St John’s College Defend Saints U16 Invitational Cup

A forced rain break gave the St John’s College U16 basketball side a chance to regroup and stage a come back to defeat St George’s 17-14 to defend the St George’s U16 Invitational Cup title on Saturday afternoon.Host St George’s led 12-8 with six minutes left to play, but the first rains of the season came down to force everyone off the court. During that 15 minute break St John’s regrouped and returned on the court with new fire to turn the game around. When play resumed, both teams committed fouls, making the final become more of free throw contest. St John’s won that contest, using all of their chances from the line to pull off a come back.Scores were level at 13-13 when the referee blew the final whistle. As the game went into extra-time, the Rams pulled away and successfully defended their title.

This year’s tournament had an international feel to it as Enjabulweni High School from Swaziland was one the twenty schools that was on the hunt for glory at St George’s this weekend. The Swazis finished third in Pool C so they failed to proceed to the finals. Westridge claimed the bronze beating Falcon College who had to settle for a commendable fourth. .Tafadziswa Bunu of St Georges scored the most points over the two day tournament, with an impressive total of 69 points from six games. With 44 points from five games Davidson Chivero of Christian Brothers College also enjoyed a high scoring weekend.

Pint-sized point guard, Munashe Kambarami commended his boys for keeping their heads up when all was stacked up against them. “I think the rain saved us and the boys played their hearts out,” Kambarami told SSN with his gold medal dangling around his neck. The victory was the first for St John’s over rivals St George’s in this particular age group category since they started playing against each other as under 14’s in 2012.