BuzzerBeater Forums

Game 10: Al Maghrib 65 vs. South Africa 78 (58981)

Record: 7-1

Standing: Currently 1st place - Locked in to advance to the semi-finals and for a top 3 seed
(Note: In this 2nd round, after each remaining team plays each other, the top 4 teams will head to the semi-finals where the 1st seed plays the 4th seed and the 2nd seed will play the 3rd seed)

The team put more effort into this one against a tough Al Maghrib opponent and came out with a low-scoring victory in this one.

- Umi Mugabe rallied the troops behind another double-double performance, posting a team-high 19 points and 16 rebounds.
- The team kept Al Maghrib to shooting only 32.9% from the field (24/73).

Player of the Game: Umi Mugabe (48097274) trained by JimyW

A closer look at the standings and remaining schedule,

- The 1st seed in the tournament is up for grabs with the Baby Boks, Misr/Egypt and Al Maghrib all neck to neck in the standings.
- With Senegal beating Nigeria this week, the race is still alive for both of those teams to have a shot to advance as the 4th seed.
- Al Maghrib and Misr/Egypt play each other next week in another battle of contenders.
- We'll then face-off against Misr/Egypt in the final week of this round to close out this three-week slugfest of the teams at the top.

Next week the Baby Boks face off against a potentially desperate Senegal squad who are in a must-win game against us to even have a chance advance to the semi-finals. The team will be preparing for another close contest!

South Africa's U21 team has moved up in the rankings (https://www.buzzerbeater.com/World/rankings.aspx?group=2)!

The Baby Boks started the season as the 64th ranked U21 team in the world and have now moved up to the 53rd ranked team. This is additionally significant because, as of right now, we are the top-ranked African U21 team with other countries not far behind - Senegal (54), Misr/Egypt (56), Al Maghrib (61) and Nigeria (65).

While rankings may come and go, we'll pause a moment to acknowledge the recent strides of the team that this reflects. The team will continue to push forward to further climb the ranks!

Nice!

Way to go ! :)

Thanks Lesley and CrazyBob!

I also wanted to give a special shoutout to JimyW as Umi Mugabe (48097274) has climbed into 8th place on the list of all-time rebounders in South Africa U21 history! Since the season isn't over yet, we'll see how many more legends he can pass up.

Great victory today and also with less attitude.
Congratulations

Very nice W tonight! The last game vs. Egypt will determine #1. GL!

Game 11: Senegal 89 vs. South Africa 116 (58984)

Record: 8-1

Standing: Currently 1st place - Locked in to advance to the semi-finals and for a top 2 seed
(Note: In this 2nd round, after each remaining team plays each other, the top 4 teams will head to the semi-finals where the 1st seed plays the 4th seed and the 2nd seed will play the 3rd seed)

The Baby Boks pulled off a decisive win against a Senegal team who put in more enthusiasm as they were fighting for their life in the tournament.

- Umi Mugabe continued to lead the squad with an incredible all-around performance posting a 20 points, including 2-3 from the 3-point line, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 0 turnovers. The man can not be stopped!
- All of the other starters had strong games as well with Thoibo Lonco leading the team with 21 points, Asanda Hadebe and Elphus Siamusiye both chipping in 17 points on efficient shooting nights and Gonasilan Sono continued his do-it-all performance with 7 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks.
- Yera Mji was a spark plug off the bench scoring 16 points in his 15 minutes of playing time.

Player of the Game: Umi Mugabe (48097274) trained by JimyW

Our victory over Senegal and Misr/Egypt's victory over Al Maghrib lock-in two of the semi-final spots as Al Maghrib will be the 3rd seed and Nigeria will be the 4th seed. That means the final game of this round is a significant one as the Baby Boks will face-off against the other top-ranked squad in Misr/Egypt where the winner will take 1st place in the standings and the top seed in the semi-finals. It's a big game and we'll need all hands on deck so please be sure to continue to keep those gameshapes up and as great as they have been so far this season!


