NORTHWOOD School’s basketball team walked away victorious at this year’s Kearsney Centenary Basketball Tournament where they claimed seven wins in nine matches.

It was a competition to remember for the Knights, who were a late entry into the competition.

Northglen News caught up with three of the 1st team players, Keagan Best, Lunga Dlungwane and Enzo van Niekerk to chat about the victory.

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For team captain, Keagan Best, winning the tournament was surreal.

“I think we were the only public school that competed at the tournament and I got the feeling the other schools didn’t think we had the heart to win. Prior to the Kearsney tournament, we beat Durban High School (DHS) for the first time in a decade and then beat Maritzburg College for the first time in the school’s history. That really set the tone for us going into this tournament. When we received the trophy it was such a surreal feeling. Our coaches were incredible and the team showed they wanted to win more than the others. We showed proper heart,” Best said.

His comments were echoed by power forward, van Niekerk. We were definitely seen as the underdogs. We all wanted to show we weren’t there to just make up numbers. I think massive recognition needs to go to both our coaches who have really brought up the competition for Northwood’s basketball. We’ve sort of come from the trenches and we are hungry for more success,” van Niekerk said.

Fellow player Dlungwane said his teammates were like brothers to him, on and off the court.

“I think we have to maintain our level of self belief but also remain humble going forward. We are like a band of brothers on the basketball court and we all want to do our best for the school. To think we started this year with a loss and then we bounced back with a series of wins, it’s phenomenal. Like Enzo said, this has boosted our confidence ahead of our upcoming fixtures,” he said.