Braves of Customs and Tema Youth have delivered wins on the opening day of the first round of the 2016 Accra Basketball League Men’s Division I at the Lebanon House Court in Tudu by beating Teshie Rangers and DC Dynamics respectively.
First seeded Braves, who double as defending champions, tipped matters off with an unsurprising 66-41 win over Rangers in the opening game. Fans gathered at the court expected a repeat of the 100-36 annihilation Rangers suffered at the hands of Braves in the regular season after the latter raced to a 12-3 lead in the opening minutes of the game.
However, multiple conversions beyond the arc from the likes of Emmanuel Ocquaye, whittled the deficit to six (15-21) at the end of the first quarter.
A familiar tone played out in the remaining quarters with Rangers competing well despite the absence of sharpshooter Gabriel Numarworse in the lineup but never threatening enough to topple Braves.
The second game turned out to be an absolute cliff hanger as DC Dynamics produced the goods in the latter stages of its game against Tema Youth to lose 42-47.
At half time, Tema , playing a relatively new side to the one that featured in the regular season, led 24-11 but 9-2 run in the opening minutes of the third quarter got the Dansoman-based side back in the game.
Big man Dennis Boateng and Point Guard Lantei Blankson-Mills combined for five points to reduce the deficit to four (24-28) with 2:40 seconds left in the third quarter.
However, Blankson-Mills failed to tie the game from the free throw line as he missed all three attempts to leave Tema’s three point lead (43-40) intact.
The Emmanuel Quaye led team completed the win with some makes from the charity stripe.
Reformers of Prisons will be hosted by home side Tudu Magic later today at the same venue before Ghana Navy plays Fire Service.
