Ngwenya apologises to SA for FUS Rabat loss in BAL

If there’s something South Africa's most successful basketball coach Florsheim “Flosh” Ngwenya has not done much of in his 20-year career as a mentor, it's apologise for substandard performances.

You can go back to his days at Egoli Magic, the South African basketball team and even with the Cape Town Tigers, and the reality would be he has always worked with performing sides. 

With frustration etched on his face due to Cape Town Tigers’ mediocre display against FUS Rabat in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Tuesday, Ngwenya asked for forgiveness from fans when speaking to media after the game.  

His side were handed their third consecutive loss of the Kalahari Conference by the Moroccans, an 84-58 lesson at Sunbet Arena in Pretoria which saw their chances of proceeding to the next round decrease significantly. 

“I apologise to the fans,” Ngwenya, who has won five national titles, said.

“People have paid their money and taken time to come watch us play and we did not do justice to those people.” 

At halftime the Tigers trailed 44-34 after a good start in the first quarter compared with their weekend games against Petro de Luanda and Dynamo.

That would have given Ngwenya confidence and something to use as motivation in his interval pep talk. 

But FUS Rabat went up several gears in the last 20 minutes of the game while the Tigers remained in second gear, appearing to have given up.

On top of their 10-point lead at halftime, FUS Rabat added 27 points in the third quarter and 14 in the final period. 

During that time, they produced arguably the best performance of the tournament with their razzle-dazzle, behind-the-back passes, dunks and long threes.

Other than Samkelo Cele, who finished with 22 points, and Cartier Diarra, who scored 11, none of the Tigers players passed double figures while Rabat had three players who reached the mark.

Aliou Diarra was the chief destroyer for the Moroccans with 21 points and six rebounds. 

The Tigers had similar statistics in the individuals column in the previous two fixtures when two or three would raise their hands while others would shoot less than five points.  

Ngwenya underlined the lack of preparation before the tournament for their offensive and defensive woes in the league.

“We only had two weeks to prepare compared with the other teams who have been together for six, seven months and now it shows,” he said. 

Regardless of that, mathematically the Tigers can still progress to the next round if they win their two remaining games, starting with their clash against Petro de Luanda on Saturday (4pm).

A win for unbeaten FUS Rabat on Thursday (7pm) over Petro de Luanda will ensure they book a place in the next round in their debut season.