Golden Gate‚ Premier‚ NASA enter semi-finals

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Golden Gate Club and Premier Club entered the men’s semi-finals of the third Morgan Cup 12th Men’s and 11th Women’s National Basketball Championships here at the National Sports Council covered hall today.

In the Group ‘A’ match, Premier hammered Nepal Army 114-47 to knock the Armymen out from the group stage. Premier’s victory also sent Golden Gate through to the last four after both teams won two matches each.

Premier began their dominance with a 27-13 lead in the first quarter and maintained it through out the match. Sadish Pradhan tossed in 31 points for the winners. Last year’s runner-up Premier stretched the lead to 35 after the completion of second quarter, scoring 31 to that of 10 points of Nepal Army. The Armymen only managed to add nine points in the third quarter when Premier netted 24.

Premier were more threatening in the final period scoring 33 points against the 15 of the Nepal Army. Gorakh Thapa top scored for the departmental team with 11 points. Premier will now take on Golden Gate in their last match on Friday which will decide the group winners.

From Group ‘B’, NASA entered the last four after a hard-fought 93-90 victory over Morgan with Vinod Maharjan tossing in match-winning 39 points. NASA took control of the first two quarters 29-23, 31-28. Morgan, however, made a remarkable comeback with a 22-14 lead in the third quarter, trailing by just one point with NASA. NASA prevailed over Morgan 19-17 in the decider to reach the semi-finals with one match remaining.

In another Group ‘B’ match, South Siders edged Navodit 73-67 to remain in hunt for the semi-finals. South Siders also led the first two quarters that built the foundation for their victory. They took 17-12 lead in the first quarter and stretched it to 15 adding 23 points against the 13 of their oppopnents in the second period.

Navodit bounced back scoring 24 points in the third quarter while containing South Siders to just 11. However, South Siders did well to defend the two-point lead in the final quarter scoring 22 points against the 18 of Navodit. Sanjaya Byanjankar posted a match-winning 38 points for South Siders, while Vishal Tamang contributed 19 for Navodit.

In the women’s section, Golden Gate failed to make the most of their first quarter lead of 11-5 against Premier to lose the match 50-30. Premier managed to take lead in the second quarter netting 21 points compared to the nine of the Golden Gate.

Premier did even better in the third quarter with their defense letting Golden Gate just two points while netting 14 themselves. Premier went to the last quarter with a healthy 18-point lead and dully closed out the match scoring another 19 to that of the eight of their opponents. Alisha Malla scored 10 points for Premier, while Maya Sayangten of Golden Gate netted a match-high 11.