Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (26 points) and Amritpal Singh (19 points) did the bulk of the scoring as defending champion ONGC (Uttarakhand) defeated first-time entrant Central Railways (CR) 75-64 in the men’s Group B league of the 31st Federation Cup basketball championship here on Wednesday.
ONGC fielded its top five at the start, but they failed to fire early. Central Railways cashed in on the chance and raced to a 6-2 lead in the opening minute with Raj Kalbhok shooting twice from outside the ring. ONGC did its best to keep the young shooter in check.
Later, after tightening the screws, it went into attack mode through Bhriguvanshi and Amritpal.
It was the former, in fact, who made a big difference. Standing at over six-foot, the playmaker showed great ball control. He cut down pace time and again and pressed on the power button when it mattered most to make it difficult for Railways.
Amritpal offered him great support and the points started to flow. However, the Central Railways team managed to stay close with ONGC leading 43-32 at the break.
It was ONGC’s brilliance in the second half that decided the outcome of the game. It rested its stars, barring Bhriguvanshi, and tested its bench which did the finishing well. ONGC was all over Railways for most part of the last quarter. Railways could have matched the points charts had it not concentrated too hard on its defence. “It was our first match so it took some time for us to settle down,” said ONGC coach Amit Kumar.
He had words of praise for the Central Railways side. “They were really good. They were all new players and it was quite natural that they came out with new ideas.”
Central Railways coach Hanif Patel was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We lost, but not without a fight. ONGC is a strong side and our boys made a match out of it. We played four of our tall players, but still struggled to beat the ONGC defence. That was because they stood taller than our boys.
The results:
Men: Army Service Corps & Centre (Karnataka) 57 (Isaac Thomas 16, Shashi Kumar 13, Jeethendar Singh 13) bt Indian Air Force 51 (Narendra Kumar 20, Joginder Singh 10); ONGC (Uttarakhand) 75 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 26, Amritpal Singh 19) bt Central Railways 64 (C. Amit 22, Akshadeep 11).
Women: Telangana 70 (Divya Palanivel 15, Aswathy 14, M. Gayathri 10) bt Punjab 39 (Gagandeep 10); Kerala 74 (P.R. Surya 16, P.G. Anjana 13) bt Delhi 36 (Sahiba Maan 12); Tamil Nadu 72 bt West Bengal 67; Southern Railway 69 bt Chhattisgarh 51.
