While many longed for a final rematch between 2016 Champions Nungua Coldstore and Ashaiman Lions, Tema Community 4 triumph’s in the finals against Lions was just as tasty.
In the end Lions got stunned by two straight wins from the less fancied home side falling 54-58 in Game One and 38-47 in Game Two.
That meant standout favorites for the league trophy missed out on the top prize but seeing the manner of losses link both team’s demise to complacency.
After rolling through the season in excellent shape bar a shock 33-36 loss to Junior Reformers, Coldstore faced Lions in the Group A’s Final with a lot of confidence.
Prior to the meet, Coldstore had beaten Ashaiman in five consecutive games including a pair in the 2017 regular season.
However, Lions caught Coldstore off guard with slick ball movement and top marksmanship from deep to surprise the defending champions.
For long stretches in the game, the Nungua side looked stunned by Ashaiman’s different game play while Coldstore went cold on everything resembling team work.
On the back off a tremendous win over Nungua, Ashaiman was tipped to run over Community 4 as the latter avoided playing against some of the best teams in the division.
In a reverse of what they did right against Nungua, Lions settled way too many times for ill advised shots and rarely crashed the boards like they did against Coldstore.
As such, the team first C4 side persevered and eventually won the series despite having a not so deep roster which was largely undersized.
In the end, the less heralded team got to win the championship on the blindside of many observers who tipped heavyweights Coldstore and Ashaiman for the title.
Lions Shooting Guard Elvis Pobi-Siaw and Nungua Forward Kwame Boah Djan were named best three point shooter and defender in the league respectively but their units missed the ultimate prize.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
