Malawi College of Accountancy of Lilongwe underlined their class to successfully defend the k 62 million National Bank of Malawi Mo626 Ice College Basketball tournament in the men’s category after thrashing hosts Chanco 64-46 at Chancellor College in Zomba.
Zomba Institute of Management and Accountancy (Zima) were crowned queens of ladies division following their 62-52 victory over Malawi Assemblies of God University (Magu).
The two-day play-offs started on Friday, with MCA Lilongwe beating Magu 65-44 whereas Chanco defeated Poly 66-60.
In a third-place match, Poly settled for bronze after narrowly defeating Magu 61-60.
During the final, Chanco were expected to utilise home ground advantage but failed after trailing the eventual champions in all quarters. MCA Lilongwe captain, Hydin Mafuta, said they deserved to win.
“We did our homework well ahead of the final. We made the final look easy after analysing our opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. It feels amazing to retain the title”, Mafuta said.
In the ladies section, Zima defeated Poly 49-25 in the semi-finals whereas Magu sweated to overcome Bunda 46-42 in a third-place match.
Zima produced a classic performance to defeat Magu, who were one of the favourites to win.
Zima Captain, Angel Malija, said she was excited with the win.
“It was tough but it feels great to win. We will continue playing so that we improve our performance and successfully defend our title in the next competition”, Malija said.
National Bank of Malawi Corporate Affairs Manager, Annie Magola, said the second edition was exciting and competitive.
“As a Bank, we are looking forward to the third edition after successfully sponsoring the tournament for two seasons”, Magola said.
Basketball Association of Malawi president, Hamlet Kamtengeni, hailed the bank for bridging the gap between developing teams and senior teams.
“We have watched some of the most thrilling games in basketball during this tournament. This competition is serving its purpose well and things can only get better”, Kamtengeni said.
Winners in both categories pocketed k 2 million each, with the runners-up getting k 1million. Third-place teams walked home with k 500,000.