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Kwiks Basketball League: GGIC stun Army in thrilling final
Manish Raj Rajopadhyaya dropped in a buzzer beater as Golden Gate International College (GGIC) stunned Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) 97-96 in an electrifying final of the Kwiks Basketball League on Saturday.bookmark
Published at : April 1, 2018
Updated at : April 1, 2018 11:02
Kathmandu
Manish Raj Rajopadhyaya dropped in a buzzer beater as Golden Gate International College (GGIC) stunned Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) 97-96 in an electrifying final of the Kwiks Basketball League on Saturday.
The Armymen trailed GGIC throughout the match after their shooting guard Sadish Pradhan, the national team skipper, had an off day missing almost a dozen from three-point line. However, youngsters Nischal Maharjan and Ashish Basnet combined with experienced Binod Maharjan to bring back TAC in the game at closing stages of the game that ended with Rajopadhyaya’s buzzer beater controversy.
At one stage TAC were trailing by 13 points in the final quarter but three pointers from Basnet and Ayush Singh and a two from saw them lead for the first time in the game at 84-82 with 3:27 minutes left. The match suddenly turned into its head as both teams converted their chances and with 26 seconds left Nischal Maharjan netted a three to tie the score at 95-95 for Army.
A foul on TAC skipper Rabin Khatri with one second left earned them two free shots. Khatri converted the first but committed a line violation in the second that gave GGIC a slim hope. Sushil Gurung took the side ball and passed straight to Rajopadhyaya who made a swift turn to sink a two-pointer as GGIC camp began a wild celebration.
The match officials, however, waited for more than 45 minutes to decide whether Rajopadhyaya should be given the winner or not after TAC camp claimed the officials took more than one second to blow the buzzer. TAC players had to be calmed by their higher officials to accept the result of the match. Khatri claimed the final result was influenced.
“No doubt, the result was against us. How can a team pass the ball from side line and the scorer first makes move and scores and that too in just one second. We are Armymen and we have to be disciplined and that is all we did today,” said Khatri.
For Golden Gate skipper Bipendra Maharjan, it was one of the best domestic finals that he ever participated in. “I have been playing domestic basketball for more than 22 years and this is the best of them all. We managed to hold on till the last second and win the title,” said Maharjan, the former national team captain.
Rajiv Joshi top score for GGIC with 15 points and Binod Shrestha netted 13 points for the winners. Man-of-the-final Rajopadhyaya scored 11. For GGIC, Binod Maharjan and Nischal Maharjan scored 17 points apiece. Winners GGIC got Rs 200,000 and runners-up Army got Rs 100,000.
Earlier in the day, Bishal Milan Kendra (BMK) finished third with an 80-70 victory over Himalayan Hounds on a back of 30 points from tournament’s highest scorer Bikash Gurung. Pradhan was named the tournament MVP, while Binod Maharjan walked away with best defensive player. Bibek Shrestha of BMK was named the emerging player and Rabindra Maharjan of Kirtipur Basketball Team took the best coach honour.
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