Accra Polytechnic Center Suleman Abubakar’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in Zone F ended the streak of Point Guards’ dominance in the 2016 Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges (UPAC) Basketball Championship top individual award.
Prior to Abubakar’s heroics in a nail biting final zone game against Blue Crest College to give Accra Polytechnic a slender 27-23 win, Point Guards had been awarded in all completed qualifying zones in the Championship.
Abubakar’s averages of 9.6 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks per game, put him next to a string of backcourt runners who have laid siege on the third edition of the UPAC Championship which is widely considered Ghana’s best tertiary basketball tournament.
In Zones B, C, D and E, Guards had been named MVP’s for the respective zones with none coming from players manning other positions on the court.
In Zone B, Abdou Fatau of Winners University of Development Studies- Tamale was named MVP as did Robert Fiifi Brew of University of Energy and Natural Resources in Zone C.
In Zone D, Kelvin Sowah Kumah’s wonderful display was not enough to for Kumasi Polytechnic to beat Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to the zonal title and an appearance in the quarter finals. He averaged 13 points, 4.6 rebounds and 8.3 assists.
The script didn’t change in Zone E, as Kent Ofosu Agyemang spurred Takoradi Polytechnic to a pulsating 49-46 win over hosts, University of Cape-Coast and punch the Western-based side’s ticket to the next round in the process.
Abubakar’s Accra Polytechnic team will take on qualified teams from other zones in the quarter finals slated for April 14 at the University of Ghana (UG)
The next round of qualifiers begins on Friday April 8 at UG where the host team will take on Marshalls University College, Central University College and Wisconsin University College.
The 2016 UPAC Championship is headlined by Rexona, supported by MTN, CAL Bank and Fanyogo in partnership with Basketballghana.com, TV3, Y FM and Ghana Sports Newspaper.