Chang`ombe United piled misery on bitter rivals Vijana in the ongoing Dar es Salaam regional basketball league match after posting a 54-49 win at the National Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
It was the match that pitted teams that are out of the race for title contention for the closing season as the two sides hardly surprised fans after opting for slow pace to highlight a formality game.The tension-gripped encounter had to be halted for some minutes late in the last quarter after a section of Chang’ombe United fans invaded the court and threw in objects to protest referees’ decisions.Despite trailing their opponents in the first quarter, Chang’ombe United showed composure and slowly took command of the game and never looked back thereafter.A 12-8 point lead that Vijana claimed in the first quarter gave their fans some moments of joy but they were then eclipsed by noisy Chang’ombe United fans, who dominated the stadium with their trademark banging of the stands and trumpet blowing.
Chang’ombe United were 33-26 points up at the breather, thanks to a series of well executed three-pointers slotted in by Adam Jegame and other team mates.
Vijana’s trio of Said Khamis, Dotto Zephania, John Mcharo and Sunday Matondo simply could not find way past determined Chang’ombe United defence that thwarted out several attempts on the team’s hoop, forcing Vijana to try scoring from outside three-point zone.
Tension almost mounted over in the third quarter when Vijana’s centre Obote Mwambongo came up in arms with his opposite number Mohamed Makani of Chang’ombe United after the latter complained of having been fouled.
The two big men had to be rested on separate occasions for the remaining part of the game to avoid chaos but tension still lingered on.
The battle for the trophy in the men’s category has now been tghrown open to favourites Savio, ABC, Oilers, Pazi and defending champions JKT.