Reigning Tema Community Basketball League Champions Nungua Coldstore will face fierce rivals Ashaiman Lions at the Ebi Bright Basketball Tournament over the weekend in the latest chapter of the budding rivalry.
The maiden edition of the tournament is set to take place at the Tema Community 4 Basketball Court on Sunday November 6 with Tema Central and Flashlights of Tema New Town set to feature in the competition alongside Nungua and Ashaiman.
The competition is funded by National Democratic Congress parliamentary candidate for Tema Central Constituency, Ebi Bright, who is responsible for renovating the court’s lighting system.
Both sides have had a feel of each other’s game after engaging in several battles over the past three months. However, it is Nungua that holds the better end of the deal after beating Ashaiman to win two trophies.
The first was in the postseason curtain raiser “Basketball Battle” Tournament that had Lions lose 37-47 with Ashaiman struggling to find its shot. Shooting Guard Elvis Pobi-Siaw in particular, was totally off on that day after failing to hit several of his trademark three point shots.
The latest Nungua win in a final game had Coldstore fly out of the blocks by taking a commanding 21-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and extending it to 37-19 at half time. A Lions comeback in the third, was almost complete as the side whittled Nungua’s lead to just a point but couldn’t sustain it to lose out on the league title.
Flashlights will be hoping to cause a major upset by getting past the pair mentioned above despite falling 65-70 to Community 12 in the league’s third place series; the series is tied in the best of three series.
Game 3 will be played on November 13.
