LALITPUR, MARCH 22
Royal Basketball Academy registered their second straight victory in the first Royal National Level U-23 Basketball Tournament here today.
The hosts defeated Himalayan White House College 70-42 at the Royal Sports Central courts in Siddhipur.
Royal took a 24-0 lead in the first quarter and took the second period 19-15. White House won the low-scoring third quarter 9-8 before Royal took the final period 19- 18. Ravi Poudel top scored in the match with 18 points, while his Royal teammate Rojesh Maharjan was named the Fresh Bites man of the match. In other matches, Times International College beat Solo Basketball Academy 49-47, Kirtipur Basketball defeated Xavier International College 56-34, and Jhilimili Basketball Club outplayed Dharan Megha College 56-45.
Times made a brilliant start taking a 21-3 lead and they walked away with a win despite losing the remaining three quarters. Solo reduced the deficit winning the second quarter 16-10 before taking the third 15-13. Solo put up a strong show in the fourth period, taking it 12-4 but that was not enough for them to avert the loss. Three players, Manish KC, Prasanna Lama and Sujan Limbu contributed eight points each for the winning side, while Shreyas Shah of Times was declared the man of the match.
Also, Kirtipur and Xavier were tied on 11 points each in the first quarter before the former took a nine-point lead in the second period that ended at 16-7. Kirtipur, who had faced defeat at the hands of Royal in the opening match, extended the lead to 15 points after they won 17-11 in the third period.
Kirtipur then took the final quarter 12-4 to complete the thumping victory. Kirtipur's Aashish Maharjan, who top scored with 20 points, was named the man of the match.
Likewise, Jhilimili began the campaign with an easy win against Dharan Megha College riding on 14 points from Kabin Magar, who was later adjudged the man of the match. The two teams opened the match with 10 points each in the first quarter before Dharan took the second period 19-9 to take a 10-point lead. Dharan netted 15 and Jhilimili scored 14 in the competitive third quarter before the both the teams were tied on 12 points in the final quarter.
A total of eight teams are taking part in the tournament organised by Royal Sports Central. The teams are divided into two pools and top two from both the groups will make it to the semi-finals. The final is slated for Friday.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 23, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
