The Hindu : Sport / Basketball : Kerala pips Tamil Nadu

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Kerala pips Tamil Nadu

Kamesh Srinivasan

PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

ON THE MOVE:Andhra Pradesh's Aashna (right) trying to weave her way past Kokila of Tamil Nadu during their quarterfinal duel on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Unfancied Kerala pipped Tamil Nadu 69-68 in the men's quarterfinals after trailing 37-38 at halftime in the IMG-Reliance 61st National basketball championship at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

It was a superb rally by Kerala. Spearheaded by the dynamic Eudrick Pereira, who rose to the occasion with a top-score of 24, Kerala bounced back from 25-38 midway through the second quarter to record a memorable victory against its formidable neighbour.

Monish Wilson (16) and Pereira did the star turn for Kerala at that stage with a flurry of 14 points that saw the team take a 39-38 lead.

Towards the end Kerala called the shots as Basil Philip (12) looked unstoppable even as Pereira was a pillar of strength in defence controlling the rebounds. The Tamil Nadu players were uncharacteristically erratic even with simple shots.

Tamil Nadu almost made a match of it but for C. V. Dinesh who missed a second free-throw that could have fetched the equaliser with just a second left on the clock. Mihir Pandey tried a long-ranger, but the ball bounced off the ring even as the hooter rang.

But there was no doubt that Kerala richly deserved its semifinal berth against Services, for the team played with a lot of heart and considerable cohesion, particularly when it mattered the most.

In the other semifinal, champion Railways will be challenged by Punjab that pulled past Uttarakhand 56-52 thanks to its fine performance in the final quarter, after having trailed 27-32 at halftime, and 42-44 at the end of the third quarter.

The results: Men: Quarterfinals: Railways 83 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 13, Prakash Mishra 11) bt Chhattisgarh 41 (Sameer Rai 11, Ankit Panigrahi 10); Punjab 56 (Talwinderjit Singh Sahi 19, Amritpal Singh 19) bt Uttarakhand 52 (Murali Krishna 14, Mohit Bhandari 12, M. Anoop 10); Services 99 (Narender Grewal 27, Gopal Ram 19, Praveen Kumar 16, Dalip Kumar 15) bt Andhra Pradesh 54 (J. Tharun Kumar 10, Sano Thomas 10); Kerala 69 (Eudrick Pereira 24, Monish Wilson 16, Basil Philip 12, Shinumon Augustine 10) bt Tamil Nadu 68 (Mihir Pandey 15, Abhishek Paul 14, Hareesh Koroth 13, C.V. Dinesh 12).

Pre-quarterfinals: Kerala 92 (Ajeeth Sugunan 29, Eudrick Pereira 25, Monish Wilson 18) bt Uttar Pradesh 56 (Sunil Pal 18, Vijay Singh 15); Chhattisgarh 67 (Ajay Pratap Singh 28, Manoj Singh 17) bt Delhi 56 (P.N. Rajesh 12, Somveer 12, Vipin Dahiya 11).

Women: Quarterfinals: Railways 142 (Manisha Dange 24, Anju Lakra 21, Ranjini Peter 15, P. Anitha 15, Geetu Anna Jose 13, R.K. Smruthi 10, K. Smitha 10) bt Punjab 41; Chhattisgarh 66 (Aakansha Singh 22, Kavita 21) bt Kerala 54 (P.S. Jeena 21, Soniya Joy 14); Tamil Nadu 59 (S. Kokila 25, Apoorva Muralinath 13) bt Andhra Pradesh 58 (Manda Meshram 16, Kawlajit Kaur 12, Aashna 11, Anusha Anto 10); Delhi 81 (Akanksha Singh 25, Prashanti Singh 12, Raspreet Sidhu 10, Pratima Singh 10) bt Maharashtra 59 (Sneha Rajguru 13, Shireen Limaye 11, Renu Maurya 10).

Pre-quarterfinals: Punjab 55 (Kiranjit Kaur 28, Jasdeep Kaur 12) bt Madhya Pradesh 40 (Deepika David 14, P. Upadhyay 13); Maharashtra 81 (Amruta Bhuskute 16, R. Anamika 14) bt Rajasthan 33 (Kamlesh Jat 13) .

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