POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
The Gold Medalists- Numba 4 Provincial Games!
The Gold Medal games in the Basketball Competition have been played and won by Port Vila in the Mens competition and Shefa in the women's competition.
The Women's game was played first and a very vocal Shefa crowd got their team off to a great start. With 8 unanswered points to begin the game. The bulk of the scoring for the Shefa team came from sisters Annie Kalo and Lisa Tokataake, both players being quite accurate with three point shots and also shots inside the key.Lisa was identified as the MVP for the women's competition for the week, she was almost unstoppable in the scoring department as is obvious in the top scorers points tally.There was also many valuable contributions from Morlen Moses, who was very strong inside the key and invaluable with many offensive and defensive rebounds.
Morlen was a member of the Oceania All star team who toured Australia in January this year, this experience has been valuable to MOrlen's development as a basketball player.
The Port Vila girls, a much younger combination of players were outgunned to begin the game, however, after a slow start the girls clawed their way back, equalling the scoring of their opponents in all but the first quarter.There were many girls who played quite well throughout the week. Many of the under 20 girls who have been training to go to the Oceania Youth Tournament in Australia next June, showed significant improvements in their performance. This is a positive step for women's basketball in Vanuatu.
The Men's gold medal game was an enertaining affair with Sanma the form team throughout the tournament just being pipped at the post for the Gold Medal. Much of the success of the Sanma team was due to pressure defence and thinking basketball on the offensive end of the court. Natu Vira, would have to be the MVP for the tournament even though his team finished with the silver. He demonstrated a cool temperament in pressure situations, and a fantastic display of passing particularly when inside the key. The athleticism displayed throughout the game was something that kept the crowds glued to the match until the finish. Andrew Leo for the Port Vila, was exceptional with his ability to leap and hang in the air for such a long period. His talents in this area were rewarded during the athletics competition at the games, with 2 silver medals to his name for both the long jump and the triple jump, now he has a basketball gold to add to his personal tally. Congratulations. Well done to all of the teams in the basketball competition.
