Telangana U-16 cagers down Chandigarh

​Hyderabad: Telangana State boys topped their pool and were one match away from making it to the Level-1 knockout in the 35th Youth National Basketball Championship for Under-16 boys and girls underway at Udaipur on Wednesday. However, it was bad day for the State’s girls team as they were upstaged by host Rajasthan with an overwhelming 91-45 margin in what was a one-sided match, according to information received here.

The boys outfit was tested to the fullest before carving a hard-fought 85-74 win over Chandigarh, notwithstanding the five three-pointers scored by Chandigarh players. Telangana boys started well with Khajavali using his speed to good affect driving in with force to score all the first 12 points scored by the team Telangana with Shoaib assisting him with immaculate passes in the process drawing fouls from Chandigarh. Vishnu and Gautam did well in defence by collecting most of the defensive rebounds and forcing Chandigarh to shoot outside the paint area, on numerous occasions. At half—time they were 41-34.

After change of ends Khajavali and Gautham combined well with Shoaib to score 25 points between them in the 3rd quarter alone. It was then that the opponents managed to strike form before fading out in the climatic stages. Meanwhile, following their Level II loss, Telangana Girls finished runner-up in the Pool and have to play in the losers knockout while the boys will next take on Chhattisgarh in Thursday’s last league match.

Results: Boys-Telangana 85 (Shaik Khajavali 37, Gautham 24, Shoaib 10, Vishnu 8) bt Chandigarh 74 (Parveen 22, Abhinay 16, Ranwer 14, Sashan 9-Half-time: 41-34); Girls: Telangana lost to Rajasthan 45-91.