The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Kerala men in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 26, 2006

Sport

Sport - Basketball

Kerala men in final

Principal Correspondent

KOTTAYAM: Lifting their game to match the occasion, Kerala men defeated Andhra Pradesh 91-75 and marched into the final of the 46th South Zone senior basketball championship at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday night.

With captain and centre, international Subash Shenoy finding his touch and new star R. Manoj maintaining his form, Kerala enjoyed a 10-point advantage almost throughout the match.

The game was fast and lively. The home team, which appeared a bit disjointed last evening, combined well, especially in the first half.

The passes were fast and fluent.

Bobit Mathew, T.S. Abhilash and R. Manoj made countless attempts at the basket but the last two were the most successful, with Manoj once again turning out to be the hero of the day.

Good defence

Kerala also defended strongly in the first half, crowding the lane, forcing the Andhra Pradesh boys to shoot from outside. But with J. Pankaj and Kumar Varma coming good with long-rangers, Kerala could never breathe easy.

Early in the last quarter, Andhra Pradesh cut the host's lead to just three points (67-64). The home side quickly woke up, pinned its rival at that score for a few minutes and raced to a 77-64 lead. The rest was easy.

Earlier, women's defending champion Tamil Nadu defeated Andhra Pradesh 64-53 and finished third.

The results:

Men's semifinals: Kerala 91 (R. Manoj 27, Subash Shenoy 12, T.S. Abhilash 18) bt Andhra Pradesh 75 (J. Pankaj 17, Kumar Varma 18).

Women (third place): Tamil Nadu 64 (Kokila 22, Lakshmi Devi 13) bt Andhra Pradesh 53 (A.S.C. Calvary 12, Radhika 11, Bhavani 11, Hemavani 11).

Friday's results:

Men's league: TN 67 (Dinesh 19, Petchi 13) bt Sri Lanka 46 (Gayan 10). (TN topped Group A, entered semifinals).

Women's round-robin: Kerala 79 (P. Lajitha 19, Sonia Joseph 19, S.S. Anjana 11) bt TN 51 (Lakshmi Devi 15).

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