Prince Edward School Panthers lifted the annual Eversharp Under-20 Schools National Basketball Tournament with the narrowest of edges, defeating Kutama College 16-15.
The crowd inside Court A at Prince Edward were treated to a thriller that burst into life right from the tip-off.
As an early indication of what would come, Prince Edward was first on the board with a quick 2 by Tadiwanashe Chitsunge before Travolta Zimhunhu hit another rebound to take the score to 4-0.
Kutama College responded by halving the deficit to make it 4-2 through Tatenda Murairwa.
The opening exchanges would fall in Prince Edward’s favour with them holding a four-point lead as the team went for the halftime break at 13-9.
The incredible pace of the game didn’t let up with both sides showing their offensive qualities at the beginning of the second quarter.
An electric atmosphere in the arena was the perfect backdrop for the tournament as Kutama College was determined to snatch the game from Prince Edward.
They turned on the heat but ultimately failed to turn the game on its head as Prince Edward maintained their grip to win the Eversharp Under-20 basketball tournament by a single point.
Prince Edward capped a memorable campaign off in front of a home crowd as they showed their might in a tournament that was attended by more than 30 Schools from across Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Girls High School maintained their dominance in the girls’ final by beating Dzivarasekwa 2.
Both the boys’ and girls’ winning teams took home a $1500 prize money.
Speaking to Zimbuzz Eversharp marketing manager, Tonderai Kamusoko said they were encouraged by the response from the schools following a covid-19 induced break.
“We were quite shocked by the response, we sent out forty invitations and almost thirty-three schools are participating. We believe it’s a tournament that most schools have been looking forward to hence the positive response,” said Kamusoko.
He also said that Eversharp was committed to continuing to sponsor the national event where all schools participate despite where they are coming from.
“We will run for many years to come and we want it to be much bigger, we look forward to having more schools participating as we grow,” he added.
Kamusoko said naturing talent from the grassroots was at the centre of their values as a company.
“We value nurturing talent from a tender age as in so doing we create the bigger superstars for our national teams, school children are our primary consumers as Eversharp and it makes sense for us to sponsor them at that level,” said Kamusoko.
Share Your Comments