Indian Bank (Chennai) scored a 78-55 win over citymate ICF in the men’s Group A league of the 54th all-India basketball tournament for the PSG Trophy here on Tuesday.
The ICF men, in the past, have always played with plenty of energy. But, for once, it was a surprise to see them falling flat in their performance. One cannot blame ICF coach M.S. Nazar for it, as three of the junior stars are now playing for Indian Railways and two others are battling injuries.
Obviously, the team relied on its senior stars who could not match the searing pace of Indian Bank, which has injected some fresh blood after eleven years.
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Of the six new recruits this year, five are currently playing here and they worked magic on the floor from the start.
The scoreline in the first two quarters read 25-5 and 42-10 in favour of the bankmen.
It was a much better second half for ICF as it showed the spirit to fightback. The players jelled well and hit the hoop time and again but the first half deficit turned out to be costly.
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“The recruitment has done a world of good for us. Now we have a cream of youngsters who have donned India colours and this will certainly help us in future events,” said Indian Bank coach R. Suryashekar.
The results: Indian Bank 78 (A. Surya 14, Ginner Benny 14, Moses Devananth 14) bt ICF 55 (C. Sreenivasan 12, C. Praveen Kumar 11).
On Monday: Indian Railway 73 (Loveneeth 23, Rajkalbhor 14, Vijay 10) bt IAF 60 (Parveen Dawivr 17, Narendar Grewa 17, Ajay 12); Kerala Customs 73 (Manoj 13, Sonu Jaison 13, Shinuman Augustin 11) bt Income Tax (Chennai) 66 (Sivabalan 22, Jeevanandhan 20); Vijaya Bank 85 (M. Harissh 22, B.K. Anil Kumar 22, A. Arvind 18) bt Indian Bank 65 (P. Bala Dhaneswar 23, Muin Bek 14, A. Surya 12) .