Tough start for SA basketball in Oz

The South Africans battled against the world's top team from the beginning.

The South Africans battled against the world's top team from the beginning.

Published Jun 28, 2011

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Canberra, Australia - Team South Africa got off to a tough start on Tuesday, going down 87-44 to world champions Australia in their first game of the Tri-Series wheelchair basketball tournament at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The South Africans battled against the world's top team from the beginning, and were quickly down 26-10 in the first quarter and 48-16 after the second.

A deepened resolve in the second half, and some fighting spirit, saw the team fight back and lose the remaining two quarters by a few points.

Hampered by the news that their star player Richard Nortje, who plays league basketball in Italy, was ill and had to pull out at half-time, the team tightened their defence to run the hosts close in the last half.

It was South Africa's shooting that let them down. They only converted 31 percent of their field goals, as opposed to Australia's 58 percent.

They got into Australia's shooting area on more than 60 occasions, but had little luck finishing against them.

Despite the loss, coach Patrick Fick was upbeat about the performance, especially in the second half.

“This is our first game at the Australian Institute of Sport against the best team in the world,” said Fick.

“The comeback in the second half for us was incredible, especially considering Richard Nortje was ill today. He really couldn't produce much for us in the first half, so I didn't even go back to him in the second half.

“But the guys stepped up. I think we lost the last two quarters by six points each quarter. To play the number one team in the world to 12 points in two quarters shows that our development is starting to go somewhere.”

With another five games in four days at the impressive venue, Fick said his team must up the ante and prove they can compete at top level while gaining much-needed experience ahead of their African qualifiers in Morocco in October.

“We've really challenged ourselves to compete against some of the best teams in the world,” he said.

“Australia are ranked number one, so it will be a character-building tour for us, no doubt. Obviously we don't think we're at a stage where we can beat them just yet, but at the same time the guys have to step up and show character. That will help us a lot going forward towards the qualifiers.”

South Africa will face Australia again on Wednesday morning before taking on the Netherlands in Wednesday afternoon's game. - Sapa

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