CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu men continued their good run in the tournament as they had little trouble in beating Haryana 75-48 in their senior National basketball championship encounter at the Nehru stadium on Wednesday. However, the Tamil Nadu women’s team went down to Kerala 49-63.
The men’s side looked in control from the start. They took a massive 34-13 lead by the end of the opening quarter. The hosts never let the opponents any breathing space through the course of the clash. Skipper Muin Bek was the standout performer for Tamil Nadu with 19 points.
However, it was a day to forget for the defending men’s champions Punjab as they went down to Services 101-84. Services took a slender lead of 29-26 by the end of the opening quarter. But Punjab pulled things back in the second quarter to lead their opponents 46-44.
Fortune swung in favour of Services in the subsequent quarter as the scoreline read 71-63 in their favour. Services held on to the lead right till the very end to emerge victorious. Akhilesh Kumar (29 points), Gaurav Chandel (26) and Nikhil Kumar (20) were the top scorers for Services.
In the Tamil Nadu-Kerala women’s clash, Stephy Nelson (16) and J Minnu Maria (13) shone for the winning side. Skipper J Ishwarya (13) and R Sruthy (10) were the main contributors for Tamil Nadu.
Results: Men: Group E: Services 101 bt Punjab 84, Kerala 81 bt Karnataka 71; Group F: Uttarakhand 101 bt Indian Railway 92, Tamil Nadu 75 bt Haryana 48; Group G: Uttar Pradesh 77 bt Telangana 69
