Joburg Giants lose third game in Basketball Africa league

The best display by the Joburg Giants in this year’s Basketball Africa League was not enough to prevent a third consecutive defeat, leaving them on the brink of elimination from the play-offs.

The Giants fell to a 102-89 defeat to the classy RSSB Tigers from Rwanda for whom American import Craig Randall had a dominant night, scoring a game high 39 points.

The Rwandan club, late replacements for the APR army team, who were forced to abandon the tournament because of American sanctions, secured their playoff spot, and will return to Kigali at the end of May.

But they had to stave off a courageous Giants team, for whom Jakobi Heady and Nkosinathi Sibanyoni were superb.

There was no repeat of the first quarter blues seen in the opening two games; here the Giants started hot, making each of their first four shots, with their outstanding player of the week, Heady, again leading the way with 30 points.

They would come to regret not making more of that first quarter dominance as the Tigers eventually emerged from their slumber and delivered a robust response to end the second quarter thanks to improved three point-shooting to take a 49-47 lead at halftime.

Randall had taken control of the game by then, and he started the second half with a trio of threes that gave his side further momentum.

To their credit the Giants didn’t flounder and with Sibanyoni delivering on both sides of the floor, making critical lay-ups and grabbing several vital rebounds, the Giants stayed in touch. Sibanyoni finished with 24 points and an impressive 18 rebounds.

The question at the end of the third quarter, when the Giants trailed by three points, was whether they could continue to challenge the Tigers as energetically they’d done throughout the evening. The answer sadly was, no.

Randall scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, and with the Giants flagging, the Rwandan club gradually grew the lead to double digits.

Another terrific atmosphere greeted the teams at the Sunbet Arena in Tshwane, with the majority of the audience firmly behind the Giants. A pocket of cheeky Rwanda fans added color to proceedings on a night where there was further proof of the enthusiasm for this sport and the BAL product.

In the earlier game - officially the 200th fixture since BAL was launched - an efficient and dynamic Petro Luanda proved too dominant against Nairobi City Thunder, winning 97-70.

TimesLIVE