Yesterday’s match was a thrilling encounter as the Braves of Ghana secured their first win of the campaign against the Swallows of Togo in the second round of the West African Basketball Classics. The Ghanaian team’s performance was significantly improved compared to their first-round match against Kwara Falcons. They displayed more determination and defensive resilience, a performance that both the coach and players can be proud of.
Speaking to the media, Coach Richard Borsah attributed his team’s improvement to a crisis talk he had with the team in the hotel right before the game. Following a disappointing loss to the Kwara Falcons after casually giving away a 10-point lead, Coach Richard Borsah and his coaching crew held a crisis meeting the next morning. They addressed various issues and deficiencies, which the coach believes was the turning point for the team, despite lingering concerns about similar problems.
“In the first game, we had it for three quarters, and then in the fourth quarter, we lost, I think, a 10-point lead. So, we had to sit down and correct the issues that occurred in the last quarter. As you can see with this game, we almost did the same thing. We had to tighten up our defense to get over the hurdle. So yes, we were meeting and talking about most of the things that we did wrong in the previous game to ensure that we don’t repeat them, and that contributed to the win today.”
Coach Borsah also cited inexperience as one of the reasons for their first-round display, noting that many of his players were participating in their first international competition. He mentioned that the players needed to adapt to the pace, physicality, and intensity of an international tournament.
“I think that generally, because this team is a new team that we are building, some of our cultures are taking time to absorb them. So that’s why sometimes you see the lead and then it goes down. They lose their head sometimes. They are a young bunch of players. They are still learning, but we’ll get there eventually.”
“The majority of them, this is their first time leaving the shores of Ghana and playing international basketball. So, inexperience is one of the biggest problems we are facing. But after the first game, they started to pick it up. They started to understand the gravity of the work at hand. The way the game is played internationally is very different from how it’s played where we come from. It’s very physical. So, it has taken them a game loss to understand the physicality of what is going on over here. So I think that as we keep going on, we’ll get better.”
