Africa-Press – Botswana. The reigning Botswana Basketball League champions, Dolphins are through to the semi-finals of the Platinum Warriors Pre-season tournament.
Dolphins continued their dominance in local basketball, finishing off at the summit of the group stages with an unbeaten run having recorded three victories during the pre-season basketball tournament played at the SSKB Courts over the weekend.
Dolphins started the three game series on a high note with an impressive 66-38 victory against Warriors in game one and continued with their rich vein of form winning 73-39 and 78-30 against Jwaneng Diamond Bullets and Elite Academy respectively.
BDF V, on the other hand, had an easier path to the semis having been seeded against Troopers and inexperienced Dolphins Juniors.
The army team opened the tournament with a 64 -40 victory over Troopers and followed that with an 80-33 victory over Dolphins junior team.
“We have high aspirations this year and we wanted to get off on the right foot. The pre-season tournament is a perfect platform to build strength and fitness,” Dolphins coach Tryson Moyo said.
Though it is still pre-season, Moyo said it was always a good motivation to record victories in the opening games of the season as it came with some confidence boost that might be carried on in the league campaign.
He, nonetheless, cautioned his team not to be complacent and get carried away by the weekend results, adding that there was a lot of ground to cover during the regular season.
Moyo pointed out that Dolphins had so a lot of talent and depth, hence could afford to field booth its senior team and junior side, which acted as feeder to the senior team.
The tournament’s organising committee’s public relations officer, Baone Ramokone expressed delight at the turnout of both the participating teams and spectators for the games.
She said the committee was impressed by the teams and spectators’ response towards the games.
“We are humbled by the number of teams that honoured our invitation, especially those that are based outside Gaborone,” she said.
She observed that the turnout symbolised the thirst for basketball among many of the sport’s enthusiasts.
She however indicated that it was disappointing for the series not to be completed as scheduled due to the rain interruptions, hence the rescheduling of the semi-finals and the finals for the coming weekend.
In other games played over the weekend, Police V also booked a ticket to the semi-finals and will face off Platinum Warriors men in the second game.
In the ladies bracket, BDF V, Dolphins Albatross, Police V and Elite Academy also proceeded to the semi-finals.
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