GoldenGate 'A' thwarts juniors in final

GoldenGate 'A' and Snow Leopard won the men's and women's title of the First Father Donnelly 3 on 3 Open Basketball Tournament at the GAA Hall on Saturday. GoldenGate 'A' lifted the men's title defeating GoldenGate 'B' 21-15, 21-13, 21-17 and Snow Leopard clinched the women's title beating strong favorite Rato Bangala 21-17, 21-2. Paresh Shrestha opened the scoring for GoldenGate 'A' trailing by a huge 9-0 margin. The opener put the team back on track, as it quickly went well ahead of its opponent with a three-pointer and a couple of two-pointers from Rabindra Maharjan.

GoldenGate 'B', reputed for its resolute defending had trouble containing Rabindra Maharjan and went on conceding easily against him thus giving away a game that could easily had gone its way.

GoldenGate 'B' again had a comfortable 13-2 cushion over its opponent in the initial stages of the second round. Rabindra Maharjan gave a lifeline to his team reducing its huge deficit scoring nine points including one three-pointer in quick succession to level the game at 13-13. The remaining part of the game saw GoldenGate 'A' in complete dominance converting all its attempts.

The final round looked to be going the other way round as GoldenGate 'B', back with a rejuvenated spirit, cordoned off the D-area disallowing any nonsense inside. Darrell Wilson was instrumental in thwarting much of his opponent's easy scoring chances while Sushil Gurung converted well to give his team a 17-10 lead. But Paresh gave GoldenGate 'A' the much need boost scoring two consecutive two-pointers and Bipen Maharjan did the rest of the work for his team.

In the girls' section, Rato Bangala led by reigning Miss Nepal Sitashma Chand, was close to grabbing the first round but was stopped on its track by a better side limiting it to 17 points. The second round saw Rato Bangala in a total disarray managing just two points.

The winning boys' team received Rs 15,000 while the girls took home Rs 8,000.
(Thanks to ekantipur.com for this media report)