Basketball in Africa

Power failure has interrupted the smooth continuation of the national league of the Liberia Basketball Association (LBA).
On Monday, game two between Supreme Brothers and D-Rockas was abruptly cut-off after the only generator supplying the Sports Commission developed a mechanical fault at the end of the last quarter.
The score was 49 apiece with Supreme having made a three-point basket good. The C/Deltas and Commissioners match was also postponed. Earlier, Harbel Pointers lost to Fiamah United Brothers (FUBBA) by 39 to 44 points.
On Tuesday, Ducor Magic beat Uhuru Prince by 86 to 80 points in an early kickoff but power failure again prevented the SOS Trotters and Commissioners game from taking place.
LBA Secretary General Allen Goodrich told FrontPageAfrica Wednesday the game will be replayed but didn’t elaborate as to whether it will start with the five minutes extra time. He said the situation was beyond their control as the generator undergoes a routine maintenance.

“We have been doing everything to ensure that we play our leagues at night. We service the generator everyday and we even bought new spare parts but we don’t know why things are happening like this,” he said.The association has been running its league with a single generator.
Plans to buy a standby generator has been stalled by an apparent bottleneck allegedly created by the Ministry of Youth & Sports in releasing the balance US$5,000 (five-thousand United States dollars) appropriated in the fiscal budget of 2011/2012.
According to the passed budget, US$10,000 (ten-thousand United States dollars) was given to the federation but only half of the half has been remitted to it. Meanwhile, the LBA said its first phase will hopefully end over the weekend.