The Accra Basketball League hitherto Greater Accra Basketball League, new season opened with a flurry of shock results which took stakeholders by surprise. The 2016 season which was widely tipped to be very competitive, proved so with big hitters Tema Youth, Navy’s ladies team and DC Dynamics all suffering surprise losses to league opponents.
The Women’s Division’s opening game played on Thursday, had Air Force beat Navy 45-37 with Air Force Guards Adelaide Dsadie and Nafisa Mumuni playing instrumental roles in the win. The loss was very difficult for Navy Coach Alexander Tindani to accept as “Navy beats Air Force all the time” according to him.
More shocks followed in the men’s division as Tema Youth lost 46-51 to Navy’s male team in Division I and Teshie Rangers beat DC Dynamics 52-50.
Last season’s runners up Tema Youth’ s loss to Navy- a team that almost got relegated last season set the tone for the streak of surprise results in the men’s division. Tema Youth looked everything but their usual selves as Navy stormed to a massive 37-19 lead in the third quarter with David Asingar doing major damage on the opposition.
Things got interesting in the final quarter after mercurial Point Guard Nana Owusu Afriyie checked back in the game following three straight fouls in the first quarter. Afriyie’s presence sparked Tema into life as they made a strong charge to reduce the deficit before Navy saw the game out for the win.
The last game of the day had debutants DC Dynamics lose to Teshie Rangers who were also making their debut in Division I. Dynamics, last season’s Division II Champions beat Rangers twice on the way to winning the title but couldn’t repeat the trick as Rangers showed more consistent energy on the boards.
