Chennai: IOB pulled out a remarkable victory over Punjab Police during extra time in a crucial Pool ‘A' men's match of the third annual all-India basketball tournament for the Jeppiaar Trophy at the JJ Indoor Stadium, here on Wednesday.
The nail-biting 72-71 victory meant IOB enters the semifinals from its group along with Sathyabama.
IOB was cruising after having secured a 10-point lead (62-52) in the fourth quarter.
With less than four minutes remaining, Jagdeep Singh of Punjab Police, who was part of the Indian team for the South Asian Beach Games in Sri Lanka, changed the complexion of the match with a mixture of nice interceptions and sharp shooting to reduce the lead considerably.
Police then took a 68-65 lead with hardly a few seconds left.
However, Abhilek Paul provided the lifeline for the bankmen with a brilliant three-pointer at the death. In the extra time of five minutes, it was Paul again who gave his team the much-needed win with a clean two-pointer with hardly 50 seconds remaining.
In a late night match, Indian Army overcame ONGC 54-47 (by winning the match Army pushed Indian Air Force out of contention) to top Pool ‘B' and set up a semifinal clash with IOB. In the other last four clash, ONGC will clash with Sathyabama.
Geethu Anna Jose and Anitha, who were part of the Indian team for the South Asian Beach Games, played a key role in Southern Railway (SR)'s 93-69 win over South East Central Railway (SECR) in the women's league match.
Anitha was the top-scorer with 17 points, while Geethu netted 14. SR and SECR will play the final on Thursday.
The results:
Men: Pool ‘A': IOB 72 (Abhilek Paul 23, Hareesh Koroth 17, Mihir Pandey 10, Vineeth Revi Mathew 10) bt Punjab Police 71 (Jagdeep Singh 20, Amrit Pal Singh 15, Gurkir Pal Singh 14). ‘B': Indian Army 54 (Arokia Babu 12, Harendra Singh 10) bt ONGC 47 (Trideep Rai 18, Deshraj 12); Customs 73 (Saravanarajan 25, Vinoth 16) bt Jeppiaar Institute of Tech. 68 (Anbu Kumar 21, Shinde 15) on extra time .
Women: S. Rly. 93 (Anitha 17, Geethu Anna Jose 14, Apoorva 13) bt SECR 69 (Anju 30, Akansha 23); Bhilai Steel Plant 88 (Anjana Daisy 18, Saranjeet Kaur 18) bt Central Railway 80 (Manisha 30, Girishma 20) .
The Hindu