UP, MP teams qualify for Level 1

The penultimate day of the league stage in the 68th junior national basketball championship turned out to be one of celebration for home teams. Both Uttar Pradesh teams won their qualifying matches, promoting them to Level 1. They are now through to the pre-quarter-finals.

UP girls had a relatively easy outing with a 80-32 win against West Bengal. Vaishnavi led the scoring for UP with 28 points in a one-sided encounter.

The UP boys, however, fought a tough battle against Karnataka. Despite trailing by double digits, UP maintained their composure and worked on cutting into the Karnataka lead. Prasun (23 points) and Navin (21 points) helped to secure the come-from-behind 76-62 win for UP. Karnataka centre Pratyansh had 22 points in the defeat.

In other qualifying matches, Madhya Pradesh’s teams knocked out both Andhra Pradesh sides in blowout victories, leading from start to finish.

The MP teams have now moved one step closer to the knockout stages.

In Level 1 games on Wednesday, Kerala girls sailed past Delhi, led by Jayalakshmi’s 25 points, in a 70-35 win. Punjab boys too remained unbeaten with a 91-64 win over Rajasthan. Forward Kanwar Gurbaz displayed all-round skills putting up 27 points in the win. Neighbours Haryana were also victorious, edging past Chhattisgarh 63-57. While Chhattisgarh slipped to the bottom of the table, Haryana remained in contention for the knockout stages.

On Tuesday evening, Maharashtra boys moved closer to a quarter-final spot with a 69-56 win against Telangana.

Rajasthan girls also picked up a level 1 win (54-40), dominating the second half against Haryana. Rajasthan’s Yashika led all scorers with 19 points.

Defending girls’ champions Karnataka maintained a perfect record with a win over Delhi 45-37.

A strong first quarter (23-7) set the tone for Karnataka who cruised to the win, despite not having the services of forward Snigddha, who suffered a injury.

Kerala picked up a comfortable 48-28 win over Gujarat.