ReboundGH: ceps

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Accra Poly: UPAC 2011 Champs
Dickson, Doggie lead AP, spoil Rubberman's first tourney

In the first ever wild rush for gold in one tournament by all tertiary institutions for national basketball supremacy, Accra Polytechnic reigned supreme at the end of the day. Led by Emmanuel Dickson and Daniel Aryee(doggie), they made it through the tougher of the two groups(other two teams were UEW and Sunyani Polytechnic) last Saturday as they qualified to play in the final four which was a re-convention of all four teams that had qualified in the southern zones.

The two semi-final games were repetitions of the zone 1 and 2 finals and it was only appropriate if not fair for the two top schools to have made it to the grand finale. Both games looked like gifts from the basketball gods, considering the content of the package of players each team had and the amount of competitive energy exhibited by all four teams in order to get the chance to compete for the first ever UPAC trophy.

AP and UEW qualified to play for ultimate supremacy in tertiary basketball in Ghana, a match up several fans had predicted ahead of the competition. But unfortunately, the game was not as competitive and exciting as fans expected. The game started quite fiercely but AP's Dickson and Doggie(who barely missed any freethrows through out all of the competition) led their team to a 16 - 4 first quarter. For me that did it for the game, the next two quarters were boringly low scoring; 3-4 for AP, then 3-8 for AP again. It was clear both teams were beat considering the earlier games had been played in the scorching Accra sun resulting in a not so exciting final game. The game ended with a 14 - 7 fourth victory by AP bringing the final score to 42 - 27.

The UEW team blamed their loss on their coach, who made a couple of unprecedented subs bringing in guys who had been on the bench the entire tourney to play in the finals. A move they believe caused major damage to their chances of winning. They made reference to the zonal when they played good team basketball and came out victors even without their coach. Having seen them make a 3-point star out of Akwasi by running plays for him to get open in the offense and making Sky Walker the talk of town with their defense that led to a lot of breaks for him and making use of rubberman's experience in crunch time to beat T'di Poly in the zone 1 finals, one can easily believe their assertion.

Accra Polytechnic's Emmanuel Dickson was MVP. The 6'3'' athletic guard was a vital key to AP's victory on both ends of the floor especially on the offense; putting his diverse scoring abilities on display. When he wasn't scoring, he facilitated other players scoring with assists. The Labone Senior High School product played ball to everyone's admiration and stepped up to become the closer in an already Accra league star studded side. Like it happens in every major educational event, there were a couple of names that were on everyone's lips. This competition's list looks like this: Benjamin Debrah(sky walker), Fred Yeboah(osofo), Serge Kraka, Long John, Daniel Aryee(doggie), Nii lante Blankson, Dennis Boateng but the name that won't forget and will talk about twenty years down the line is definitely EMMANUEL DICKSON.

Game Day Recap; 13/4
... of interference and questionable calls

Tema Youth Turbo Jets
I'm beginning to loose it for Lebanon House. Nine cars either crossed or passed by the court during Wednesday's games. Talk of unnecessary interference!. TY started this game on a slow note, missing 3 easy fast breaks in a row. The Jets looked the more ambitious side taking the game on from the tip and went ahead to win the first half 29-20. TY returned a revitalized side still going to their "high-low" plays on the offense while Jones led them to keep the boards clean and a start a couple of breaks.

CEPS 91, Reformers 56
Complete blow out! from the on set it looked like the Reformers had already determined their fate with the kind of game they played going on to loose the first quarter 23 -08. It was nothing but a CEPS show, until the game got a bit too physical which led to too many unnecessary out bursts by both teams. As much as all present will agree that the referees made some questionable calls, which does happen quite regularly, it still doesn't warrant any sought of unsportsmanlike attitudes from the playing body especially when one team is having a 40 point blow out.

Game Day Recap; 06/04

Another French recipe from Police...

Women... CEPS 49, Police 55
No Georgina, no Becky, but Police got Emmanuela. Police reiterated their dominance of CEPS ladies by winning this much anticipated re-match of the finals that never "ended". Police made their thoughts clear once again; "we are not loosing to CEPS"seems like the plan their coaches had in their playbook as they beat CEPS for the second straight season. CEPS came into the game with a clear plan, pass the ball more, get open and get higher percentage shots. They did a good job at it especially in the first quarter as they started the game with a 10-2 run which was reduced to 14-10 by the end of the 1st. Polce stayed with their everyday game, get the ball to their "bigs" (Rahi and Esi) and let them get to work while their guards kept the CEPS defense honest with their shooting from downtown. Enter Emmanuela, another French speaking acquisition of the Police women's team. She got game! Picture a 5'9'', 5'10'' southpaw chic with a man's game; decent defense, jab step to the right, then quick dribble through the CEPS defense for the lay up. But then CEPS wasn't an easy foe,led by Belinda Tawiah(undersized but did a wonderful job defending Police' "bigs") they fought and kept the game alive to the end even though they looked beat from half way through the second quarter. Can't wait for the rematch of this game later in the year...

D1... CEPS 70, Magic 50
Not as boring as I thought it would have been, after watching these two teams play in last year's Thome Cabalan preliminary stages. A "Brimah-less" but "Douggy-ful"(back from suspension after 10 months) CEPS team looked like they were running a clinic on how to get Dodzie open for the jumper as they set multiple picks for him to do the baseline cut and take the trey. With Magic coach, Wilson still serving his suspension, the Magic were left to survive the game on their own. This game saw Magic's starting front court play a lot of minutes and they proved their worth to the team. They worked hard on the boards but still need some tweaking to make them the team's bedrock.

