Kathmandu, September 4

GEMS, Times and Xavier International registered victories in the group-stage matches of the Ncell U-18 Inter-college Basketball Tournament here at the Nepali Army Sports Complex in Lagankhel today.

GEMS College thrashed NAMI College 49-15 riding on Ammar Azam’s 11 points in the first match of the day. GEMS opened with 13-9 lead but it was the second quarter that made the real difference in the match when they scored 22 points and did not allow NAMI to net to extend their lead to 26 points.

GEMS lost 5-6 in the third quarter before they scored nine in the final quarter when NAMI failed to score for the second time in the match. Prashanna Maharjan of the winning team won the player-of-the-match award.

In the second match, Times College beat DAV College 63-42 with Himal Shahi scoring 20 points for the winning team. Times took a 16-10 lead and DAV reduced the deficit to three points taking the second quarter 14-11. Times then controlled the match and extended the lead to 12 points by winning the third period 22-13 and dominated the final quarter 14-5 to register a comfortable victory. Pasang Sherpa was named the player of the match.

Likewise, Xavier International College hammered NASA International College 77-45 riding on massive 34 points from Ajay Kushuruwa, that also earned him the man-of-the-match award. Xavier opened with 20-14 lead and extended it to 15 by the half time when they took the second quarter 18-9. They dominated the remaining two periods and scored 17 and 22 points respectively while NASA managed seven and 15 over the two quarters respectively.

The participating 16 colleges have been divided into four pools with top two each from all the groups making it to the quarter-finals. The tournament is organised by Ncell under the auspices of Nepal Basketball Association. The final is slated for September 12.