Himachal Pradesh always looked in control, securing scores of 22-13, 23-6, 10-9 and 15-6 in the four quarters for an easy 70-34 win versus Sikkim in the men’s Level II, Group C match of the senior National basketball championship at the Nehru indoor stadium here on Friday.
In the first women’s contest of the day, Maharashtra won the last two quarters by comfortable margins (25-17, 21-10), after conceding the first quarter 12-14 and levelling the next 15-15, to post a 73-56 win over Delhi in Level I, Group B. Shruti top-scored with 26 points for Maharashtra.
Defending women’s champion Kerala, after being 15-15 in the first quarter, pulled away in the next three (18-11, 26-21 and 17-15) to win 76-62 against Chhattisgarh in Level I, Group A.
Vinod top-scored with 28 points as Rajasthan beat Odisha 85-71 in a men’s Level I, Group A match.
Tamil Nadu registered its third win in a row, defeating Punjab 88-74, in the men’s Level I, Group B encounter later in the day.
The results:
Men: Level I: Group A: Rajasthan 85 (Vinod 28) bt Odisha 71 (Ashok 23); Karnataka 78 bt Kerala 54; Group B: Railways 74 (Palpreet 17) bt Gujarat 65 (Vinay 17); Tamil Nadu 88 (Justin Gnanaraj 17) bt Punjab 74 (Satnam Singh 26).
Level II: Group C: Himachal Pradesh 70 (Lakshay 17) bt Sikkim 34; Group D: Delhi 85 (Arshdeep 31) bt Jammu & Kashmir 64 (Ranbir 19); Group E: Chandigarh 88 (Monu 10) bt Arunachal Pradesh 28; Group F: Uttar Pradesh 87 (Pulkit 21) bt Assam 63 (Birender 19); West Bengal 63 (Arshdeep 25) bt Bihar 36 (Abhisht 13); Maharashtra 52 (Rakesh 11) bt Madhya Pradesh 36 (Prakash 24).
Women: Level I: Group A: Kerala 76 (Jeena 25) bt Chhattisgarh 62 (Gulab Shah 17); Karnataka 79 (Sanjana 15) bt Madhya Pradesh 68 (Nima 27); Group B: Maharashtra 73 (Shruti 26) bt Delhi 56 (Pratima 23); Railways 91 (Madhu Kumari 24) bt Rajasthan 38.
Level II: Group C: Punjab 55 (Rajandeep 18) bt Gujarat 41 (Nidhi 23); Uttar Pradesh 64 (Kavya 15) bt Haryana 30 (Bharti 14).
