In the match played at the National Sports Council Covered Hall, Golden Gate avenged its last year´s defeat against NASA in the first semifinal match with 84-63. Golden Gate took first two periods on its side to take the game from NASA. Golden Gate took the first period 21-11 and the second 26-11. By the end of the half-time Golden Gate was 25 points ahead.[break]
In the third period, NASA bounced back and took the period with 21-18. NASA took the fourth period 20-19 but it was not enough to stop Golden Gate from the victory. Bipendra Maharjan and Rabindra Maharjan were instrumental in Golden Gate´s victory in the quarterfinal match against South Siders on Sunday.
Bipendra scored 21 points while Rabindra scored 18 points. Robin Khatri of NASA was the highest scorer of the match with 22 points. With the win, Golden Gate has a chance to complete their hat-trick in the national tournaments.
In another semifinal, Premier thrashed Navodit College 76-42 and fixed the final for the first time in the national basketball tournament. Premier took all the periods. Premier had taken five points lead in the first period with the score of 17-12. In the second period Premier took the lead to 20 points after completing the second period 23-8.
Premier extended its lead to 32 points as premier scored 22 points against 10 of Navodit in the third period and claimed last period with 14-12 to take home the match by 34 points. Sadish Pradhan of Premier was the highest scorer of the match with 21 points.
The final clash on Tuesday is expected to be exciting as Premier had defeated Golden Gate in the league round of the tournament and the latter is aiming for revenge.
In the women´s section, Morgan thrashed Premier with 60-18 in the last match of the round robin and set up the final clash against Prime, who had already fixed the final. Morgan dominated first and the second period 23-2 and 21-4 for the victory. By half-time, Morgan were 38 points above.
Premier took the third period with 6-4 but Morgan bounced back in the fourth period and took it with 12-6. Sujata Rai and Mrinalini Shrestha scored combined 30 points for the victory. Shrestha netted 17 points while Rai scored 13 points for the winning team.
Morgan and defending champion Prime will lock horns on Tuesday for the title.
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