Thanks Giorgio and Donny!

Game 12: South Africa 87 vs. Misr 69 (58986)

Record: 9-1

Standing: Will advance into the semi-finals as the 1st seed
(Note: In this 2nd round, after each remaining team plays each other, the top 4 teams will head to the semi-finals where the 1st seed plays the 4th seed and the 2nd seed will play the 3rd seed)

The clash of the top seeds ended in a victory for South Africa! This was truly a team win in the face of a stout opponent, especially with Siamusiye and Phatudi going down with injuries in the game.

- You can just assume Umi Mugabe would post another double-double and he did not disappoint as he had a team-high 23 points and pulled down 10 boards.
- 19-year-old Thikhathali Zibi was electric off the bench as he posted 18 points, which was good for 2nd-highest for the team, in 17 minutes of playing time to keep the team in it while the starters rested.
- Asanda Hadebe played tag team partner to Mugabe in this one as he had his own double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Player of the Game: Umi Mugabe (48097274) trained by JimyW

Next up, the semi-finals. We'll play the 4th seed - Nigeria - while the 2nd and 3rd seeds in Misr/Egypt and Al Maghrib will battle it out. All the hard work of training, managing gameshape and strategically planning has brought us to this point so let's keep at it and close this season out strong! Let's go Baby Boks!

Great victory against a very strong rival.
And I for my part would also highlight Thoibo Lonco that against a player of 53 239K He only let him score two points. xdxdxd
Congratulations and for the next. Great job.

Last edited by Giorgio950 at 03/16/2021 08:41:04

Semi-Finals: Nigeria 68 vs. South Africa 92 (59258)

Season Record: 12-1

Standing: We will advance to the finals match against Al Maghrib. Regardless of the outcome of the finals, our team is guaranteed a trophy in this tournament. Winning the semi-finals also punches our ticket to be able to compete at the highest level of competition in next season's U21 Worlds Tournament.

The final score may not have seemed like it but for the first half, this one was a bit of a nailbiter until the offense finally came alive. The referees were doing their best to keep Nigeria in this one as the Baby Boks were called for 28 fouls, which resulted in Nigeria shooting 31-39 (79%) FTs while our team only had 14 shots at the line. Winning another game against Nigeria was also a statement from the team that they had learned their lesson after taking their only loss of the season from this same squad.

- The young fellas came to play. 19-year-old Thikhathali Zibi received his first start for the team in what couldn't have been a bigger match and rose to the occasion. He led the team in scoring with 25 points on 10-18 shooting, including 4 three-pointers, and also chipped in 8 rebounds. He also had the highest +/- on the team with +29.
- Additionally, fellow 19-year-old Shafilshuna Machemko was 2nd on the team in scoring off the bench with 21 points in 25 minutes, including 4 three-pointers. You can continue to expect big things from this dynamic duo moving forward.
- While it was relatively quiet nights on the offensive front for starting big men Umi Mugabe and Gonasilan Sono, they found other ways to chip in as they each had 13+ rebounds and 5 assists for the game, which led the team.
- Though Nigeria was living from the free throw line, the defense really clamped down in this one as we limited their team to shooting only 16-70 (22%) from the field. This included keeping their starting PG, who was their team's 3rd highest salaried player, to shooting 0-14 for the game.

Player(s) of the Game: Thikhathali Zibi (48727515) and Shafilshuna Machemko (48727512) trained by A Warrior

To be in the Finals game for the African Tournament is a victory in and of itself and we have successfully arrived on that front but we're not done yet. We were able to conserve some of our effort against Nigeria so the team is ready to lay it all on the line against Al Maghrib and go for the gold!

I'd encourage you all to tune in on Monday for this championship game. Feel free to join the Discord (https://discord.gg/rZP27YpfPD) during the game and we can chat while it's happening live! Fight on Baby Boks!