67th Junior National Basketball Championship: Day 4

Puducherry, 4th May, 2016:  Telangana and Chhattisgarh boys teams and Gujarat and Delhi from the girls section made it through from the Level 2 to Level 1 and progressed to the pre-quarterfinals stage. All of this was Day 4 action at the 67th Junior National Basketball Championship, here on the 4th of May. In Level 1 matches, Kerala girls came out strong after their defeat yesterday at the hands of Karnataka, by outplaying Rajasthan. In the first quarter, Rajasthan was trailing only by  a point, but from the second quarter onward, Kerala outplayed them from beyond the arc, winning their game, 66 to 39. In the second match of the day, Karnataka stayed undefeated by beating Maharashtra. Priyanka and Bhandavya both had a huge scoring day, and proved decisive in the Karnataka win, with 28 points each. Later in the evening, the undefeated Haryana boys team and the Kerala team (both 2-0 coming into their game), went head on in a bid to claim the top spot in Group A. After trailing 9-18 in the first quarter, Haryana boys went on a tear in the next three, outscoring Kerala 83-60 to win the game.

Sudarshan of Kerala (red) attacks the lane against Haryana (purple)

Day- 3 (Late Evening)

Despite a 20 points come-back in the fourth quarter, Tamil Nadu fell to Haryana to go 1-2 in the league stages. Key to their comeback, was their near perfect execution on the full court press, which forced Haryana into continuous turnovers. Daniel and Bala of Tamil Nadu almost tied the game in the last quarter, and Tamil Nadu’s bid to force the game into overtime was denied, as Hari Ram the Tamil Nadu Captain, who was fouled behind the three point line, was unable to connect on all the three free throws.

Sonu Kumar of Haryana (blue) goes up against Tamil Nadu (white) The late game between the reigning runner up team Punjab, and Maharashtra, was another tied encounter for the most part. Maharashtra’s guards were able to connect from behind the arc to take an early lead. Rahul of Punjab had a size advantage in the 2^nd quarter, when Maharashtra decided to play man-to-man defense. He was matched up with a smaller defender and was able to capitalize on this mismatch, finishing with 36 points. Offensively, Maharashtra was perfect as they were able to hang on as a result of their solid 3 point stroke. In the last seconds of the game Maharashtra was down with one point and retained possession of the ball, but were not able to convert, as Punjab took the game.

Day 4 Results - upto 7: 00 PM

Level 1

Boys

Haryana 92 (Sahil 23, Deepak 16)bt Kerala 78 (Muhammed 16, Sudarshan 10) [9-18, 27-25, 19-13, 37-22]

Girls

Kerala 66 (Anusha 10) bt Rajasthan 39 (Ishika 12) [10-9, 15-11, 18-8, 23-11] Karnataka 77 (Priyanka 28, Bhandavya 28, Lopamudra 15) bt Maharashtra 71 (Carina 17, Shruti 15, Neha 14) [11-17, 24-21, 20-12, 22-21] Chhattisgarh 67 (Vaniana 21) bt Madhya Pradesh 35 (Palak 12) [11-12, 19-8, 21-9, 16-6]

Chhattisgarh (yellow) against Madhya Pradesh (red) (Madhya Pradesh are seen here wearing Goa jerseys)

Level 2 to Level 1 Qualification Games

Boys

Chhattisgarh 65 (Arvind 18) bt Mizoram 42 (Lalchhandama 12) [17-12, 11-8, 13-16, 24-6] Telangana 76 (Pruthvi 28, Arun 18) bt West Bengal 68 (Saddam 24, Gopal 11) [18-16, 12-14, 19-20, 27-18]

Girls

Gujarat 44 (Tavleen 18, Arti 16) bt West Bengal 22 (Paulami  12) [14-6, 14-6, 12-6, 4-4] Delhi 75 (Sushantika 28, Ragnee 25) bt Himachal Pradesh 67 (Vishali 19, Poonam 19) [19-17, 20-19, 22-12, 14-19]

Loser’s Knockout (for Level 2 teams out of the main competition)

Boys

Goa  84 (Shawn 34, Roy 15) bt Tripura 37 (Akshay 9) [25-10, 15-9, 14-11, 30-7]

Girls

Telangana 59 (Natasha 19) bt Jharkhand 44 (Usha 15) [13-10, 6-8, 17-12, 23-14] Uttarakhand  41 (Preeti 16) btPuducherry 16 (Nila 6) [16-8, 9-2, 5-4, 11-2]

Day 3 Results - After 7:oo PM

Level 1

Boys

Kerala 77 (Muhammed 19) bt Chandigarh 71 (Abhishek 21, Amit 15) [14-23, 22-12, 10-24, 31-12] Haryana 90 (Rinku 28, Sonu Kumar 27, Deepak 11) bt Tamil Nadu 89 (Hari Ram 28, Daniel 25, Bala 15) [26-9, 20-22, 26-20, 18-38] Punjab 69 (Rahul 36, Ajit 10) bt Maharashtra 68 (Aaron 18, Moteiro 15) [17-21, 19-10, 16-17, 17-20]

Level 2

Boys

Karnataka 64 (Guru Prasad 27, Prajwal 12) bt Gujarat 41 (Amit 14) [16-15, 20-9, 19-11, 9-6] Mizoram 66 (Chuandingliana 18, Sumtansanga 11) bt Himachal Pradesh 35 (Jatin 10) [25-12, 14-6, 10-6, 17-11] Puducherry 56 (Sheldin 14) bt Arunachal Pradesh 34 (Yashmit 10) [17-16, 17-7, 12-2, 10-9] Telangana 66 (Solomon 15) bt Assam 41 (Arnav 13) [32-15, 18-6, 10-4, 6-16]

Girls

Uttarakhand 37 (Preeti 11) bt Andhra Pradesh 31 (Susmitha) [12-7, 17-6, 4-11, 4-7] Gujarat 52 (Arti 22, Kshama 14) bt Telangana 21 (Natasha 11) [13-8, 13-6, 19-7, 7-0]