20 February 2023
A hugely successful first edition of the Jenny Orchard Invitational Basketball Tournament delivered exciting competition over the course of three days, from 17 to 19 February, with Kearsney College securing the honours in the under-14 competition and Michaelhouse capturing the under-19 title.
The Kearsney under-14s defeated Saint David’s Marist Inanda 38-26 to claim a convincing win in their final, while their senior side, beaten just once in the under-19 semi-finals, ended the tournament in third place after a 61-53 victory over Maritzburg College.
Story of the tournament
The story of the tournament, however, was that of Michaelhouse. After day one of the under-19 competition, four teams were undefeated: Maritzburg College, Saint Charles College, Kearsney College and the Soweto Basketball Academy. Michaelhouse, though, had fallen to Kearsney 47-38 in a Pool D clash.
Nonetheless, the boys from Balgowan advanced to the quarterfinals after a 58-30 win over Bishops Diocesan College left them with a record of two wins and one loss in pool play. As runners-up in Pool D, they were pitted against the Pool B winners, the Soweto Basketball Academy, in the quarterfinals. In a battle of two well-matched teams, Michaelhouse came away the victors by a 51-42 margin.
Meanwhile, the other sides that had finished pool play with clean records all moved on to the semi-finals: Maritzburg College saw off Saint David’s Marist Inanda 54-43, Saint Charles cruised to a 49-20 win over Clifton, and Kearsney withstood a stiff challenge from Northwood to earn a 58-51 victory.
Semi-finals
In the semi-finals, Michaelhouse faced the in-form hosts, while Saint Charles and Kearsney duelled it out for a place in the title-decider.
College ran into a fierce defensive effort from Michaelhouse and struggled on the offensive end, putting up less than 30 points in suffering a 37-28 loss. It was something of an upset as, at the end of January, College had powered their way to a 61-42 victory in Balgowan.
Then, a tight final four contest between Saint Charles and Kearsney College was decided late when Saints, down 38-40, with 4:40 to play, went on an 11-0 run, begun by a three-pointer from captain Luke Hubble, to seize the initiative. They ended up 51-42 winners.
The final was an extremely tight, low-scoring contest, with the defences ruling. But, when the final whistle sounded, Michaelhouse were 40-37 in front. It was an astounding turnaround from the team in red and white, given their previous two meetings with Saint Charles, in late 2022 and earlier this term.
With the same players, Saints had crushed Michaelhouse 72-36 at the end of last year in Pietermaritzburg. Then, at the beginning of February, in a much tighter game, Saints had won 54-42 at Michaelhouse. This time around, however, it was Michaelhouse’s day.
The victory spoke volumes about the character of the players, the coaching staff and the school. It had not been an easy path to the final for Michaelhouse, but they’d picked themselves up from every setback, risen to the challenges, and come back harder and stronger. Then, facing a team that had twice beaten them – badly on the first occasion – they used that as motivation to turn back the suffocating Saints’ defensive pressure and record a memorable victory.
Semi-finalists’ stories
For Saint Charles, arguably the best team in the country, which recently had a 26-game unbeaten run ended by Northwood, it was, no doubt, a bitter pill to swallow. After all, given their superb record, they would have had their sights set on the title.
For Maritzburg College, day three was disappointing, not because they didn’t perform, but because they had played dominating, efficient basketball all season and had reason to be confident in their abilities. But, facing similar elite competition, they had to play second fiddle on the day.
For Kearsney, the other losing semi-finalist, the event proved that the school remains a basketball powerhouse. Not only did they give Saint Charles all they could handle before succumbing in the semis, but their under-14 side showed there is plenty more talent making its way through the age groups.
A fitting tribute
With teams from KZN, Gauteng, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Botswana and Eswatini in action, the inaugural Jenny Orchard Invitational Basketball Tournament was a fitting tribute to the lady after whom it is named. Orchard previously was in charge of basketball at College.
The basketball in the tournament was of a high standard, the competition was keen, and it demonstrated, too, that the sport remains in rude health at the host school.
The Jenny Orchard Invitational further showed that, in general, basketball in KwaZulu-Natal is also in a very healthy state, with excellent competition between the schools helping to elevate the standard of play. Beyond even the four KZN teams that played in the semi-finals, there are more from the Kingdom of the Zulu that could claim to be among the best sides in South Africa.
Given the success of the inaugural Jenny Orchard Invitational Basketball Tournament, if it is given the necessary support, it is not hard to envision it joining Kearsney Stayers’ Tournament and the Saint John’s Tournament as the premier events on the South African schools’ basketball calendar.
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