Basketball coaches and managers have been urged to hunt for talents in the three Northern Regions in a bid to get the sport on a high level.

Mr Emmanuel Amoako, veteran journalist and Secretary of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) made the appeal when he performed the closing session of a weeklong top eight-basketball tournament at the Lebanon Houses in Accra.

Latex Foam Company Limited producers of Honeymoon mattress sponsored the event. He called for more sponsors to inject more enthusiasm into the sport and said more international honours could be won if more emphasis was put into the sport.

In the final match, which produced a lot of thrills, Braves of CEPS beat Shepherds of Tema by 58-45 baskets. The scores were tight in the first three quarters as inaccurate dunking cost both sides many baskets. But in the last quarter, which was manly, Braves produced last minute effort and spirited play to earn the verdict following usage of positive free throws.

Mr Peter Kportugbe, Chairman of the Basketball Association presented the trophy and cash to the winning team. Reformers of Prisons placed third. Mr G. Vanderpuige a member of the association announced that Tropic Oil would soon sponsor the top-six clubs at the same venue.