Johannesburg Giants don secure back-to-back Basketball South Africa National Clubs Championship titles afta dem finish di national tournament unbeaten at 4-0. Coach Florsheim Ngwenya side close out di event for Johannesburg Mandeville Complex on Sunday, 11 October, dem crush 2024 national champions MBB 99-57 for di final round-robin game.
Di championship don crown di Giants and e don secure South Africa place for di 2027 FIBA Road to BAL qualifiers. Earlier dis year, di Giants make dia BAL debut, dem finish 0-5 for di Sahara Conference, afta dem come second for di Road to BAL East Division Elite 16 for Nairobi.
Four Giants players score for double digits against MBB. Dylan Whitbread lead wit 20 points on 4/6 shooting from beyond di arc, while Joshua Ozabor add 19 points on 4/7 from three-point land. Championship MVP Aviwe Mahlong score 15 and Yanick Kasilembo add 12.
Whitbread, former Cape Town Tigers guard, talk say im don spend time comot from basketball for most of last year before im rediscover im touch. Im talk: "I no play that much for di previous games. I get three minutes here and five minutes there." Im add say di squad "click" for di final and im focus on being "more vocal as leader".
As dem look ahead to di Road to BAL, Whitbread talk: "I know dis na step inside where we wan go. Plenty of di players don play Basketball Africa League level before, myself include. We get our eye firmly on dat goal."