Rebound Head Quarters, Accra - CEPS will leave Accra early tomorrow to play the Togolese national team in a friendly encounter.

Mr.Benjamin Baafi, chairman of GABA told RGH yesterday in a telephone conversation. The match is scheduled to take off at 4pm at the same facility where Hoops played in the capital, Lome. The Togolese are using this match as a test of their team in preparation for the FIBA Africa Zone III qualifiers to scheduled to start on the 6th of August.

CANTONMENT - The much talked about game was here with us. Not forgetting all the thrash talking and claims made by both sides before the game, one can say the game lived to expectation. Both sides played very appreciable defense not allowing any cheap baskets. The game was very low scoring(ending 59-57 for CEPS) comparing the fact that both teams had higher PPG's(95.2 for CEPS and 72.5 for hoops) before the game. So what really did both team do or not do right?

IN THE PAINT
CEPS had a height advantage over the hoops centre since they have the tallest centers in the L. On the other hand hoops had a more athletic front who made up for their lack of height with the leaping abilities (as was exhibited by Serge with his dunk over the CEPS defense). Reggie played very good ball for hoops making use of his quickness and post moves to dram some fouls at the low post. CEPS' Reginald Lartey was phenomenal down post( for me, he's one of the best low post players in the L ) making a lot of moves that can only be made by somebody with adequate knowledge of the game and considerable experience. Abdul Razak of hoops was his usual self, very energetic all day especially on the defensive end since he couldn't contribute much on the offense unless for tip-ins or point blank shots. Nobody can forget the two blocks on both

ends of the floor. First Robinson was blocked hoops' Osofo and then the very demoralizing block of SB as he went up for a two hand slam by CEPS' Richard Darko. Enter Hashim for CEPS. He was just all over the floor, grabbed rebounds, kept the ball on the floor and made strong moves to the baskets and created alot of scoring opportunities for CEPS' guards to shoot treys.

BACK COURTS
It was a backcourts battle all day long, from Wiston Cole's ankle breaker on Dodzie to Dodzie's treys to the scramblings for loose balls. The hoops' guards also did a good work of staying on Dodzie through out the game not allowing him uncontested shots as he was 5 of 18 from beyond the arc( a mere 27.8%).Winston and SB might have entertained the fans with fancy moves but Dodizie won the day for CEPS. He went to the charity stripe to knock down all three shoots after being fouled on a three point attempt and then hit another dagger trey with less than a minute to go on the clock. Borsah was his usual slick self, knocking down shots when he was open or driving to the hoops and dishing out dimes to his teammates for high percentage shots. His defense was also not bad on the day as he got a couple of steals(something he's known for) from the hoops guards. Nii Kwartey added he's own twist to the game for CEPS. He did such a good job guarding Cole when he came in. He and Dodzie worked together a couple of times to trap Cole which ended in mishandling of the ball by hoops guard and eventual turn overs. Kwartey didn't have a very good shooting day as he missed too many a shot from the mid range.

OFFICIATING
I think the match wasn't an easy one for the officials since almost any call they made was questioned especially by the side it went against. "The referees in Ghana attach too much personal grudges and harbor some hatred towards some people"; that is to quote one the fans around. But these allegation are not very much verified and i don't think we should create anymore of those( considering what happened after the match). The league as a whole needs to come out with very stringent rules concerning issues of player behavior and complaints about officiating during matches. To be on the referees' side for a moment, one may ask why everybody complains about officiating yet nobody is stepping up to take courses and become referees. As far as am concerned, these are the referees we have, even if they are bad we should try to bring out the best in them and stop the constant nagging during and after games.

X FACTORS
For CEPS, Robinson was their charm for the day. One way or the other, the hoops team didn't pay much attention to him and he made them pay for it. He dropped a quick 10 points before they noticed him and that was when Osofo sent him down with a block. Hoops' was Meme, showed up late for the match, entered in the fourth and knocked down a trey way beyond the arc after a scramble and a steal from the defensive end. That was his only shot for the day but it did wonders for the hoops team. They were sought of re-energized after that.

COMPOSURE
Surprises filled the day, as the hoops bench was more composed compared to the more experienced CEPS side. CEPS' nearly showed some immaturity, I think they over stood up from their bench but then you can't blame them. This is sports and tension and anxiety is the name of the game.

4TH QUARTER
There were 9 lead changes in this quarter alone after hoops drew at 43 and took their first lead of the game at 45. Hoops had found a rhythm in driving and drawing fouls, but it didn't seem to work well, why?, they weren't knocking down the free throws and that from my view was why they lost. Dodzie then then knocks down his 3 free throws and a trey and then went out after a light sprain to the ankle after slipping.

All said and done, this wasn't a match for the faint hearted because even watching it was not even easy. Adrenalin flowed in my blood streams all day....hmmm(sigh) what a day it was.

CEPS VS HOOPS

HOLY FAMILY vs TURBO JETS

CEPS vs HOOPS PREVIEW....
I just didn't know how to write this preview in words.It seemed too big a task..but then let the numbers do the talking..u can now start predicting the outcome of this all important game as no.1 meets no.2