In the men´s final, NASA defeated defending champions Golden Gate 84-65 at the National Sports Council covered hall. In their debut appearance, NASA smashed the hopes of Golden Gate of making a hat-trick with their third consecutive title. [break]
NASA took a 20-16 lead in the first quarter. Golden Gate bounced back 23-18 in the second quarter to surpass their opponents by a single point margin. However, NASA outclassed Golden Gate in the third quarter 25-8 to widen the gap. Golden Gate made some improvement in the last quarter but lost 21-18.
Rajiv Shakya scored the highest, 25 points, for the winners. He was later adjudged Most Valuable Player (MVP). He received Rs 25,000.
In the women´s final, Prime College defended their title beating NASA 50-47 in a hard-fought match. In the first two quarters, Prime took a marginal lead of 13-10, 13-11.
The total score at the end of the third quarter was a scintillating 37-36 in favor of Prime even though they lost the third quarter 11-15. Prime maintained their lead in the last quarter, despite a close call from their opponents, to score 13-11 for victory.
Gyanu Gauchan contributed 17 points for the winners. However, the highest scorer of the match was Ronahi Limbu of NASA with 18 points. Elisha Ghale was adjudged MVP in the game. She also bagged a purse of Rs 25,000.
Principal of organizers Morgan College Dipendra Bhandari said such tournaments help in the overall development of students.
On the occasion, national basketball team´s Sadish Pradhan was awarded Rs 10,000 for being the highest scorer from Nepal in the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) earlier this year. Pradhan scored 64, 22 and 34 points in three matches during SAG.
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