Mumbai's aggression spoils Nagpur party

NAGPUR: Playing with an intensity and desire that Nagpada cagers had, Mumbai South East boys handed a humiliating 27-point defeat to Nagpur to race into the last eight of the 62nd Maharashtra State Junior Inter-District Basketball Championship at the Balewadi Indoor stadium in Pune on Sunday.
While Nagpur boys got a sound thrashing, city girls earned a shot at their second successive title as they rallied splendidly to outplay Mumbai South East 50-31 for their entry into quarterfinals.
Playing with an 'unsporting' attitude, Mumbai boys were awarded 5 intentional, 1 technical and a disqualifying foul but the rate of basket conversions gave them the desired result. Despite rising to the occasion, city boys put up a disappointing show to give a facile 73-46 victory to Mumbai South East.
Mumbai boys were up on their toes taking a comfortable 23-point lead at the breather by winning the initial two quarters 26-14 and 21-10, respectively. In the second quarter itself, Mumbai skipper Mohsin Sheikh was given the marching orders for his illegal play, but by that time the seasoned point guard has done the damage with a game-high 20 points in his 15-minute appearance.
However, city cagers failed to make a mark after Mohsin's departure as it was a mere formality for the boys from Nagpada to clinch the issue by winning the third and fourth quarters 15-10 and 12-11, respectively.
Apart from Mohsin's heroics, Akib Khan (17) and Imran Nazir (11) contributed for the winners. For Nagpur, the tiny point guard Piyush Zanjal played his heart out scoring 18 points as Jai Kshirsagar and Parth Vipani netted 12 points apiece.
Earlier, Nagpur girls made it to the quarterfinals with a splendid 19-point victory over Mumbai South East with Ruchita Shrivastava (14), Monika Kharabe (9) and Avanti Joshi (8) excelling under the net.
Pune players in both the boys and girls section too made it to the last eight with comfortable victories over their Thane rivals. While girls won 41-27, their boys had a much easier 54-37 triumph.
RESULTS (DAY 3)
Girls: Pune (Shriya Kane 10, Aditi Kamble 8, Namasvi Ajmera 8) bt Thane (Ridhima Kemkar 10) 41-27 (21-9); Mumbai North (Shagun Wazir 12, Saisha Parab 6) bt Mum S East (Afreen shaikh 8) 44-17 (31-15); Nagpur (Ruchita Shrivastava 14, Monika Kharabe 9, Avanti Joshi 8) bt Mumbai South East (Sana Sheikh 13) 50-31 (26-17)
Boys: Pune 54 (Arun Harikumar 27, Nitin Chopade 15, Nipun Jadhav 8) bt Thane 37 (Rahul Shah 12 , Gaurav Sakhaarkar 8) 54-37 (27-2); Mumbai South East (Mohsin Sheikh 20, Akib Khan 17) bt Nagpur (Piyush Zanjal 18, Parth 12, Jai 12) 73-46 (47-24).