Punjab cagers beat AP, enter final

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 7  

Punjab boys had no trouble against the undersized Andhra Pradesh, defeating them 68-53 to book berth in the 34th Youth National Basketball Championship final at the Indoor Stadium, Gachibowli, in Hyderabad.

Punjab centre Princepal Singh yet again was too much to handle, as Andhra Pradesh were out-rebounded and outscored in the paint. 

Princepal alone scored 21 points as Punjab led for nearly the entire game. Andhra Pradesh was forced to keep playing catch up before eventually falling well short.

Punjab had yesterday dumped Karnataka 89-66 in the quarterfinals with a red-hot Princepal returning with 32 points. 

Punjab girls, meanwhile, continued to disappoint as they finished a distant sixth after going down to Chhatisgarh 46-48 in the playoffs.   

The side had yesterday lost to Uttar Pradesh 52-60 to fall out of the title race. 

Haryana bow out  

In the final, Punjab boys will face Madhya Pradesh, which overcame Haryana in a closely contested semifinal.   

There was a very little to choose between the two bruising sides intent on forcing their way to the rim and scoring within 10 seconds of the shot clock. 

Madhya Pradesh had a double digit lead late in the game before Haryana rallied to bring it within single digits. But the side from central India managed to go on another late run to stay in contention for the title with an 85-82 win.

In the quarterfinals, Haryana had overcome Tamil Nadu 74-70, while Madhya Pradesh stayed in the hunt with a 79-67 win over Uttar Pradesh.

TN, Karnataka advance

In the girls’ category, Tamil Nadu’s stifling defense threw Kerala’s offense into disarray. The entire Tamil Nadu starting unit got going early, as they raked up a 21-12 lead. 

In the second quarter, Kerala did a better job of slowing down Tamil Nadu, as the teams traded buckets till halftime. 

The third quarter was surprisingly low scoring with neither team able to get into an offensive rhythm. To make matters worse, Kerala forward An Mariya Johny had to leave the game due to an injury. 

By the end of the third period, Tamil Nadu led 39-28, and in a bid to reduce the deficit, Kerala started applying defensive pressure in the fourth quarter. Kerala brought themselves within five points of Tamil Nadu, before the latter was able to break free for an easy transition and ultimately to a comfortable 59-50 win.

Karnataka girls, meanwhile, continued their undefeated run as they outplayed Uttar Pradesh 75-46. 

Centre Sanjana Ramesh top scored for Karnataka with 23 points while forward Anagha Nagarajan contributed 13 points to the tally. 

For Uttar Pradesh Vartika Kushwaha led her team with 19 points. 

Karnataka had a whopping 29 points from UP’s turnovers, and were also able to score repeatedly from the inside to ultimately win by a margin of nearly 30 points.