Lalitpur, September 9

Liverpool International College and Morgan International College advanced to the semi-finals of the Ncell U-18 Inter-college Basketball Tournament here at the Nepali Army Sports Complex today.

Liverpool thrashed Times College 54-39 riding on 18 points from Samir (Madhav) Niraula, while Morgan came from behind to defeat Xavier International College 50-40 with Denju Gurung scoring 15 points for the winning side. In the first quarter-final, Liverpool were off to a flying start and never looked back before registering a comprehensive victory.

They opened with a 10-3 lead and extended the advantage to 10 points going into the break when they won the second quarter 19-16. Liverpool then won the third period 14-6 before Times had a last laugh in the final quarter. Times took the fourth quarter 14-11 but that was not enough for them to avert the loss. Ashish Basnet of Liverpool was awarded with the best player’s trophy.

In another match, Morgan rallied to beat Xavier and book a place in the semi-finals. Xavier opened with a 10-9 lead before Morgan bounced back to take the second period 16-7 and opened up an eight-point advantage. Morgan extended their lead to 12 points after they netted 12 points in third period and restricted Xavier to eight. Xavier did won the final quarter 15-13 but the damage was already done which they failed to overcome. Milan Puri of Morgan was named the best player of the match.

On Thursday, Prime College will take on LRI College, while Golden Gate College are up against GEMS College in the remaining quarter-final matches of the tournament organised by Ncell under the auspices of Nepal Basketball Association.