Opening Night #BNL2015
You could tell by the atmosphere at Wembley Arena that this was the day a lot of basketball fans had been waiting for. The opening night of the 3rd season of the Basketball National League was finally here and fans defied the winter chills to come enjoy their favourite sport.
Two exciting matchups were on the cards for the evening and the return of Vincent Ntunja to action for the Western Cape Mountaineers was a welcomed surprise for a lot of fans in the 1st game. The former South Africa international and Cape Town legend took time to settle into the game, but once he did, the Mountaineers offense flowed beautifully. Their counterparts, the Free State Warriors had themselves a good outing under the watchful eye of Coach Clemen Kock. Vusi Sithole and Albert Maqabe have been one of the most exciting duos in the league and it did not take long for them to remind us of this as they went on to score 40 of the team’s 73 points. The night belonged to the Cape side though as they stretched the lead to end on a comfortable cushion with 96 points; Stenard Mapurisa was their highest scorer with 22 points.
The second game saw the Soweto Panthers and Limpopo Pride take to the court. With both teams boasting new faces to their rosters, it was going to be interesting to see which team was going to jump upfront. Lebesa Selepe and Mike Mukumbuta were back to lead the Panthers and the addition of Isaac Katwe was sure to boost their firepower. Though the departure of Captain Fumani Marhanele is going to affect their scoring prowess, the Limpopo Pride have reinforced their roster with youth and guys such as Jerry Tlou and Tshepo Phokwane will use their senior national team experience to lead there team. The Panthers jumped off to an early lead to which the Pride could not recover. The final score was 68-57 to Soweto.
See you all courtside from 12 June – 06 September 2015.
Issued on behalf of the BNL by:
Alvina Naicker
PR & Media Manager 083 258 9441
