Karnataka upset the men’s defending champion Uttarakhand 85-83 in the Level I, Group A match on the second day of the senior National basketball championship at the Nehru indoor stadium here on Thursday.
Arvind top-scored for Karnataka with 34 points. While the first quarter belonged to Uttarakhand (24-17), Karnataka made the next two quarters its own (26-11, 18-16).
With only a 10-point difference between the two teams going into the last quarter, Karnataka eventually managed to win by a two-point margin even as Uttarakhand won the quarter’s honours (32-24).
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The Level I, Group A women’s match between Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, however, was the most thrilling of the day. The Tamil Nadu women had to expend extra effort to contain the nation’s tallest female player Poonam Chaturvedi (6’11’’) who almost invariably makes it a no contest when she gets the ball near the hoop.
With just more than a minute left in the last quarter, Chhattisgarh led 75-72. With 23 seconds to go, Tamil Nadu had closed in to 74-75. But Chhattisgarh went ahead 77-74, and with just three seconds left, Shinu netted from outside for Tamil Nadu to draw level 77-77 as her teammates, the support staff and the crowd went delirious.
Chhattisgarh clinched it 93-83 in the first overtime, though.
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The results: Men: Level I: Group A: Rajasthan 87 bt Kerala 72; Karnataka 85 bt Uttarakhand 83; Group B: Tamil Nadu 102 bt Gujarat 63.
Level II: Group C: Services 87 bt Goa 26; Chattisgarh 45 bt Sikkim 19; Group D: Delhi 68 bt Andhra Pradesh 50; Group E: Mizoram 56 bt Arunachal Pradesh 28; Jharkhand 33 bt Tripura 14; Group F: West Bengal 54 bt Maharashtra 49; Uttar Pradesh 67 bt Madhya Pradesh 57; Assam 64 bt Bihar 56.
Women: Level I: Group A: Chhattisgarh 93 bt Tamil Nadu 83; Karnataka 70 bt Kerala 67; Group B: Railways 98 bt Maharashtra 47; Delhi 85 bt Telangana 43.
Level II: Group C: Gujarat 59 bt Uttar Pradesh 30.