Day one recap: u16 St Stithians College Basketball Tournament
The u16 Stithians College Basketball Tournament tipped off on Friday, welcoming players from all across South Africa, and from neighbouring Eswatini and Botswana.
Boys’ competition
In the boys’ competition, some teams made a significant impact on day one, including Hilton College, St Alban’s College, King Edward VII School (KES), Michaelhouse, St Benedict’s College, St David’s Marist Inanda, and Kearsney College.
In Pool A, St David’s Marist Inanda went three for three to finish the day with a full haul of six points. Their group includes a formidable line-up, with, among others, St Benedict’s College, Kearsney College, and the defending champions, Westville Boys’ High School.
St David’s started their campaign with a 34-25 win against Parktown Boys’ High School and then laid down a marker by outplaying Westville Boys’ High 39-19. They ran into tough opposition from Kearsney College and scraped a 35-34 win in their third outing.
After day one in Pool A, St Benedict’s College and Kearsney are in second and third positions respectively, each with five points.
The front runners in Pool B are KES and Michaelhouse. Both have six points after three wins each, with KES on top of the table on points’ difference.
They overran St Peter’s College 47-19 and cruised to a 38-17 victory over Maru-a-Pula, from Botswana. St Charles College made KES battle hard, but the Johannesburg school pulled off a 36-30 win in the end.
Michaelhouse took down St Charles, winning 30-23. They beat St Peter’s 32-21, and held off St Stithians u16A, winning 38-32.
Saints, though, are hot on ‘House’s heels, having earned five points.
St Alban’s College tops Pool C after day one, but their record was not unblemished. They’re on five points, but so, too, is St John’s College. They’ll be wary of Maritzburg College, though.
The KZN side played only twice on Friday but charged to a 65-13 defeat of Eswatini’s Usutu Forest International and edged out St John’s 43-41.
Usutu Forest and Pretoria Boys High prop up the table with two points apiece.
Hilton College is in a commanding position in Pool D after racking up three victories from three starts. They decisively defeated the St Stithians College u15A team 31-19. St George’s College, of Zimbabwe, pushed them hard, but Hilton won 35-28, and they completed their day’s schedule by beating St Andrew’s College by the same score.
Girls’ competition
On day one of the girls’ competition, the hosts, St Stithians, emerged as one the leading contenders.
Playing in Pool B, Saints is up against the International School of South Africa (ISSA), Kingswood College, and Redhill School. After two wins – by 16-6 over Redhill and 28-13 over ISSA – the home team tops the standings.
ISSA and Kingswood picked up a win and a loss each. Kingswood narrowly defeated Redhill 10-8 but went down 14-26 to ISSA. Redhill finished the day winless.
Pool A is intriguing after both St Peter’s College and the Saheti School A Team picked up two wins apiece. They meet at 10:00 on Saturday morning.
St Peter’s College scored a comfortable 31-7 win over Trinity House Glenvista in their first match and then outlasted Michael Mount Waldorf 29-20. Saheti’s victories against the same opponents were tighter. They beat Trinity House 23-14 and narrowly overcame Michael Mount 25-22.
In Pool C, Rand Tutorial College ended Friday with a sparkling clean record. They decisively defeated St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria) 38-8 and St Dunstan’s College 43-18.
St Mary’s occupies second place in the pool after a 15-9 win over Marist Brothers Linmeyer.
St Mary’s Waverley is top of pool D after a couple of convincing victories on Friday. They overpowered The King’s School Linbro Park 34-4 in their opener and then kept their opposition to single figures again, dominating the Saheti School B Team 21-5.
Diocesan School for Girls (Makhanda) played only once and triumphed 37-13 over St Mary’s DSG.
Boys’ results
Pool A
St David’s 34-25 Parktown Boys
Kearsney College 41-27 Falcon College
St Benedict’s College 39-17 Westville Boys’ High
Kearsney College 34-35 St David’s
Westville Boys’ High 25-16 Falcon College
St Benedict’s College 36-28 Parktown Boys
St David’s 28-25 St Benedict’s College
Parktown Boys 51-25 Falcon College
Kearsney College 37-34 Westville Boys’ High
St David’s 35-34 Kearsney College
Pool B
St Stithians College 37-11 Maru-a-Pula
Michaelhouse 30-23 St Charles College
KES 47-19 St Peter’s College
KES 38-17 Maru-a-Pula
Michaelhouse 32-21 St Peter’s College
St Stithians College 44-19 St Charles College
KES 36-30 St Charles College
Maru-a-Pula 28-16 St Peter’s College
Michaelhouse 38-32 St Stithians College
Pool C
St John’s College 39-27 St Alban’s College
Maritzburg College 65-13 Usutu Forest
St John’s College 39-34 Pretoria Boys
St Alban’s College 39-14 Usutu Forest
St Alban’s College 32-22 Pretoria Boys
Maritzburg College 43-41 St John’s College
Pool D
Michael Mount 24-17 St George’s College
St Andrew’s College 36-28 Jeppe Boys
Hilton College 31-19 St Stithians College u15A
Jeppe Boys 57-35 Michael Mount
Hilton College 35-28 St George’s College
Hilton College 35-28 St Andrew’s College
Michael Mount 27-15 St Stithians u15A
St George’s College 37-25 Jeppe Boys
Girls’ results
Pool A
Saheti A 25-22 Michael Mount
St Peter’s College 31-7 Trinity House
St Peter’s College 29-20 Michael Mount
Saheti A 23-14 Trinity House
Pool B
ISSA 26-14 Kingswood College
St Stithians College 16-6 Redhill
Kingswood College 10-8 Redhill
St Stithians College 28-13 ISSA
Pool C
Rand Tutorial 37-8 St Mary’s DSG
St Mary’s DSG 15-9 Marist Brothers
Rand Tutorial 43-18 St Dustin’s College
St Dustin’s College 21-16 Marist Brothers
Pool D
St Mary’s Waverley 34-4 The King’s Linbro
DSG (Makhanda) 37-13 St Mary’s DSG
St Mary’s Waverley 21-5 Saheti B
