Day two of the basketball competition in the CJSOI, confirmed that this year’s edition of the Indian Ocean’s youth manifestation is one which is brimming with both energy and talent. Following on from the impressive start of both Seychelles side in the competition, the public had started to dream big and dream of gold!
However, when day two started and Mayotte took to the courts in the second girls match against Mauritius, those present realised that it might be a bit of a tall order! Such was the level of skills, that one would have been easily forgiven for thinking that this was the Mahorais seniors playing. They very quickly left Mauritius far behind and Seychelles closest neighbours soon found themselves playing catch-up and that was the order throughout.
The Mahorais dictated the pace and Mauritius struggled right up to the final buzzer.
On the boys side, Comoros started off really well against favourites Madagascar and even led the match into the second quarter, with their centre making full use of his height advantage and controlling his team’s line of defence. Unfortunately, despite their coach calling for time out to talk to his team, it seemed that he forgot to get them to remember that they are a collective of players and not just individuals with a knack for basket ball.
The side showed no inkling of having a strategy on court, but rather, it was each individual seeking to shine and taking long shots when they had at least two other team mates placed in a better position. As such it was not strange that very early in the second quarter, Madagascar found its footing and four three pointers gave them the lead which they never relinquished to end the match with a 13 point difference 76-63.
While definitely inferior to the Seychelles side in terms of height, the Malagasy have as usual put together a very talented team of sharp shooters. The Seychelles coaching team would do well to come up with a working strategy to deny the periphery shooters that attempt at a three pointer, while securing all and any rebound coming their way.
All in all the teams showed definite skills with their basics all brushed up and if they can keep their cool when the opponents make a move, the public is in for some scintillating basket ball over the coming days.
