Upsets in Cook Island basketball finals

Cook Islands Basketball Federation 2012 Main Season Basketball Championship finals were held on Tuesday night, July 24, and the competition saw some big upsets in the men’s and women’s divisions.

The fight for third in the women’s division saw the third-ranked Ngatangiia E-Galz and four-ranked 88FM Boom Boom Baby’s clash. Both teams were going goal for goal and by half time, 88FM Baby’s were up by 26 points. The second half saw 88FM Baby’s up their tempo to outlast Ngatangiia 50-35.

The second game of the night was due to be between the Sea Dragons and the Mighty Lions but the latter forfeited the match, leaving the Sea Dragons to claim third place.

In the women’s final, Eke 1 took on the experienced A-Town Galz. Both teams showed some pretty good basketball skills and by half-time Eke held a 26-16 lead.

The second half was a different story altogether as some tight, close-quarters basketball ensued. The Eke 1 team started potting goal for goal, thanks to top scorer Kotrine Iro with 18 points, which secured the win for them.

The last game of the night were between the Hot Dogz and Avalicious men’s teams for the championship. The Hot Dogz was on fire from the first whistle and Clifford Atuatika scored the first basket for them. Hot Dogz were just too fast and furious to be stopped thanks to speedster Stephano Noovao, who managed to run most of the fast breaks and made sure the baskets counted, amassing a personal tally of 14 points.

Outstanding inside player Charlie Katu also managed to chip in with 12 points to keep the momentum going for the Hot Dogz. There were some ugly fouls during the respective games but these were fairly penalised thanks to some good work by officials.

Avalicious showed a lot of enthusiasm and speed during the game but could not stop the sizzling Hot Dogz team from sealing the match 45-25.

Courtesy: Cook Island News