Pune Peshwas bt Bengaluru Beast

Late night results
The second playoff game of the day was between last year’s finalists Pune Peshwas and their southern division rivals Bengaluru Beast. Kaif Zia opened the scoring for Bengaluru with an unexpected 3-pointer and he did not stop there, aggressively driving to the basket and scoring 7 first quarter points.

Beast forward Manpreet hit a couple of mid-range jumpers, while centre Somveer earned his points on the freethrow line. For Pune, it was a one-man wrecking crew with Narender Grewal scoring 10 out of his team’s 12 points in the first period.

Beast managed to end the first quarter with a 3-point lead up 15 to 12. Down by five points entering the second half, Pune kept plugging away, remaining within close distance of Bengaluru. Centre Gaurav Ohlan provided Pune with crucial second chance points en route to his double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.

But Bengaluru remained in the lead thanks to the stellar play of guard Visu Palani. Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, both teams traded buckets taking and making tough shots. The game was poised at 63-63 with five minutes left, when the unafraid players of both teams stepped up. Kaif (27 points) continued to hit acrobatic layups and tough floaters to build his team’s score.

But, Pune was not willing to go down without a fight. Shinde, somehow, got to his side of the lane, driving in from the right to finish strong for two layups. A big bucket from Gaurav Ohlan off another offensive rebound towards the end of the game shut down Bengaluru’s hopes, putting Pune up by 4. Pune advanced to the semifinals to face Chennai Slam. Narender Grewal was awarded player of the match honours.

Result: Pune Peshwas (Narender Grewal 23pts 11rbs, Siddhanth Shinde 20pts 5asts, Gaurav Ohlan 15pts 10rbs) bt Bengaluru Beast (Kaif Zia 27pts, Visu Palani 16pts, Manpreet 9pts 10rbs) 79-73 (12-15, 21-23, 16-17, 30-18)