Saturday, Aug 10, 2002
Saturday, Aug 10, 2002 |
| Sport | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Sport
-
Basketball
By Our Special Correspondent
TISCO's M. Puvaneswaran trying to score against Indian Bank in the Ace Magnolia Trophy all-India basketball championship in Chennai on Friday.
It was a disappointing day for the spectators as both the outstation teams failed to rise to the occasion. Central Excise started on a brisk note challenging the rival strongly under the basket for rebounds. But that was only for a brief period and it was a neck and neck race till nine-all. In the first 10 minutes, Excise did well both in shooting and rebound collection. But with Robinson, Shabeer Ahmed and Shivshankar outmuscling him Excise's pivot Subash Shenoy was unable to score. He was unable to hang on to the ball under pressure. When Chandrasekar and Sundar also came as susbtitutes later, it became difficult for Shenoy to take shots. As IOB took a 20-9 point lead in the first quarter, Excise was feeling the pressure and the Kochi players hesitated to take long shots. At half time IOB was sitting pretty at 47-26. When Robinson found his touch and Sridhar and Hariharasudan let go their long shots IOB's game looked strong and vibrant. Out of sheer desperation, Excise's ball handler Joe Antony tried long shots. But it was his three pointers that propped up Excise's score. Still IOB was surging ahead with a 67-41 advantage at the end of the third quarter. By now IOB had taken the game beyond Excise's reach and the team gave up. As Hariharasudan converted more three pointers and Sridhar showed superb control in taking jump shots, IOB took the lead over 40 points. Indian Bank kept its cool and played its own game. TISCO did try to outpace the rival, but it did not have the control. Mohit Bandari wasted too many passes. Where Indian Bank really scored was in its excellent rebound control, particularly defensive ones. Jayashankar, Senthureswaran, Satish Sharma and Johnson Suresh Babu, who, however, committed four fouls quickly led the assault and did well in defence too. Ball handler C.V. Sunny was in his element. After a brief gap he has begun to show his touch in hustling the rival defence. His quick run, sharp passes and quick lay-ups exposed TISCO's poor man to man marking. Mohit Bandari, Desraj , Puvaneshwaran and Riazuddin formed TISCO's main combination, but the team was too flashy, not showing control in passes when they were on the move. It was a right tactic to hustle the rival with pace, but the Jameshedpur players did not have control. Under pressure, the TISCO players fumbled, spilling baskets consistently on some occasions. More than its attack, it was Indian Bank's solid defence that saved it. The results (semifinals): Indian Bank 67 (Jayashankar 15, Satish Sharma 11, Sugavaneshwar 19) bt TISCO, Jamshedpur, 51 (Mohit Bandari 12, Desraj 14). IOB 89 (Hariharasudan 14, Swaminathan 10, Chandrasekar 10, Robinson 19, Sridhar 26) bt Central Excise 49 (Joe Antony 17, Subash Shenoy 16).
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
