Lalitpur, September 6

Golden Gate International College (GGIC) and Morgan International College advanced to the quarter-finals, while Trinity International College registered a victory in the Ncell U-18 Inter-college Basketball Tournament at the Nepali Army Sports Complex here today.

In the sixth-day matches of the tournament, GGIC beat Capital College and Research Centre (CCRC) 60-45 in which Yubraj Tamang scored 13 points for the winning team, while Birendra Jung Thapa scored 16 points as Trinity defeated Saipal Academy 62-51. Also, Morgan thrashed NAMI College 75-12 with Pawan Gurung scoring 21 points for the winning side.

In the first match of the day, Golden Gate opened with a 15-13 lead over CCRC in the first quarter and extended the advantage to four when they scored 16 against their opponents’ 14 points in the second period. Golden Gate took the third quarter 13-8 and won the final period 16-10 to register a comfortable victory. Highest scorer Tamang won the best player’s award.

Likewise, Trinity dominated the match against Saipal and won the first three quarters before Saipal took the final period which was not enough for them to avert the loss. Trinity scored 17 each in the first two quarters, while they netted 14 apiece in the final two periods. Saipal managed 15, 10, eight and 18 over the four quarters respectively. Birendra Jung Thapa, who scored 16 points for Trinity, was named the best player of the match.

In the last match of the day, Morgan outplayed NAMI in an one-sided affair. Morgan scored 21 points in the first quarter and did not allow NAMI to score.  Morgan then added 17 in the second quarter, while NAMI managed to open their accounts. Morgan took the third quarter 11-6, before they scored 26 in the final period against NAMI’s four.  Pawan Gurung, who was the highest scorer of the day with 21 points, received the best player’s award.

The 16-team tournament is organised by Ncell under the auspices of Nepal Basketball Association. After the league round, top two teams each from all four groups will advance to the quarter-finals. The final is slated for September 12.