New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Uttarakhand got back to winning ways with a convincing victory over Delhi while Punjab moved into the quarters with their third straight win in the 64th National Basketball Championship at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Friday.
Uttarakhand, who went down to Tamil Nadu Thursday, outclassed the local team 62-43.
Uttarkhand centre Amritpal Singh out-muscled and out-manoeuvred a hapless Yatan Sharma, the Delhi centre.
Besides winning 16 rebounds, Amritpal was also his team’s second highest scorer with 16 points.
Yadwinder Singh was the game’s highest scorer with 17 points and the lanky power forward won 11 rebounds as well.
In comparison, Delhi were wasteful. The only bright spot for Delhi was shooting guard Vinay Kaushik, who notched 14 points.
Punjab, meanwhile, secured a quarterfinal berth defeating Kerala 84-70. They were down 19-24 in the first quarter but came back strongly with some power packed plays.
Palpreet Singh scored double-double with 31 points and 10 rebounds while Ranbir Singh finished with 23 points. Ajeeth Sugunan and Basil Philips scored 20 points apiece and Albin Babay added 11 points for Kerala.
Services romped to a 101-35 win over an under-performing Andhra Pradesh, who have failed to win yet. If Services beat Kerala Saturday they too will join Punjab in the quarters.
Gopal Ram starred for the Services with 22 points while Narender Grewal and Joginder Singh, with 14 points each, were the other key contributors.
After a surprise win over defending champions Uttarakhand Thursday, Tamil Nadu recorded their second straight victory with another impressive show against Chhattisgarh, who they beat 71-42 in the Group A encounter.
Both teams were tied 34-all after the second quarter. Tamil Nadu, however, managed 22 points in the third quarter and gave away just two points to open up an unassailable lead.
Venkatesh S. scored 23 points with four three-pointers while Dinesh C. contributed 18 points. Rikin Pethani finished with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Arvind A. scored 22 while Rajesh P. Uppan and Vishu P. added 18 points each as Karnataka defeated Jammu and Kashmir 99-66 in a Group D match.
In the women’s category, Kerala downed West Bengal 68-39. Jeena Scaria scored 29 and Stephen Nixon finished with 13 for Kerala.
Defending champs, Indian Railways put in another impressive performance, blowing Delhi away 87-55.
Complete results:
Men:
Haryana (Deepak Rathi 42, Hemant Sheoran 28, Vikas Mor 14, Pradeep Chauhan 13) bt Uttar Pradesh (Anant Singh 30, Upendra 24, Bobby Singh 15, Shyamvir Singh 12) 99-93.
Madhya Pradesh (Narendra 19, Christoper Singh 16, Siddharin 16, Syed Anam Ali 15) bt Gujarat (Dishant Shah 18, Gohil Indoravi 15, Hardhi Singh 13) 75-64.
Uttarakhand (Yadwinder Singh 17, Amritpal Singh 16, Riyaz Uddin 13) bt Delhi (Vinay Kaushik 14, Pravin Dovan 13) 62-43.
Himachal Pradesh (L.Singh 23, Sanjeev Kumar 19, Deepak Thakur 11) bt Goa (Johan Braganca 15, Sohail Naroo 11) 72-40.
Maharashtra (Amit Kumar 17, Kartik 17, Jitendra 12, Abhishek 12, Siddhant 10) bt Jharkhand (Vikash Kumar 11, Allen Peter 8) 102-36.
Punjab (Palpreet Singh 31, Ranbir Singh 23) bt Kerala (Ajeeth Sugunan 20, Basil Philip 20, Albin Babay 11) 84-70 (19-23, 19-13, 27-18, 19-16)
Karnataka (Arvind A 22, Rajesh P Uppan 18, Vishu P 18, Anil Kumar 14, Sanjay Raj 11 ) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Iqbal Singh 20, Ranniv Singh 13, Karan Kumar 12, Shubbum Sharma 12) 99-66.
Tamil Nadu (Venkatesh S 23, C V Dinesh 18, Rikin Pethani 15) bt Chhattishgarh (Karanpal Singh 16, Ajay Pratap Singh 13) 71-42.
Assam (Virender 15, Pankaj Rathee 15, Pradeep Kumar 12, Kanmoni Lahkar 10) bt Mizoram (H.Laldinsanea 23, P.B.Vanalalmuana 16, Nelson Laladohilu 8) 68-62.
Chandigarh (Praveen Kumar 32, Surender 18, Rohit Gulia 17) bt Pondicherry (Sundarava Divels 21, Hari Krishnan 14, Vinod P.G 10) 99-56.
Odisha (A.Nayar 19, Ashihs Ranjan 18) bt Bihar (Yogesh Kumar 23, Abhist Pratap 10) 61-57.
Uttar Pradesh (Bobby Singh 16, Upendra Kumar 14, Abhishek K. Singh 8) bt West Bengal (Dhee Raj 14, Choye Lal 14, Harish 9) 66-52.
Haryana (Vishal Hooda 20, Deepak Rathi 19, Pradeep 16, Balraj Singh 10) bt Goa (Flobert M 13, Neil Morais 12) 90-46.
Services (Gopal Ram 22, Narender Grewal 14, Joginder Singh 14) bt Andhra Pradesh (K.Mohammad Arshad 11, S Nihal Yadav 8, Rohit 5) 101-35.
Women:
Indian Railways (Geetu Anna Jose 35, Renu Maurya 9, M Pushpa 9) bt Delhi (Prashanti Singh 15, Madhu Kumari 12, Pratima Singh 10) 87-55.
Pondicherry (M. Manjula 11, E.Sarasu 8) bt Assam (Laxmi Kumari 10, Smitali Saikia 8) 44-33.
Bihar (G. Safia Suwanju 27, Kavita Pimhlakar 14, Arti Singh 12) bt Uttarakhand (Jyoti 8, Bhawana 8) 52-30.
Haryana (Bharti 21, Anita 15, Muskan 12) bt Jharkhand (Jacklin 13, Diksha 9) 65-31.
Maharashtra (Sona M.Saji 12, Krittika Divadkar 9, Keeny Susan Lalu 9) bt Madhya Pradesh (Sakshi Pandey 8, Sukhpreet Kaur 5) 61-23.
Andhra Pradesh (Jhna Jose 16, K. Madhavi 13, P.U.Madhuiathna 12) bt Jammu and Kashmir (Mutahira Ali 4) 67-7.
Kerala (Jeena PS 29, Stephn Niyon 13) bt West Bengal (Sukurmoni Orron 15, Sitariani Tudu 7) 68-39.
Odisha (Rajshree 20, Urbashi 15) bt Chandigarh (Smiti 15, Kiranpreet 5) 61-37.
Chhattishgarh (Kavita 26, Seema Singh 19, Saranjeet Kaur 14) bt Tamil Nadu (R.Ramya 21, Appoorva. M 16, Soniya Joy 12) 86-63.