The second semifinal of the day proved to be a riveting affair at the end of which it was the Pune Peshwas who joined the Chennai Slam in the finals. The men from Pune beat Haryana Gold 81-80 in the second semifinal of the UBA Championship at the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad today.
The match saw Arjun Mehta of the Peshwas scored a three-pointer in the early moments of the first quarter. That was a sign of things to come; Pune dominated for the first 30 out of the 40 minutes of the match and at the end of the third quarter they led by a whopping 12 points at 65-53.
The biggest thrills in the match were still left for the final frame as the Haryana team came storming back into the contest, scoring an impressive 25 points in 9 minutes as compared to Peshwas’s 13.
With 50 seconds left on the clock, the Gold team scored the basket that brought the match back on level terms at 78-78. They then took the lead for the first time in the match courtesy a 2-pointer to go 80-78 up.
However, what seemed like a sensational comeback victory for Haryana was turned upside down after Karan of the Peshwas scored a critical basket from the 3-pointer line to bring back the lead to the Peshwas.
The drama didn't end there as in the dying moments, a foul from the Peshwas gave Haryana the chance to tie the score. But they missed both of their free throws on the bounce and that meant that the Peshwas were through to the finals.
Final score: Haryana Gold 80 (Vikas 27, Himanshu 11, Abhishek 11) lost to Pune Peshwas 81 (Ajinkya 26, Arjun 11).
