Gujarat and Haryana registered convincing victories in their respective group matches while Punjab handed Rajasthan their second straight loss in Group B of the 64th National Basketball Championships in New Delhi on Thursday.
Gujarat put themselves in the driver’s seat in Group F with their second consecutive win. Dishant Shah scored 25 points while Nachiket Nayak added 17 as Gujarat beat Mizoram 94—49.
Henryl Ramneahawma (13 points) was the only Mizoram player to register a double-digit score while L. Laldinsanea, with eight points, was the only other real contributor.
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Haryana outscored Himachal Pradesh in every single quarter as they won their second Group C game in a row 80—48. Hemant, Balraj and Vishal added 18, 14 and 10 points, respectively, for Haryana.
Meanwhile in Group B, Punjab had Gurvinderdeep Singh to thank as his 29 points helped them overhaul Rajasthan 92—78. Gurkirpal Singh added 23 points while Amritpal Singh chipped in with 22.
Punjab dominated the first two quarters, outscoring their opponents 32—17 after taking a 19—14 lead in the first.
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Rajasthan, who lost to Services on Wednesday, came back strongly in the third and fourth quarter but it proved futile as the gap was too big to bridge.
In the women’s category, Himachal Pradesh thrashed Jammu and Kashmir 54—12 while Uttar Pradesh convincingly beat Jharkhand 62—23.
Pondicherry, though, had to work hard for their narrow 65—58 win over Bihar. Bihar’s star player Satya Sarawat scored a mammoth 32 points but she got little support from her teammates apart from Arti Singh (18 points).