Basketball: SBF Cup competition-Dawgz bite off Hawks’ double challenge, Cobras dump Baya |22 November 2011
The Dawgz eliminated league champions and last year’s SBF Cup winners PLS Hawks 68-63 on Saturday.
In only their third season in the top flight, the Dawgz will play against the more experienced Cobras who qualified after eliminating Baya 59-56 in the other semifinal match.
Mont Fleuri Dawgz started Saturday’s semifinal match on a very high tempo, leading the Hawks in the first two quarters – 20-13 and 19-7 – for a comfortable 39-20 half-time lead.
It was in the third and fourth quarters that the Hawks rediscovered their game to win 24-18 and 19-11 respectively, but their comeback was a bit late as the points accumulated in the first half were enough to keep the Dawgz ahead, giving them the win on a 68-63 score.
Tony Moustache led the Dawgz in scoring with 19 points, while Nigerian Alao Solomon was Hawks’ top marksman with 24.
In the other semifinal clash on Saturday, Premium Cobras threw Bel Air-based Baya out of the competition with a narrow 59-56 victory.
Cobras took the first two quarters – 15-14 and 15-10 – for a 30-24 half-time lead. The third quarter ended with the two teams scoring 12 points apiece. The two sets of players kept pushing forward with Baya trying to cut down the deficit and Cobras aiming to maintain their lead. In the end, Baya won the fourth quarter 20-17, but it was not enough to steer them to victory as Cobras won the match 59-56 to set up a final show-down with the Dawgz.
Nigerian Ugbaje Ajodoh had the hot hands for the Cobras with 23 points, while captain Dave Roseline was Baya’s top scorer with 17 points.
Stars on doubles conquest
Despite tough resistance from Mont Fleuri, Stars’ captain Simone Malbrook and company narrowly won the match 58-55 to book a place in the final.
Entering Sunday’s final, the Stars will be attempting to achieve a league and cup double against HotShots who achieved the feat last year.
HotShots qualified for the final after eliminating RA Sisters in the other semifinal match.
The women’s and men’s finals of the SBF cup competition will be played on Sunday at Victoria Gymnasium, starting at 3pm and 5pm respectively.
R. D.