Basketball

Hà Nội players and coach enjoy their HBC season 2 trophy. Hà Nội beat Ba Đình 61-52 in the final on December 31 in Hà Nội. Photos of New Sports

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội Club came from behind to win the Hanoi Basketball Championship (HBC) Season 2: The Revolution, making a brilliant year-end night and New Year celebration on December 31.

The undefeated team beat Ba Đình 61-52 to take the prestigious trophy along with a purse of VNĐ100 million.

Ba Đình opened the score of the final match and took charge the first two quarters. Their VBA players Michael Soy and Dominique Grant were unstoppable and brought home many points.

Hà Nội tried to fight back under VBA's local players Tô Ngọc Khánh and Nguyễn Huy Hoàng, but they could only maintain a narrow gap with their rival. Ba Đình led 31-29 at half time.

The next two quarters saw a different Hà Nội. They levelled the score with Hoàng's two free throws before going ahead after a three-pointer by Đinh Toàn Quốc.

Hà Nội successfully blocked Soy and Grant while their attacks were much more threatening. Youngster Phan Trọng Tài was the highlight as he scored, took rebounds and assisted well.

Hà Nội led 46-38 in the third quarter and maintained their domination till the end and won 61-52.

Bùi Thu Hằng of Chicken Dunk holds the championship trophy after her team win 60-50 over Dwarf in the women's final match.

Tài was the MVP of the match with 16 points, eight rebounds and 2 assists. His senior teammate Hoàng was voted MVP of the tournament.

In the third-place playoff, former champions 3F Galaxy beat Hidden Dragons 95-73 at the Thanh Trì Gymnasium on December 30.

Nguyễn Anh Kiệt of Hidden Dragons set a new tournament record by scoring 42 points in one game.

On the women's side, Chicken Dunk defeated Dwarf 60-50 to take the title and VNĐ30 million.  

Thanh Trì Gymnasium is full of supporters in the finals of the second HBC.

It was the second meet of the teams after their opening match two weeks ago.
Their defeat in the first meet seemed not help Dwarf in the second one. They still failed to block 'scoring machines' Bùi Thu Hằng and Vũ Mai Anh of the CDunk in the whole game. National team player Hằng took the MVP title of the tournament.

The HBC is the first tournament of the Vietnam Basketball Championship. The next one will be the Saigon Basketball Championship which is scheduled in the first quarter of 2024. VNS