The drive back to Marondera must have been an unpleasant one for Peterhouse’s first team basketball squad after conceding a 58-30 defeat to St George’s College in Harare on Saturday. Playing on the road is always challenging, but no one would have called a 28-point deficit in the season opener for the two top basketball teams.
Captained by newly appointed Headboy, Tinashe Muchena, St George’s looked unstoppable on the court throughout the opening match. They dominated the rebounds, exhibited great vision and even produced a dunk from a fast break in the last quarter of the game. Despite the great display of high school basketball, St George’s struggled from the free throw line, failing to convert the giveaways throughout the match.
The majority of Peterhouse’s first team from last season finished A levels in November, and they couldn’t help but watch from the sidelines. While St George’s will be focusing on perfecting their execution as the season progresses, Peterhouse will be working on rebuilding a newly minted team, hoping it can be as dominant as last year. Muchena was the top scorer of the match with 21 points, which Gavi was the top scorer for the visitors with 6 points.
St John’s College played a double fixture this weekend, earning a 24-17 victory over Gateway in a low scoring warm-up encounter before facing a stinging 40-50 defeat against Prince Edward.
It’s still too early to make definite calls for the boys’ basketball 2016 scene, but from this opening weekend, it looks like St George’s and Prince Edward are the teams to watch. Under the coaching of Zimbabwe national player Eric Banda, St John’s can’t be written off either. It promises to be an exciting year for Zimbabwean high school boys’ basketball.