Sports
Basketball League: Police stun Golden Gate to get into driving seat
Budhanlikantha crush South Siders at home to join the race for playoffsSports Bureau
Bimal Jung Karki scored 27 points as Nepal Police Club shocked defending champions Golden Gate International Club 96-82 for their fifth victory in the Nepal Basketball League on Thursday.
The victory has lifted NPC, bolstered by the presence Bangladesh national team players Shawn Chowdhury, Mohammad Akash and Shahinur Shojib, in fifth spot of the eight-team league with 15 points. With five matches in hand, the departmental team are in a driving seat to make the top four spots for playoffs.
Budhanilkantha Municipality Basketball Club, who condemned South Siders Basketball Club to ninth defeat, are third on scoring difference after they were tied on 16 points with Golden Gate. Both the teams have played 11 matches, while Police have played two matches less. Unbeaten Times International Club lead the standings with 20 points and Tribhuvan Army Club are second with 19 points from 10 matches each.
In their morning match at the home court in Dhumbarahi, man-of-the-match Karki also took eight rebounds. Jasanga Sunwar contributed 24 with five three-pointers. As Golden Gate were without their point guard and veteran Bipendra Maharjan along with Rajiv Joshi, NPC dominated the game from the outset with a 21-13 lead.
Although Golden Gate did put some fight in the second period scoring 28 points, NPC netted 30 points to go into break with a 10-point cushion. Another two-point (23-21) lead in the third quarter handed them a 12-point advantage for the decider which they
took 22-20.
Golden Gate’s Indian recruit Yogesh Kanderia netted 23 points along with 16 rebounds for the losing side. Bikram Dangol scored 20 and Manish Raj Rajopadhyaya rolled in 14 points.
Later in the day in Golfutar, Budhanilkantha made the most of home advantage to ease to a 85-59 victory over South Siders who are just a loss away from league stage elimination. Captain Biraj Rana scored 14 points for the hosts with five assists, three rebounds and two blocks. But it was Saurav Shrestha who once again made the big contribution for his team scoring 24 points.
Budhanilkantha started with a 31-20 lead in the first quarter and maintained it throughout the game. The lead extended to 22 points after they took 25-14 lead in the second quarter. South Siders took a low-scoring third quarter leading 15-12 but with 19
more points to overturn in the last 10 minutes, they were out of the contest.
Budhanilkantha took the final quarter 17-10. Rabin Gautam scored 18 points for South Siders and Minesh Shakya tossed in 15.
On Friday, Kirtipur Basketball Team will take on Police at their home court in Kirtipur. They are ahead of South Siders in the sixth spot with 11 points from nine games. Siders have 11 from 10. Royal Basketball Club are at the pit bottom with 10 points. The losing sides also get one point. On Friday evening, Royals will face a tough challenge from leaders Times in Charkhaal.