SCR cruise into SVK Memorial Basketball Tournament final

Hyderabad: SCR continued to be on a roll, registering a hard-fought 88-65 victory against Sanathnagar Play Ground (SPG) in the semi-finals of the third Samuel Vasanth Kumar Memorial Basketball Tournament held at YMCA Secunderabad on Friday. At half-time, the winner led 52-30.

In the opening quarter, SPG claimed an edge over the railway men with the latter piling up fouls and shots going wide. The former put up stiff resistance, jealously guarding their backboard, leaving their much taller opponents little space to penetrate their defence.

As the match progressed, SPG couldn't regroup in defence effectively, which Railways' pivot and top-scorer Raju M. capitalised on. Backing him up in the attack were Vijay, with five three-pointers in his tally of 23, and Santosh Mani (20 points).

Just when SPG was being written off, they came back strongly in the third quarter thanks to shooter Nikhil, point guards Shiva Teja Yadav and Shoaib Khan.

Shoaib was a pocket-sized dynamo, his mushroom haircut a sight to behold as he zipped to and fro, his height in stark contrast to the towering Railway defenders. His 45 degree three-pointer was stunning as were his many speedy rushes to the rival citadel.

International hockey umpire, former Hyderabad, South Zone player and Asst. Commissioner of Income Tax (Retd.) Alphonse Absolom graced the semifinals as guest of honour.

The six-day tournament held in memory of the late Basketball Federation of India referee and sports journalist is organised by the Hyderabad District Basketball Association and the Sports Writers Association of Telangana (SWAT).

Result: SCR 88 (Raju M. 24, Vijay 23, Santosh Mani 20, Mallaiah 10) bt SPG 65 (Nikhil 22, Shiva Teja Yadav 15, Shoaib Khan 12).