The University of Ghana men’s basketball team defeated Takoradi Technical University (TTU) to take home the 2019 Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges (UPAC) Basketball Championship with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science &Technology (KNUST) taking home the bronze medal.
The tournament, which is the sixth edition was held at the University of Ghana Central Court, began on Friday 12th April and ended on Saturday 13th April and saw the UG Gorillas finish off TTU 37-32 in the final to capture the trophy for the 4th consecutive time.
The road to the final was not an easy path for both teams.
UG survived an early scare in their semi-final match-up against Accra Technical University (ATU).
UG held the lead well through the first 2 quarters with the score 26-20 at halftime.
However, ATU put on a 3 quarter run and tied the game 50-50 with 5 seconds to go.
A late foul on the part of ATU led UG to the free throw line and eventually seal the game 51-50. As a way of protesting the calls made by the game officials, ATU left the venue and did not return for the third place match.
TTU entered the finals for the first time after defeating KNUST 33-36 in an entertaining semi-final that saw the game go into overtime.
KNUST were not able to take advantage of their trips to the foul line and eventually paid for it.
The finals was a rematch of the first match of the tournament where UG won 44-42.
Another entertaining rematch saw Takoradi trail 8-3 to UG in the first quarter and eventually reduce the deficit to four (14-18) at the end of the half.
TTU opened with a very strong second half despite losing Captain and shooting guard Richard Donor to a head injury after bumping heads with UG’s Johnson Okoe.
Both players were immediately attended to. Takoradi took a 26-21 lead in the third quarter, but were unable to hold it as UG mounted a strong run to tie it up and eventually take the lead for good with 3 pointers from guards Emmanuel Wolff and Treasure Botchwey.
In the game for the bronze medal, ATU did not show up as a form of protest towards what they deemed to be poor officiating.
The bronze medal was therefore awarded to KNUST by default and marked the second time that KNUST had won bronze after winning it in 2016 and taking silver in 2015.
Emmanuel Wolff was adjudged the MVP of the tournament. The award is the second for the fourth year player and caps of an incredible 4 year run for him.
In all his four years with the Gorillas, Wolff has won the UPAC every single year and leaves behind a legacy of winning.
