SCR make mincemeat of YMCA
Hyderabad: South Central Railway (SCR) toyed with YMCA Hyderabad, recording a thumping 91-33 win in the opening match of the Samuel Vasanth Kumar memorial flood-lit prize money tournament at YMCA Secunderabad on Wednesday evening. During the change of ends, the winner was comfortably placed at 54-18.
The six-day meet, held in memory of the late Basketball Federation of India referee and sports journalist, is jointly organized by the Hyderabad District Basketball Association and the Sports Writers Association of Telangana (SWAT).
The railway men were superior in every aspect and looked like very strong contenders for the title. Powered by Vijay Kumar, Santosh Mani, M. Raju and Kaushik Ram, the quartet of Tamil Nadu imports, SCR gave their rivals very little room to score.
Instead they virtually monopolized ball possession, rotating the sphere around the 'D' to capitalize on the smallest opening and fire three-pointers.
Pouncing on defensive rebounds, forward Vijay was swift with his fast breaks, as was Santosh Mani. At other times, the ball-handlers ensured a steady stream of long-range passes.
These soared over the YMCA defenders and reached the above-mentioned duo who invariably found the hoop, from vantage points close to the opponent's backboard.
The railway squad was at its most productive best in the second quarter, logging a whopping 32 points against a mere seven from their opposition.
On Tuesday night, five three-pointers from M. Prudhvishwar Reddy (32) helped Young Men's Guild, Secunderabad come back from 31-33 down at half-time to defeat HAL Basketball Club (HALBC) 74-65 in the second match.
The shooting guard made the difference for the winner in the third quarter, scoring 11 of his side's 22 against the dozen from the loser.
The results: SCR 91 (Vijay Kumar 36, Santosh Mani 27, Kaushik 9) bt YMCA Hyderabad 33. HT: 54-18.Tuesday's matches: Young Men's Guild, Secunderabad 74 (M. Prudhvishwar Reddy 32, Chris Viresh 20) bt HAL Basketball Club 65 (Aman 23, G. Vikram 12, Ashish 14) HT: 31-33; Saints Basketball Club 53 (Prateek 15, Agni 14) bt RR Club 18. HT: 32-5.