2016 Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges (UPAC) Basketball Championship preliminary qualifiers continues as Zone G games is set to roll out Friday April 8 at the University of Ghana Center Court as host University of Ghana (UG) takes on Central University College, Wisconsin University College and Marshalls University College.
All four teams will be in the hunt for top spot in the zone as it securing the spot guarantees the team an automatic slot in the quarter finals of the UPAC Championship. Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and Pentecost University College’s outstanding game will also be played on Friday.
Mere days before tipoff, one major headline that runs through the intriguing zone, is the sheer number of private institutions competing. All these institutions, notably, competed in the just ended Private Universities Students Association Games (PUSAG) Basketball competition which Marshalls University- a private institution housed in the zone-coincidentally won.
With the exception of UG, all teams in the zone are from private institutions and participated in the PUSAG hoops competition. Wisconsin failed to make it out of Group B which had Regent University College qualify to the quarter finals.
However, Marshalls and Central made it into the quarters before the latter fell 18-21 to Ghana Technology University College (GTUC-Accra). Marshalls made it all the way to the finals, beating GTUC 19-18 in the semi-finals before piping a scrappy Radford University College team 44-42 after double overtime to the title.
The sole non-private institution in the zone, UG, won 2016’s Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) Basketball competition and will be on the lookout for a quarter final ticket. On the other hand, should any team in the zone place second, the team will make the last eight if the second placed teams in Zones A and F have inferior goal difference.
The 2016 UPAC Championship is headlined by Rexona, supported by Fanyogo, MTN and CAL Bank in partnership with Basketballghana.com, Y FM, TV3 and Ghana Sports.
