{"id":86393,"date":"2025-11-11T11:50:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T09:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=86393"},"modified":"2025-11-11T11:50:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T09:50:41","slug":"northwood-beats-maritzburg-college-in-big-kzn-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=86393","title":{"rendered":"Northwood beats Maritzburg College in big KZN showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_86499\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86499\" style=\"width: 333px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-86499 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Northwood-Bucket--333x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-86499\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Northwood scoring a bucket while Maritzburg College attempts to defend against it. Photo: Anele Sibhoko\/Northwood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Although the majority of schools nationwide have concluded their basketball matches for 2025, several KZN schools were in action on Saturday, including a big-time showdown between <strong>Northwood<\/strong> and <strong>Maritzburg College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A basketball clash between Northwood and College is a guarantee of a high-voltage action-packed game and the KZN basketball powers delivered again, outdoors in Durban.<\/p>\n<p>The conditions were testing, sunny but windy, but both teams adapted their games well to meet that challenge.<\/p>\n<p>From the very first tip-off, the match was intense and charged with emotion. Both teams entered the fray with determination, and early technical fouls on both sides established the competitive atmosphere for the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Once the initial chaos subsided, Northwood, led by <strong>u18 South African national basketball team<\/strong> player, <strong>Siya Shabalala<\/strong>, took control, launching aggressive attacks in transition, which led them to a four-point advantage by the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, Northwood transitioned into a two-three zone, maintaining discipline and focus. Communication was precise, rotations were compact, and the team effectively controlled the boards. By halftime, <em><strong>the Knights<\/strong> <\/em>had extended their advantage to 32-24, having restricted College to minimal second-chance opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>The <em><strong>Red, Black<\/strong><\/em>, and <em><strong>White<\/strong> <\/em>headed into the second half having made strategic adjustments and were able to narrow the deficit to just one point. Northwood, though, responded with a scoring run of their own.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Basketball - Michaelhouse vs Hilton College - 8 November 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nSYb-i161xQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the fourth quarter, the home side was faced with further challenges to overcome when both <strong>Sims Vacu<\/strong>, one of Northwood&#8217;s standout players, and Shabalala incurred their fourth fouls. The Knights&#8217; bench rose to the challenge, defended tenaciously and sustained the game&#8217;s tempo.<\/p>\n<p>Inside, <strong>Awande Chiliza<\/strong> delivered an impressive performance, concluding the contest with 18 points and 22 rebounds, which left him only two points shy of his third consecutive 20\/20 game.<\/p>\n<p>Shabalala topped the scoring chart with 27 points and set the game&#8217;s tempo through fearless drives and relentless hustle. Vacu contributed 10 points and six assists and skilfully managed the attack until foul trouble hindered his progress.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, Northwood won by 14 points to reaffirm their status as one of South Africa&#8217;s top basketball teams.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_86520\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86520\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-86520\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/basketball-clifton-kearsney-081125-400x348.jpg\" alt=\"Thomas de Charmoy pulled off a superb block to prevent Kearney scoring a breakaway, but the visitors had the upper hand in a comfortable win over Clifton College on Saturday at the Riverside Sports Club. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"348\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-86520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thomas de Charmoy pulled off a superb block to prevent Kearney scoring a breakaway, but the visitors had the upper hand in a comfortable win over Clifton College on Saturday at the Riverside Sports Club. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Pabatso Sithole leads Kearsney College to win over Clifton\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In hot and windy conditions, <strong>Kearsney College<\/strong> made their way to the <strong>Riverside Sports Club<\/strong> to take on <strong>Clifton College <\/strong>in their final fixture of the year<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pabatso Sithole<\/strong>, who has enjoyed a superb season, once again demonstrated his skills by leading Kearsney with 21 points.<\/p>\n<p>He was their star performer when <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/kearsney-lifts-independent-schools-stayers-basketball-tournament-title\/\"><strong>Kearsney lifted the Independent Schools Stayers&#8217; Basketball Tournament title<\/strong><\/a> and his excellent form has continued throughout the term.<\/p>\n<p>Sithole received good support from <strong>Lubansi Mseleku<\/strong> and <strong>Daniel Prinsloo<\/strong>, who contributed 12 points each, while <strong>Lwandile Njapha <\/strong>dropped eight points in a 66-21 Kearsney victory.<\/p>\n<p>The game got off to a slow start, with both sides struggling to find their shooting range. At the end of the first quarter, Kearsney held a slim 8-7 lead.<\/p>\n<p>In the second quarter, the visitors found their shooting stroke and their defensive structure, adding 21 points without conceding any to go into the break leading 29-7.<\/p>\n<p>Clifton picked up their game in the second half, but Kearsney comfortably eased clear, with the home side adding 14 points and the visitors tacking on another 37.<\/p>\n<p>At Westville, the visitors, <strong>St Charles College<\/strong>, pulled off a hard-fought 10-point victory over <strong>Westville Boys&#8217; High<\/strong>, winning 69-59.<\/p>\n<p>In Balgowan, the honours in the big clash between <strong>Michaelhouse<\/strong> and <strong>Hilton College<\/strong> went to the visitors, who came away with a six-point win, 62-46.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kearsney College 62-21 Clifton College<br \/>\nHilton College 52-46 Michaelhouse<br \/>\nNorthwood 66-52 Maritzburg College<br \/>\nSt Charles College 69-59 Westville Boys&#8217; High<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although the majority of schools nationwide have concluded their basketball matches for 2025, several KZN schools were in action on Saturday, including a big-time showdown between Northwood and Maritzburg College. A basketball clash between Northwood and College is a guarantee of a high-voltage action-packed game and the KZN basketball powers delivered again, outdoors in Durban. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":86400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/86400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}