St Benedict’s College lift AISJ Invitational Basketball title
The first big basketball event of 2024 drew a host of top teams from around South Africa to Gauteng over the weekend for the American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ) Invitational High School Basketball Tournament, with teams testing their mettle at boys’ and girls’ u16 and u19 levels.
In the boys’ u19 competition, it was St Benedict’s all the way at they outplayed St John’s College 54-30 in the final to grab gold in impressive fashion.
Bennies’ passion and hunger was displayed during their unbeaten run in their pool matches, which included a 41-29 win over the hosts, AISJ, and further victories over Michael Mount, Saheti and Hilton College.
Their opponents in the final, St John’s College, emerged from Pool B, even though they had finished with a record of two and two. Westville Boys’ High topped the standings, after wins over St John’s, Maru-a-Pula School, from Botswana, Sacred Heart and St Stithians.
St John’s, third in Pool B, then defeated AISJ, who had finished second in Pool A, 40-37 in the cross-pool playoffs. Westville took on their compatriots from KZN, Hilton College, and comfortably won their showdown 46-29.
As things worked out, St Benedict’s ended up facing Michael Mount in the semis, and Westville took on St John’s once again.
Bennies had won by only one point against Michael Mount in their Pool A match, but when they met again, they recorded a more comfortable 40-34 victory. Westville, who beat St John’s 40-38 in Pool B, couldn’t repeat their winning ways in the rematch and the Johannesburg school scored a 42-33 win.
In the final, it was all about Bennies, who added the AISJ title to their previous wins, in late 2023, in the Kearsney Independent Schools Stayers’ Basketball Tournament and the Pharaoh Inanda Hoops. Westville finished third after a big 57-24 win over Michael Mount.
St John’s tasted title-winning success, nonetheless, after their u16 side ran roughshod over the competition to take gold with an emphatic 57-39 victory over ESCA.
In the girls’ u16 competition, Botswana’s Maru-a-Pula cruised through their Pool B games, while Saheti finished top of Pool A. Maru-a-Pula then accounted for AISJ in the cross-pool playoffs, while Saheti ran out 19-point winners over Herschel.
Unfortunately for Maru-a-Pula, their luck ran out against St Stithians in the semi-finals, where they lost 16-22, while Saheti powered their way to a 40-24 win over Redhill.
Saints had an upset on their mind as for the second time in the day they beat a team that was favoured over them, taking down Saheti by a 26-17 margin to win the tournament. Maru-a-Pula settled for third after a 25-10 win over Redhill.
Herschel and AISJ finished top of their respective pools in the u19 girls’ competition, and they duly went on to meet in the final. There was, sadly for the home supporters, no fairytale ending for AISJ as Herschel claimed a 41-30 victory to complete an unbeaten run through the tournament.
Finals
u16 Girls: St Stithians 26-17 Saheti
u16 Boys: St John’s 57-39 ESCA
u19 Girls: Herschel 41-30 AISJ
u19 Boys: St Benedict’s 54-30 St John’s
