Ridge proved the pundits wrong by beating the highly fancied Dansoman 47-44 to qualify for the finals of the maiden U-18 Basketball tournament at the El-Wak Stadium on Friday August 28th.
Star player Lantei Blanskon was the toast of fans with great dribbling skills, touches, speed, stamina and sublime piece of skills to deny Dansoman the chance to qualify for the finals.
Thousands of fans who thronged the venue were held spell-bound throughout the duration of the game with great inter-positional display coupled with individual brilliance.
Dansoman were the overwhelming favourite after going unbeaten in the second classification.
But that tag was quickly eroded in the first quarter as Ridge took the game to their opponent in a whirlwind fashion winning it 17-14.
The charges from Ridge who were receiving instructions from coach Braimah Lawal never looked back and moved on to win every single quarter to send the supporters into wild jubilation.
Coach Ferrani Olulonyo was dejected and disappointed after the referees whistle and now ahead to the third-place finish.
Ridge will now battle Cantonments who beat pre-tournament favourites Kaneshie in the finals of the community Dunks on Friday September 4.
Cantonments were tagged as the dark horses of tournament and have lived up to expectation.
The clash involving the two communities was billed as the cliff hanger and indeed lived up to its pre-match hype.
The game was characterized by speed, agility, skills and great abilities.
Star player for Cantonment Raymond Maha who is in line to emerge as the best player for the tournament displayed yet another master class performance on the day combining effectively with shooting guard Frank Agbodo and eventually helping them to win the game 43-39 in a close contest.
Ridge and Cantonment will meet for the third time in the tournament after both sides recorded a win over the other. Ridge beat their rivals in the first classification while Cantonments avenged that defeat in the second classification.
So the battle line has been drawn and Friday September 4 will put to rest who makes history in the maiden U-18 basketball competition dubbed Community Dunks.
Community Dunks is an initiative of Rite Multimedia and sponsored by Sprite and Indomie with support from DDP Outdoor Ltd, Western Publication, Silicon House Production, Y FM, TV Africa, Ghana’s World News Paper and 90 minutes; the official News Paper for the tournament.
Excited to see the two most glamourous sides in the top flight (the finals). I wish the two teams well and hope that the best team wins. Thanks to Rite Multimedia for the organisation. This is the first-ever basketball tournament that stood the test of time. Kudos.
Congratulation Coach Brimah and Hashim. I love the Ridge team and I love basketball. I hope the Ridge team win this Friday. Pls activate your voting poll bcos i was to vote.