The Tudu Warriors eked out a 43-42 victory over the Korle-Bu kings in a fiercely contested game at the Accra Polytechnic Court on Sunday.
The Warriors battled hard to ensure they avoided a second defeat and qualified to the semi-final stage of the competition. In a game that was scrappy and very physical, Daniel Laryea and David Pinto were the only players to register double digit points for Korle-Bu and Tudu respectively.
Korle-Bu’s potent backcourt tandem of Daniel Laryea and Solomon Oppong failed to come up with the goods as they combined for just 19 points and made just one three pointer out of 20 attempts.
The game had to be halted for more about 15 minutes as fans of both teams got into each other’s faces following controversial referee calls. There was almost a full blown brawl as Tudu fans celebrated wildly after the final whistle to the angst of some Kings players.
The Kings began the game in usual fashion by thrusting the ball to Shooting Guard Laryea who got fouled on a three point attempt and made two of three free throws. Warriors’ Mohammed Bajigah collected a long pass from Ivan Owusu to score.
Tudu made three consecutive baskets to go on a six point run by moving the ball which led to easy buckets in the paint. The run was halted by Laryea’s jumper.
The second quarter had both teams’ trade baskets to set the score at 20-16 in Tudu’s favor before timeout with less than three minutes left. However, the scoring fizzled out of the game after timeout as both teams missed shots to end the quarter with the score unchanged.
Kings backcourt mates Oppong and Laryea kept firing away to no avail as the team’s deficit was increased to six by David Pinto who connected on all two free throws. The Warriors ended the quarter on a high through Razak Haruna who drilled a tough turnaround jumper in the closing minutes to give Tudu a 31-24 lead.
Barren spells from three- point range continued to hurt the Kings in the last quarter as they found it difficult breaking down the defense of the Warriors. Kings’ James Okine made things interesting down the stretch by connecting a three-point shot that left the Kings down by one with five seconds to go and possession. Laryea’s potential game winning three-pointer was altered by the Warriors.
