NASA defeated Premier College 90-80 while GoldenGate registered 93-87 victory over South Siders in the semifinals held at the covered hall of the Dasharath Stadium. [break]NASA and GoldenGate had earlier faced each other in the final of 2010 edition when NASA clinched the title defeating GoldenGate 84-65.
In the first semifinal on Monday, South Siders had taken seven points lead as it took the quarter with a score of 26-19. The lead was same by the half time as both the teams scored 20-20 each in the second quarter. Siders seemed cruising to victory in the third quarter as it took 18 points lead with two just minutes remaining but three three-pointers from Sushil Gurung cut the lead by nine points. Third quarter ended with Siders winning 24-18 points.
The twist came in the fourth and the last quarter as Gurung netted four three-pointers to deny victory to Siders. The score was 84-82 in favor of Siders with 3:36 remaining for the final whistle. A two-pointer from Rabindra Maharjan leveled the score and a free throw from Rohit Lama gave GoldenGate the lead in the fading moments. GoldenGate took the quarter with 35-17 and booked a place in the final.
Binod maharjan of NASA Collage (green) shoots against Premier Collage during the semifinals of Morgan Cup 12th Mens and 11th Women National Basketball Championship at National Sports Council covered hall (Photo: Bikash Karki)
Sushil Gurung top scored 37 points for GoldenGate while Sujan Pun had 16 offensive and defensive rebounds. Former national captain Bipindra Maharjan had seven assists for the team.
In another semifinal, Robin Khatri and Binod Maharjan´s pair dominated the game helping NASA register a win over Premier. Both the teams had faced each other in the final of the first Sachindra Memorial Men´s Open Basketball Tournament where NASA emerged victorious with 63-61.
Premier included five national players -- Sadhish Pradhan, Rajeev Joshi, Yuktaram Bhakta Mathema, Bikram Joshi and Vinod Shrestha, but still they failed to defeat NASA. NASA took the first quarter 22-13 which gave them nine points lead. Premier bounced back in the second quarter and cut the lead to five points as they took the quarter 25-21.
NASA took the third quarter 24-20 which gave them a nine points lead. NASA had taken 18 points lead with 4:34 minutes remaining in the third quarter but Sadhish Pradhan netted three three-pointers that cut the lead to nine points. NASA scored 23-22 in the final quarter and fixed the final spot.
Khatri netted 28 points with four three pointers and nine assists while Maharjan scored 27 points with 20 offensive and defensive rebounds. Sadhish Pradhan was the highest scorer of the match with 37 points that included seven three-pointers.
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