02 Dec 2018

Phins Dolphins have been crowned Botswana Basketball League champions following their 66-56 win against Police in game two of the play-off finals.

Police started the game on a high note with Thuto Shai giving them an early lead with a three pointer straight from the start, which was quickly followed by two more baskets from Churchill Barrows to give Police 7-0 led before Dolphins called for their first time-out.

They, however, executed their downfall as they squandered a healthy two point lead in the first quarter to go down 29-31 at the halftime interval.

Police were their own worst enemy, scoring just 6 out of 20 from the field in the period, including 2-of-8 on three-pointers. They could not maintain consistency in all the quarters hence they gave away a lot of turnovers in the second quarter that led to Dolphins cutting the deficit.

Things went haywire for Police in the third and fourth quarter with Dolphins reflecting well on the offensive side of the court and took a point lead going into the fourth quarter.

With Police’s experienced point guard Barrows assigned to go man-on-man on Dolphins talisman Kesaobaka Ndawanya, Dolphins options of going direct to the hoop were limited and had to rely on the three point shooting skills of Aobakwe Bogosi and Keone Mogowe who put up a combined 16 points from the three point arch.

Dolphins came strong in the last quarter making 22 baskets to finish the game with 66 points which was enough to crown them 2018 champions. They walked away  with P6 000 grand prize.

On the ladies side, Police won the series 2-0 to be crowed ladies champions after defeating BDF 65-36 and 68-40.

Individual accolades, however, went to Ndawanya and Police’s Tshiamo Maswabi, who were voted the series men and female Most Valuable Players (MVP) respectively and pocketed P500 each and the MVP trophy.

 Dolphins head coach,  Trynos Moyo expressed delight over his team’s performance during the season.

“Being a young and under resourced team, the odds are always against us as we do not possess the financial muscle like our counterparts, but the championship is a testimony of hard work and dedication that the team should pride themselves with,” he said.

The league journey, he said was a roller coaster and that it was only through teamwork that his side was crowned champions.  

Moyo expressed concern over his star players in the next season, saying they might be poached by well-established institutional teams. The winner and the runner-up of the championship games will represent Botswana at the Zone VI preliminary club basketball championships. ENDS