Defending NBL champions Lerotholi Polytechnic off to bright start

The 2018/19 National Basketball League season got underway this past weekend
and the opening round of action did not disappoint...

Defending National Basketball League (NBL) champions Lerotholi Polytechnic got their title defence off to a bright start with a double dose of wins on the opening weekend of the 2018/19 NBL season.

Fokothi started things off with a nail-baiting 40-39 win over NUL Rovers in the season opening game on Friday night at Lehakoe, a game which was closer than expected.

Lerotholi then faced league new boys Tigers on Saturday but this time things were not as tight as the champions demolished their opponents 83-43.

The wins put Lerotholi on top of the A-Division’s Southern Conference after the first weekend of action as the only team to play twice and win twice.

NUL Rovers also played twice and they recovered from their Friday night disappointment against Lerotholi to wallop Roma 52-30 on Saturday at NUL.

The most high-profile fixture of the weekend was a Northern Conference clash on Sunday between Lichocha Shooting Rifles – runners up in the last two NBL Finals – and 2016 champions KTA All-Stars.

The game wasn’t close, however, as Lichocha outclassed KTA 54-35, the first major result in a season promises to be a fascinating one.

This year the fast-growing NBL has its most-ever registered teams in the league – 14.

The consequence is that the NBL’s top-flight A-Division has been divided into two streams, the North and South conferences.

Each conference has seven teams and at the end of the season the top two sides from each stream will advance to the four-team championship playoffs to determine the 2018/19 NBL champion.

NBL A-Division
Southern Conference	Northern Conference
Lerotholi Polytechnic NUL Rovers Tigers Bokamoso South Mafeteng Roma BBH	Lichocha Shooting Rifles KTA All-Stars Botho University Limkokwing Bokamoso North T98 Khubestate

Meanwhile, in the Ladies League there were weekend wins for Bokamoso North and Lerotholi while NUL Rovers and Lichocha claimed wins by forfeit after their opponents (Roma and KTA respectively) failed to show up for their games.

National Basketball League Weekend Results:

Friday at Lehakoe:

Lerotholi Polytechnic 40-39 NUL Rovers

Saturday at NUL:

A-Division:

Khubestate 40-63 T98

Limkokwing University 27-52 Bokamoso North

NUL Rovers 52-30 Roma

BBH 0-20 Bokamoso South (BBH lost by forfeit)

Ladies Division:

Limkokwing 11-42 Bokamoso North

NUL Rovers 20-0 Roma (Roma lost by forfeit)

Sunday at Lehakoe:

A-Division:

Lichocha Shooting Rifles 54-35 KTA All-Stars

Tigers 43-83 Lerotholi Polytechnic

Ladies Division:

Lichocha Shooting Rifles 20-0 KTA All-Stars (KTA lost by forfeit)

Tigers 37-38 Lerotholi Polytechnic

Lichocha women not resting after NBL championship win

Lichocha women are Lesotho's basketball queens again...

There is no rest for the wicked, as they say, and that is the case for the Lichocha Shooting Rifles ladies basketball team. Just three weeks ago Lichocha won a third successive National Basketball League (NBL) women’s title but already they are looking at ways to improve their squad.

Lichocha were crowned 2016/17 champions after beating Bokamoso North 49-45 in Game 5 of a thrilling women’s NBL finals to win the series 3-2.

It was a tightly-contested series pitting the experience of Lichocha against the youth of Bokamoso. But, in the end, Lichocha prevailed to add to titles they won in 2015 and 2016.

However, instead of celebrating, Lichocha say they are already head-hunting players to reinforce their squad. It is this attitude that can help explain why the team has won seven major trophies since 2014.

Lichocha captain Khothalo Mpeta said the team is on a scouting mission to find two players that will fill their roster. Lichocha currently have 10 players and teams are allowed to have 12. Mpeta also praised the team’s closeness as being the key to their continuing success.

“We need to recruit a few more players to make it a full team of 12 players; at the moment the team has only 10 players,” she said.

“We are successful because of the love we have between us as players,” Mpeta added. “We trust each other and everyone knows what to do on the court. The love that we all have for each other keeps the squad in high spirits.”

BBH and Lichocha face-off at Lehakoe

Will BBH get past Lichocha?

Bashana Baheso and Lichocha Shooting Rifles will face-off in a high-profile National Basketball League (NBL) clash this evening at the Lehakoe Club.

The game will start at 18:00 and will have plenty at stake for both teams. BBH, who were national champions in 2015, are in third place while Lichocha are in fourth place.

Only the top four teams in the 12-team NBL will qualify for the season-ending playoffs and a chance at the national championship.

BBH have 21 points with nine wins from 12 games while Lichocha have 20 points with nine wins from 11 games. A win for either team would see them leapfrog champions KTA All-Stars into second place in the NBL standings and take them a step closer to clinching a coveted playoff spot.

BBH go into this evening’s game looking to bounce back from a nail-biting 55-51 loss to Bokamoso South last Saturday. It was only their second defeat in their last 10 games. Lichocha, on the other hand, are coming off a 67-17 demolition of Bokamoso North last weekend.

Today’s clash could be a tight, low-scoring affair. BBH and Lichocha share the best defensive record in the league having allowed 455 points this season.

NBL – A

		P	Points	W	L	PF	PA	Diff	Last 10	Streak
1	Bokamoso South	14	27	13	1	910	548	9-1	362	W5
2	KTA All-Stars	13	22	9	4	699	602	7-3	97	W3
3	Bashana Baheso	12	21	9	3	662	455	8-2	207	L1
4	Lichocha	11	20	9	2	884	455	8-2	429	W1
5	NUL Rovers	12	19	7	5	559	518	5-5	41	W1
6	Leseli Tigers	12	17	6	6	562	563	5-5	-1	L2
7	Bokamoso North	13	17	4	9	399	572	3-7	-173	W1
8	Khubestate	13	16	4	9	449	642	3-7	-193	L4
9	Lerotholi P.	13	16	3	10	507	769	2-8	-262	L6
10	Limkokwing	12	14	2	10	345	599	2-8	-254	W2
11	LCE	11	13	2	9	357	610	2-8	-253	L2