Dunk Knights is a renowned developmental basketball program in Ghana’s capital, Accra and has produced excellent young players over the years. However, the team’s inexperience continues to cost them wins in the Accra Basketball League (ABL) Men’s Division II.
After a scorching start, Dunk lost its way slightly in the final quarter allowing Novas to capitalize and snatch a 58-55 win.
Dunk raced off to a 22-10 first quarter lead with Knights getting points from Alhassan Rahim, Wahab Hussein and Abdul Salim. Novas scored a pair of three pointers as Center Alhassan Mubarak scored off an offensive rebound.
Dunk struggled to score in the first part of the second quarter as Novas reduced the game deficit to eight (20-28) before going on a big run spurred on by Salim to end the first half leading 35-25.
In a back and forth third quarter, both teams scored baskets inside the paint. Mubarak got most of Novas points as he took advantage of the undersized Dunk side. Raphael Allotey scored for Dunk to take the quarter 39-33.
A trio of deep shots punctuated an 11 point run that had Novas take a 42-41 lead with 7:05 remaining. Dunk was poor from the free throw line and failed to get enough points to avoid trailing 47-51 with 2:06 left to play after Joel Kaboayere’s driving layup. Salim drilled a very late but it proved not enough to overcome the three point deficit.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
