New Delhi, March 1 (IANS) Tamil Nadu marched into the men’s quarterfinals with an easy victory over Delhi while Karnataka booked a seat in the pre-quarters of the 64th National Basketball Championship here Saturday.
In Group A, Tamil Nadu recorded their third straight win, beating Delhi 78-47. India international Pratham Singh was once again the star of the show, bagging a game-high 20 points.
Rikin Pethani and S. Prasanna added 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Delhi’s attack was once again toothless and lacked the cutting edge. Shooting guard Vinay Kaushik and Pravin Dovan were the only players who put the Tamil Nadu defence under pressure, notching 13 points each.
Meanwhile, Karnataka narrowly beat Maharashtra 101-96 to enter the pre-quarterfinals.
Arvind A. scored a game-high 44 points, Shrinivas Naik 17, Dhiraj 13 and Rajesh 12 for the winners. A.K. Gahlot (33), Siddham Shinde (30) and Karthik Counder (18) were major contributors for the losers.
In another match, Indian Railways downed Chattisgarh 80-58 after leading 42-19 at the half time.
Hirendra Rathore (22), Arjun Singh (10) and Jaskaran Singh (eight) shone for the victors while Ajay Pratap Singh (14), Sameer Rai (13) and Karan Pal Singh (12) put up some semblance of a fight for the vanquished.
In the women’s category, Maharashtra got the better of Chhattisgarh, defeating them 60-56 in a pulsating tie.
Chhattisgarh made Maharashtra sweat it out and were leading by five points at one stage of the game in the second half.
In the fourth quarter, both teams matched basket for basket.
Shireen Limaye (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Saji Sona (10 points, 10 rebounds) scored a double-double and Susan Kenny finished with 13 points for Maharashtra. Seema Singh (22) and Deepa L. (13) fought gallantly for Chhattisgarh.
Complete results:
Men:
Indian Railways (Hirendra S. Rathore 22, Arjun Singh 10, Jaskaran Singh 8) bt Chhattisgarh (Ajay Pratap Singh 14, Sameer Rai 13, Karan Pal Singh 12) 80-58.
Rajasthan (Vinod Kumar 22, Jaynesh Patel 18, Kamran Khan 17, Harshvardhan Singh 12, Prashant Singh 10) bt Andhra Pradesh (Nihal Yadav 8, Shaik Bajid Basha 6) 87-31.
Qualifying matches (Men):
Odisha (Ashok 22, Firoj 19, Ashish Ranjan 13, Sashikanta 12) bt Himachal Pradesh (Anoop 23, Deepak 16, Virender 14) 92-70.
Uttar Pradesh (Shyamvir Singh 27, Bobby Singh 14, Rudraksh K. Pandey 10) bt Jharkhand (Allen Pemer 26, Vikash Kumar 10) 74-60.
Haryana (Deepak 24, Hemant 19, Vikas 16, Pradeep 10) bt Madhya Pradesh (Siddarth 19, Kirti Gos 8) 85-54.
Karnataka (Arvind A. 44, Shrinivas Naik 17, Dhiraj 13, Rajesh 12) bt Maharashtra (A.K. Gahlot 33, Siddham Shinde 30, Karthik Counder 18) 101-96.
Women:
Maharashtra (Shireen Limaye 20, Susan Kenny 13, Saji Sona 10) bt Chhattisgarh (Seema Singh 22, Deepa L. 13) 60-56.
Punjab (Kiranjit Kaur 33, Harjeet Kaur 18, Nirmal Kaur 10) bt Tamil Nadu (Nath Murli 15, Soniya Joy 12) 79-59.
Karnataka (Kruthika Lakshman 26, Roshim Rose 14, Sagarika Shyam 14) bt West Bengal (Sukurmoni Oraom 21, Varsha Verma 15, Salma Devi 11) 75-67.
Qualifying matches (Women):
Odisha (Rajshree Swain 23, Urbashi 14) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Radhika 6) 70-29.
Himachal Pradesh (Baljeeder Kaur 30, Alaka 11, ) bt Chandigarh (Yogita 8, Karamjeet Kaur 5) 67-25.
Andhra Pradesh (Jilna Jose 29, M. Gayathri 22, N. Sneha 15) bt Pondicherry (Manjula M. 21, Shanthi L. 5) 88-37.
Uttar Pradesh (Preeti Kumari 42, Radha Gour 18, Niharika Verma 18, Sakshi Sharma 11) bt Rajasthan (Nisha Sharma 19, Manisha Meena 14, Anita Meena 14) 93-71.
