The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : KSEB no match for ONGC

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Thursday, Aug 17, 2006

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KSEB no match for ONGC

Coimbatore: ONGC (Dehradun) defeated an off-colour Kerala State Electricity Board (Thiruvananthapuram) 73-52 for its second straight win in the 42nd all-India basketball tournament for men for the PSG Trophy at the PSG Tech courts here on Wednesday.

It was a lifeless first two quarters. ONGC, despite the absence of its sharpshooter Shabeer, struck to its game plan of attacking from the start. Sridhar (25 pts), Desraj and Suresh Kumar (14 pts) found ample space to move around and reach the hoop. The crowd expected the KSEB men to rise to the occasion but they showed tired legs.

The second quarter was played in a similar fashion with ONGC scoring as many as 18 points. KSEB did manage11 points during that period, but that was purely due to the efforts of crowd favourites Manoj (13 pts) and Shabukumar (14 pts). The former, who has already scored more than 50 points in the tournament so far, did well in the third quarter as well.

Knowing pretty well that the game was as good as over, ONGC tried its bench strength in the last quarter. KSEB stepped on the gas with a couple of effective three-pointers midway through the session but it came a little too late.

Late on Tuesday night, defending champion Central Excise and Customs (Kochi) got the better of Karnataka State 79-47. Vivek (18) and Joe Anthony (17) sparkled for the winner.

The scores: ONGC 73 (S. Sridhar 25, Suresh Kumar 14) bt KSEB 52 (Shabukumar 14, Manoj 13); Punjab State 62 (Yadwinder 15, Jagdeep 13) bt INS Shivaji (Lonavala) 57 (A.P. Singh 25, Faizal 11); Central Excise & Customs (Kochi) 79 (Vivek 18, Joe Anthony 17) bt Karnataka State 47 (Sanjay Raj 10). — Sports Reporter

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