South Siders and Prime win national basketball titles

KATHMANDU, July 5: South Siders and Prime College claimed the men's and women's titles of the Morgan Cup 12th Women and 13th Men National Club-wide Basketball Tournament respectively at the covered hall of the National Sports Council, Tripureshwar in Kathmandu on Monday.

South Siders defeated Golden Gate 91-78 to claim men's title, while Prime recorded 57-47 win over Whitehouse to bag the women's trophy.

In the men's final, South Siders was 14-21 behind Golden Gate in the first quarter but bounced back to claim the last three quarters. South Siders led the second quarter 24-23. The third quarter turned to be vital as it ended on 27-18 in favor of South Siders that claimed the last quarter 26-16.

Bijay Purja top scored 27 points for the champion team, while Siddhartha Maharjan scored 24 points for Golden Gate.

Similarly, in the women's virtual final, Prime took the first quarter 10-7 against Whitehouse but went down in the second quarter 17-19. However, Prime led the third quarter 12-6 and forth 18-15 to win the match.

Lunibha Singh was the highest scorer with 21 points for champion Prime, while Anusha Malla contributed 18 points for Whitehouse.

The women's event was played in round-robin format and the last match was vital for both the teams as they were unbeaten till the last match, which was considered as the final.

South Sider's Bijay and Prime's Lunibha were adjudged the most valuable players of the tournament.

Altogether eight teams took part in the men's event and six teams participated in the women's section.