St Benedict’s College emerge victorious at Kearsney’s Basketball-tournament
St. Benedicts College recorded its first ever triumph at the Kearsney College’s Independent Stayers Basketball tournament over the long-weekend, defeating the highly decorated Maritzburg College in the final on Monday.
The sport of basketball is on a steady rise in the African continent and South Africa is no different.
Kearsney College hosted its Basketball Competition last weekend, where the country’s top-schools gathered inland of the Kwazulu-Natal province with hopes of emerging with the prized silverware.
The tournament stretched over a four-day period where eight teams progressed to the playoffs that were scheduled to take place on the final day of the tournament.
Hosts Kearsney College, St Albans College, St Stithians College, Maritzburg College, St Benedicts College, Michaelhouse, St David’s Marist and St John’s College all made it to the playoffs.
The hopes of reaching a home semi-final were crashed by the visiting St Stithians College as Kearsney fell short in the quarter-final with the scorecard reading 46-34 in favour of the visitors.
St Stithians College were the obvious favourites from the start of the tournament but when they faced Maritzburg College in the semi-final, they succumbed to a 42-38 defeat.
On the other hand, St. Benedicts College were making a name for themselves as the tournament progressed after going into the competition as clear underdogs and dark horses.
Having fought their way into the playoffs, St Benedicts made light work of St. Johns College in the quarter-finals beating them 42-39, before going on to thrash St. David’s Marist by a whooping 47-20 score-line.
With the final scheduled on the same day as the quarter-finals and semi-finals, there was very little time for Maritzburg College and St Benedicts College to regroup but the two teams were able to dig deep and produced a closely competed final.
Eventually, the underdogs St Benedicts College walked away victorious with the scoreboard reading 55-43 in their favour.
All the Results:
GROUP STAGE
| nt_header_1 | nt_header_2 | nt_header_3 | nt_header_4 | nt_header_5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pool A | Michael Mount | 34 | Clifton | 23 |
| Pool A | St Charles College | 38 | St Alban's College | 29 |
| Pool A | St Charles College | 59 | Enjabulweni | 23 |
| Pool A | St Alban's College | 52 | Michael Mount | 37 |
| Pool A | St Charles College | 57 | Clifton | 39 |
| Pool A | Michael Mount | 46 | Enjabulweni | 28 |
| Pool A | St Alban's College | 34 | Clifton | 32 |
| Pool B | Michaelhouse | 51 | The King's School | 30 |
| Pool B | St Benedict's College | 52 | Saheti | 28 |
| Pool B | The King's School | 57 | The Clan | 37 |
| Pool B | Michaelhouse | 65 | Saheti | 15 |
| Pool B | St Benedict's College | 61 | The Clan | 49 |
| Pool B | St Benedict's College | 55 | Michaelhouse | 29 |
| Pool B | The Clan | 40 | Saheti | 35 |
| Pool C | Hilton College | 65 | Peace Players | 42 |
| Pool C | St David's Marist | 39 | St John's College | 33 |
| Pool C | St David's Marist | 59 | Usuthu Forest | 21 |
| Pool C | St John's College | 45 | Peace Players | 25 |
| Pool C | St David's Marist | 50 | Hilton College | 34 |
| Pool C | Peace Players | 54 | Usuthu Forest | 21 |
| Pool D | Maritzburg College | 47 | Meridan Karino | 45 |
| Pool D | Kearsney College | 36 | St Stithians College | 30 |
| Pool D | Maritzburg College | 57 | St Stithians College | 42 |
| Pool D | Kearsney College | 63 | Kingswood College | 19 |
| Pool D | Kearsney College | 62 | Meridan Karino | 41 |
| Pool D | Kearsney College | 44 | Meridan Karino | 29 |
PLAY-OFFS
| nt_header_1 | nt_header_2 | nt_header_3 | nt_header_4 | nt_header_5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 16 | St Alban's College | 64 | Meridan Karino | 36 |
| Round 16 | Michaelhouse | 48 | Hilton College | 44 |
| Round 16 | Kearsney College | 52 | Clifton | 33 |
| Round 16 | St John's College | 50 | The King's School | 31 |
| Round 16 | St Benedict's College | 46 | Peace Players | 32 |
| Round 16 | St Stithians College | 49 | St Charles College | 37 |
| Round 16 | St David's Marist | 51 | The Clan | 37 |
| Round 16 | Maritzburg College | 59 | Michael Mount | 42 |
| Quarterfinal | Maritzburg College | 46 | St Alban's College | 45 |
| Quarterfinal | St Stithians College | 46 | Kearsney College | 34 |
| Quarterfinal | St Benedict's College | 43 | St John's College | 39 |
| Quarterfinal | St David's Marist | 35 | Michaelhouse | 26 |
| Semi-Final | Maritzburg College | 42 | St Stithians College | 38 |
| Semi-Final | St Benedict's College | 47 | St David's Marist | 20 |
| Final | St Benedict's College | 55 | Maritzburg College | 43 |
| 3/4 Playoff | St David's Marist | 37 | St Stithians College | 31 |
| 5/6 Playoff | St Alban's College | 57 | St John's College | 37 |
| 7/8 Playoff | Michaelhouse | 28 | Kearsney College | 27 |
| 9/10 Playoff | St Charles College | 53 | Hilton College | 33 |
| 11/12 Playoff | The King's School | 54 | Michael Mount | 52 |
| St Charles College | 59 | Michael Mount | 51 | |
| Michael Mount | 44 | Meridan Karino | 20 | |
| St Charles College | 46 | Clifton | 38 | |
| The King's School | 41 | Peace Players | 39 | |
| Hilton College | 20 | The Clan | 0 | |
| Kearsney College | 46 | St Alban's College | 45 | |
| St John's College | 39 | Michaelhouse | 38 | |
| The King's School | 48 | Hilton College | 45 |
