25 February 2020
Hot weather and a light wind made scoring difficult early on in Saturday’s basketball encounter between DHS and Westville in Durban, writes Pinnacle Schools’ Brad Morgan.
In stark contrast to the high temperature, both teams started off with stone-cold shooting. The defences dominated and were aided by some wayward shooting from both sides.
It took a good 2 or 3 minutes and numerous attempted shots before the first basket dropped. When it did, the game began to settle down.
Hosts DHS were the first to find some offensive rhythm and they profited from a number of forced turnovers to ease into a 15-9 lead.
The advantage doubled when DHS moved – almost imperceptibly – into a clear 24-12 lead, but Westville hit back with a number of late baskets to close to within 9 points (18-29) at the break.
When the contested restarted, it was DHS who hit their straps first, utilising their stout defence and strong rebounding in the paint to create turnovers once again – and hit Westville on the break.
Slowly but surely the gap increased, and it became clear that this would be the home team’s day. But it wasn’t going to be without a fight.
Westville – a team in transition according to Sports Director Waylon Murray – kept battling to the end.
Time after time – when it appeared that DHS would pull away and turn the contest into a blowout – the never-say-die Westville first team responded with a flurry of baskets.
However, a sound structure and strong defence carried the day for the DHS lads, who ran out 63-41 winners in what was a hard-fought battle.
While it was, ultimately, a solid victory for DHS in the 1st team clash, Westville had their successes, too, managing four victories in the six games played.
RESULTS
1st: DHS 63-41 WBHS
2nd: DHS 12-24 WBHS
3rd: DHS 6-49 WBHS
u16A: DHS 20-33 WBHS
u15A: DHS 5-28 WBHS
u14A: DHS 33-17 WBHS
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