The strong Punjab and Tamil Nadu teams posted easy wins over Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively in the boys’ Level I league matches of the 65th National junior basketball championship which began here on Monday.
Meanwhile, the host Kerala boys threw away a 39-22 half-time lead and lost their opener against Madhya Pradesh 64-75 in another Level I (first division) game.
The results:
Boys: Level I: Group A: Madhya Pradesh 75 bt Kerala 64 (A.R. Akhil 18).
Group B: Tamil Nadu 90 (Jedidah 24, Muin 15) bt Maharashtra 49 (Qureshi 15); Punjab 75 (Jaipal Singh 23, Arshpreet Singh 17) bt Karnataka 52 (Sachin 11, Sowkin Shetty 10, Pranay Naidu 10).
Level II: Group C: Rajasthan 95 (Mahipal Singh 20, Raghavendra Singh 14) bt Himachal Pradesh 45 (Sahil Bali 19, Keshav Sood 10).
Group D: Andhra Pradesh 86 (SSVB Reddy 30, Peter 15, Harsha 10) bt Puducherry 51 (Murali Krishnan 12, Atchuthan 10).
Group E: Bihar 59 (Gunjan K 24, Nitesh 13) bt Goa 40 (Shaun 17).
Group F: Chandigarh 77 (Naveen 43) bt Assam 41 (Bijit Kalita 19).
Girls: Level I: Group A: Uttar Pradesh 85 (Preethi Kumari 40, Barkha Sonkar 20) bt Karnataka 79 (Bhandavya 26, Lopamudra 23).
Group B: Haryana 63 (Bharti 22, Prince 21) bt Madhya Pradesh 49 (Sakshi 21, Princy 15).
Level II: Group C: Himachal Pradesh 63 (Arushi 24, Manisha 18) bt Jammu & Kashmir 19 (Mamta Mishra 8).
Group D: Delhi 73 (Nishita 20, Soumya Babbar 16, Jyoti Rai 15) bt Puducherry 29 (Suganya 9, Prathusha 8).
