After two nights of disruption in Rio's South Zone, the power outage claimed another victim: Rio basketball. Due to heavy rains in the Gávea region early last night, Flamengo and Cabo Frio had to interrupt the first match of the State Basketball Championship semifinal series, which was being held at the Rio club's gymnasium.

With just over seven minutes remaining in the second quarter, and the score at 31-18, the power went out. After waiting just over half an hour, club officials and the Federation decided to schedule the game to resume the following Monday at 18 p.m. at the same location.

"The referee waited as long as they could, but in a decision agreed with the clubs involved, they decided to schedule the game to restart on Monday, considering that there were no conditions for the game at that time. The entire Gávea neighborhood was without power, and Light (the energy company) had not given a timetable for when it would be restored," said the president of the Rio de Janeiro State Basketball Federation (FBERJ), Álvaro Lionides.

Before the resumption of the match that began last night, Flamengo travels to São José dos Campos, in the interior of São Paulo, where they will face the home team in the NBB. In the State Championship, the team from Gávea is the current four-time champion and is fighting for its fifth consecutive title, having led the qualifying stage with seven wins in seven games.

Municipal in front
In the other semifinal series of the men's state basketball tournament, the Club Municipal/Ponto Mix Automóveis/Marinha team, which finished second in the first phase, defeated Comary of Teresópolis on the road last Tuesday by 77-69, taking an excellent step towards the final of the competition. Standouts included point guard Igor and wing Júlio, formerly of Flamengo, who topped the team's scoring charts with 15 points. Coach Aristônio Leite's team returns to the court this Friday at 20 p.m. in their gymnasium, needing a simple victory to secure a spot in the championship final.