Zimpapers Logo

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE senior men’s team laboured to their first victory of the Afro-Basketball and All-Africa games qualifiers, beating Indian Ocean islanders Seychelles 69-61 last night at the ZITF Showgrounds.

The win kept Zimbabwe’s hopes of qualifying for the Afro-Basketball Championships which will be co-hosted by Tunisia and Cameroon later this year, alive.

Zimbabwe who want to qualify for the All-Africa Games set for Congo-Brazzaville, lost their opening two games to South Africa 60-64 and continental giants Angola 100-49. They now need to settle for second place to qualify for the Afro-Basketball Championships alongside defending champions Angola.

Against Seychelles last night, Zimbabwe ran out of steam in the last quarter but still managed to sneak away with maximum points, taking their tally to four after two matches.

Tatenda Maturure top scored for Zimbabwe, getting 32 points followed by Tawanda Chitsinde who managed 17 with most of their teammates failing to reach double digit points.

Despite seeing his charges living on the wire in the dying minutes of the game, Zimbabwe’s coach Chewy Gilbert was full of praise for his team.

“The boys showed character today and came here with a good mentality against a Seychelles side that is also equally good. We did everything we could to win this game and defended well even when our big boys (Taurai Chitsinde and Everisto Pasipamire) got in trouble. I had to pull them out for sometime as I was protecting them after picking up many fouls that could have resulted in them being expelled from the match. The guys who came in tried their best and defended and I’m happy for them,” Gilbert said.

Following South Africa’s 122-65 defeat to Angola in an earlier match yesterday, Zimbabwe’s chances of earning a ticket to the Afro-basketball Championships are bright.

“We’re not throwing in the towel because it’s still an open game which might come down to points at the end of the day. What we’ve to do is win our game against Seychelles, then try to restrict Angola then wrap it up with a win against South Africa on Saturday,” said Gilbert.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s women’s team maintained their unbeaten run, thumping Botswana 72-33 to stay at the top of the table with four points.

Zimbabwe are second with three points and return to action on Friday for a date with Botswana.

Results

Yesterday

Men: Angola 122-65 South Africa, Seychelles 61-69 Zimbabwe

Women: South Africa 72-33 Botswana

Table as of yesterday afternoon

Men

P W L F A Dif Pts

South Africa 3 2 1 189 234 -55 5

Angola 2 2 0 222 114 108 4

Zimbabwe 3 1 2 178 225 -47 4

Seychelles 2 0 2 113 129 -16 2

Women

P W L F A Dif Pts

South Africa 2 2 0 141 96 55 4

Zimbabwe 2 1 1 149 113 36 3

Botswana 2 0 2 77 148 -71 2

 

Fixtures

Today: Zimbabwe v Seychelles (men, 2PM), Botswana v South Africa (women, 4PM), South Africa v Angola (men, 6PM)

Tomorrow: Angola v Seychelles (men, 6PM)

Friday: Seychelles v South Africa (men, 2PM), Zimbabwe v Botswana (women, 4PM), Zimbabwe v Angola (men, 6PM)

Saturday: South Africa v Zimbabwe (women, 4PM), Zimbabwe v South Africa (men, 6PM).