaining and the Tuskers needed a stop to send the game to a fourth overtime. But they didn’t box out Kings forward Chestlyn Petersen who tipped in the ball with 3 seconds remaining in the game to give the Kings their fourth win of the season 108-106. Godfrey Koti ended with a game high 24 points for the Kings. Ryan Mcfie led the Tuskers in scoring with 21.

In the second game of the day the Marlins first took the lead against the Eagles in the middle of the first quarter and kept the lead until the end of the fourth quarter eventually coming out on top by 16 points 86-70. Vusi Dlamini had a game high 19 points for the Marlins and Junior Ongedangeda and Tony Konyakonya both had 15 for the Eagles.
After this past weekend’s games the PBL log is as follows:

Inland Conference GP GW GL Points
Soweto Panthers 6 6 0 12
Egoli Magic 6 3 3 9
Tshwane Suns 6 2 4 8
Johannesburg Olympians 6 1 5 7

Coastal Conference GP GW GL Points
Cape Town Kings 6 4 2 10
Kwazulu Marlins 6 4 2 10
Cape Town Eagles 6 3 3 9
Pietermaritzburg Tuskers 6 1 5 7

This coming Sunday the 4th of February at Mandeville, the Soweto Panthers will be playing the Egoli Magic at 14:30 and the Tshwane Suns take on the Johannesburg Olympians at 17h00.

For highlights of this past weekends’ games watch the Sprite Basketball Show on Supersport at 8pm this Wednesday.

Tshepo Ditshego