Team Herald
PANJIM: Panjim Basketeers and YMCA Infiknights were crowned the men’s and women’s champions respectively of the Summer Slam Basketball tournament organised by YMCA Titans under the aegis of Goa Basketball Association, at Don Bosco Oratory, Panjim, recently.
In a thrilling gold medal game against YMCA Titans, Panjim Basketeers won their first title in Senior Men’s team category with an exciting 57 -53 win over the hosts.
Panjim Basketeers seemed to be cruising to a comfortable win and at one point of time were leading by 13 points till a few minutes into the third quarter but some inspired play from the young Titans squad brought the hosts back in the game.
The last few minutes of the 3rd quarter saw a complete change of momentum for the Titans team as their big 3, Stefan De Souza, Abelio De Souza and Jaedan Vaz, played brilliantly to keep their team in the hunt and bring down the deficit to 4 points at the end of the third quarter.
The beginning of the 4th quarter saw a complete turn of events as the Titans squad surprised everyone with a brilliant comeback.
With the crowd behind them, the hosts managed to reverse the fortunes and went into a four point lead, with barely 2 minutes remaining on the final buzzer. But the Panjim Basketeers team managed to keep their composure in the final moments of the match with some excellent team play in defence followed by fast attacks to close out an exciting win.
Team captain Bharat Patil, former India player who was selected for the UBA league, had an excellent outing, scoring 20 points to lead his team from the front. The shooting guard combined well with team dribbler, Omkar Chopade. Bharat with his controlled play and clinical finishes and Omkar with his quick bursts of speed starred for the winning team. The two gelled extremely well to help their team emerge as best in the championship. Omkar netted 14 points while Sahil Karale, who was the pick of the players in previous games, provided decent support contributing 12 points.
For YMCA Titans, their young stars, Stefan De Souza (22 points), Abelio De Souza (12 points) and Jaedan Vaz (10 points) fought hard. Stefan De Souza in fact was magnificent in the final.
The top scorer throughout the tournament kept on finishing some difficult fast-break layups and impressed with his speed and fine runs to be adjudged the most valuable player-of-the-tournament. Jaedan Vaz won emerging player-of-the-tournament prize while Karl Menezes won the 3 point shooting contest.
In Women’s Team championship final which was equally well contested, YMCA Infiknights edged out DBO Lynx 29 -24. The game was an edge-of-the-seat affair with fortunes fluctuating by the quarter. The first quarter saw the Infiknights team get into a healthy 16 -5 lead.
The next two quarters went the DBO Lynx way, who led 23 – 21 at the end of the third quarter. However, the Infiknights team bounced back in the fourth quarter, with controlled aggression and a cohesive defensive approach to emerge well deserved champions.
For the winning team, Rachel Raposa fired a game-high 11 points, while Rose Rhea Rebello netted 10 points and Michelle Noronha scoring 4 points. Saachia Nathan (8 points), Shimoi Nathan (7 points) and Uma Gokhale (5 points) waged a fighting battle in a losing cause for the runner up team.
