Kerala men stun holders UP in a thriller; Maharashtra women post second win, mixed luck for Karnataka cagers

INDORE: Vinay Sankar fired a game-high 26 points as Kerala rallied splendidly to upset the applecart of defending champions Uttar Pradesh 92-88 on day 2 of the 74th junior national basketball championship at the Emerald Heights International School in Indore on Thursday.
The thrill-a-minute league round clash saw Kerala men taking their time to settle into the groove and turn the tables after the change of ends.After losing the initial two periods 17-24 and 16-25, Kerala were trailing by 16 points. The 15-minute lemon break was enough for Kerala to regain the momentum as they dominated the third quarter 32-19 to bring the lead down to just three points.
Though UP tried their best in the last period, they failed to stop Kerala from scoring. Kerala won the last period 27-20 to clinch the thrilling clash by four points for the biggest upset in the tournament.
While Vinay scored baskets from all corners in Kerala's memorable victory, LR Niranjan (13), Joby Jins (11) and Salil Niyukth (11) came up with timely contributions for the winners. For UP, Vedant Ranot and Kunal Kumarsingh netted identical 24 points.
Earlier, Kerala women lost their opening game to Rajasthan 63-80.
Much like Kerala, the Karnataka teams had a day of fluctuating fortunes. While Karnataka men thrashed Himachal Pradesh 87-55, their women outfit found the home team from Madhya Pradesh too tough to handle. With a 10-point (56-66) loss against MP, Karnataka suffered their second successive defeat in the tournament.
MP women rode on the heroics of Khushi Pal Singh (31) to record a come-from-behind victory.
Maharashtra teams in both the men and women section won their respective second league round games with ease.
Aanaya Bhavsar fired a tournament-high 37 points as Maharashtra women drubbed Chhattisgarh 98-54. For the winners, Rajvi Maladhari (18), Muskan Singh (13), Gunjan Mantri (11) and Akshaya Patil (11) supported Aanaya well. Maharashtra men outplayed Jammu & Kashmir 64-17.
RESULTS (DAY 2)
WOMEN: Maharashtra (Aanya Bhavsar 37, Rajvi Maladhari 18, Muskan Singh 13, Gunjan Mantri 11, Akshaya Patil 11) bt Chhattisgarh (Palakshi Thakur 20, Komaldeep Kaur 17) 98-54 (22-10, 20-21, 28-11, 28-12); Rajasthan (Priyanka Pal 29, Bhumika Verma 20) bt Kerala (Amanda Maria 21) 80-63 (25-11, 29-15, 17-10, 9-27); Madhya Pradesh (Khushi Pal Singh 31, Gunvi Agrawal 12) bt Karnataka (Aditi Subramanian 19, Taarushee Tarun 18) 66-56 (14-18, 15-8, 23-12, 14-18); Andhra Pradesh (Vinayasri Pujari 16) bt Pondicherry (Aswini K 20) 72-36 (22-10, 15-12, 17-10, 18-4)
MEN: Kerala (Sankar Vinay 26, LR Niranjan 13, Joby Jins 11, Salil Niyukth 11) bt Uttar Pradesh (Vedant Ranot 24, Kunal Kumarsingh 24) 92-88 (17-24, 16-25, 32-19, 27-20); Chandigarh (Gaurav Kumar Singh 19, Ravinder Kaushik 8) bt Punjab (Sahibjit Singh 20Jaddu Maan 19) 70-64 (10-12, 16-20, 14-20, 30-12); Karnataka (Rehan Khan28) bt Himachal Pradesh (Gurpreet Singh 21) 87-55 (22-9, 16-21, 30-11, 19-14); Maharashtra (Taufik Shaikh 13, Sachin Gurjar 10) bt Jammu & Kashmir (Aryab Singh 6) 64-17 (26-4, 19-4, 6-5, 13-4)