Game Day Recap; 06/04
Another French recipe from Police...
Women... CEPS 49, Police 55
No Georgina, no Becky, but Police got Emmanuela. Police reiterated their dominance of CEPS ladies by winning this much anticipated re-match of the finals that never "ended". Police made their thoughts clear once again; "we are not loosing to CEPS"seems like the plan their coaches had in their playbook as they beat CEPS for the second straight season. CEPS came into the game with a clear plan, pass the ball more, get open and get higher percentage shots. They did a good job at it especially in the first quarter as they started the game with a 10-2 run which was reduced to 14-10 by the end of the 1st. Polce stayed with their everyday game, get the ball to their "bigs" (Rahi and Esi) and let them get to work while their guards kept the CEPS defense honest with their shooting from downtown. Enter Emmanuela, another French speaking acquisition of the Police women's team. She got game! Picture a 5'9'', 5'10'' southpaw chic with a man's game; decent defense, jab step to the right, then quick dribble through the CEPS defense for the lay up. But then CEPS wasn't an easy foe,led by Belinda Tawiah(undersized but did a wonderful job defending Police' "bigs") they fought and kept the game alive to the end even though they looked beat from half way through the second quarter. Can't wait for the rematch of this game later in the year... 
D1... CEPS 70, Magic 50
Not as boring as I thought it would have been, after watching these two teams play in last year's Thome Cabalan preliminary stages. A "Brimah-less" but "Douggy-ful"(back from suspension after 10 months) CEPS team looked like they were running a clinic on how to get Dodzie open for the jumper as they set multiple picks for him to do the baseline cut and take the trey. With Magic coach, Wilson still serving his suspension, the Magic were left to survive the game on their own. This game saw Magic's starting front court play a lot of minutes and they proved their worth to the team. They worked hard on the boards but still need some tweaking to make them the team's bedrock.
Game Day Recap; 25/3
TO's / Missed FT's galore
Women... Reformers63, Holy Family 46
Easy win for the Reformers' ladies if you ask. Holy Family started the game with fairly balanced competition even without 
Dionne who showed up a little too late to bring any positive change to her team's plight. Reformers actually won the game in the second quarter when they blew past HF to the take the quarter at 23 - 03.
Warriors 60, Magic 49
I expected a little bit too much from the Magic team, knowing that their loss to Warriors last season was just a point. Anyone who was at Lebanon House Friday afternoon will agree that, the amount of hustle in Magic's play didn't reflect that much on the score board. But then that's basketball; hustle and get the points at the same time. There's so much that can be said about this game, from the ton of turnovers committed(total 50 by both sides) and free throws missed(total of 9 0f 30) by both sides to Pajero's facial on Theo, to Theo's own good hustle to block Abu's breakaway lay up after committing the turnover in the front court. 
Warriors did a good job of slowing down the game in the 4th, which definitely affected Magic's play because it was evident they couldn't find a rhythm to end the game even though they closed up to 9 points at a stage. Other players that impressed today were Abu(3 of 4) and Mustapha(2 of 2) who hit a couple of well selected treys for the Warriors team even though they played significant minutes.
Game Day Recap; 23/3
...attempting to hit, is hitting.
Women... Turbo Jets 38, Magic 42
This same game started the W last season, but with a few changes made to both teams this time around. Magic ladies was the better side again, while the Jets showed improvement as the game was not very much one sided like last year's. Very good additions to the Magic team; Aisha, Gwynne and Korro have brought a fair amount of size and understanding of the game to the already good team. So call them better! Anybody watching the game should have obviously noticed the number of "coaches"(persons shouting out instructions) that Magic had. Too much yelling for a team that's not so bad, maybe they should talk to the Jets' coaches to get some info on how to stay composed during games, the man was still cool even when his side was drifting. And then I was very disappionted in the man who was actually on the Magic bench as the coach, Francis Wilson(Soweto). His behaviour towards his own players and the refs(which resulted in him being ejected) was just out of range and highly unnecessary.
D1... Reformers 68, Police 77
Reformers won this match up last year at the same venue(on their home court)58 - 48. Police won this time. Why? Police stayed on the court and got better while I don't know what they(Reformers) did. Very exciting game if you ask me and my panelists( you know yourselves). Kay's one handed put back dunk on the Reformers defense was the most exciting play of the game, but forget fancy plays. Police impressed me a lot with a couple of new plays they introduced in their offense, even though the plays had their own technical flaws, I was just excited that another team has embraced the need to run plays and not just allow the offense to happen like in a pick up game. Emeric and Dickson did the do for Police when needed most. For me, Agbesi was the only bright spot in the Reformers team; dishing out his dimes as usual and knocking down a couple of deep 3's. The team needs a serious revival if they still want to stay among the elite in the L. Can't forget the "attempting to hit, is hitting" on ref Frank by Police forward, Prince. Not an incident we'll like to see occur frequently on our courts but I think some of the refs should get their acts right, sometimes the flaws committed are little bit disheartening for the players to absorb without reacting. That in no way guarantees players to also react unnecessarily after calls. 
