Nagpur cagers book semis berth in inter-district junior basketball

NAGPUR: City cagers in both the boys and girls section defeated Mumbai Central in contrasting fashion to seal their spot in the semifinals of the 62nd Maharashtra State Inter-District Junior Basketball Championship at the Balewadi Indoor Stadium in Pune on Monday.
While the boys' team after a poor display against Mumbai South East on Sunday regained the momentum to post an edgy 8-point victory over Mumbai Central, city girls, the defending champions, made light work of the same rivals for their entry into the last four.
In the boys section, city cagers after a brisk start in the first quarter, which they won 20-5, lost their way as Central lads looked to sneak in. Making most of Nagpur's wayward shooting Mumbai boys won the second quarter 12-8 before dominating the third period 26-10 to go into the last quarter with a five-point advantage.
In the final 10 minutes city cagers played with aggression with Nikhil Choudhary raising the bar scoring 13 of his 17 points - that included two successive three-pointers - to guide Nagpur to 65-58 victory which eventually gave them an entry into the last four.
For the winners, skipper Parth Vipani scored a game-high 23 points. For Mumbai Central, Luv Singh (18) and Paras (11) played well.
In contrast city girls had a smooth sailing over Mumbai Central. Maintaining their lead in all the quarters Nagpur won 42-26 with Aditi Chatterjee (10), Ruchita Shrivastava (9), Anushree Kaloti (8) doing most of the scoring. For Central, Archana Gupta (13) and Devika N (6) played well.
In an interesting clash between last years' finalists which unfolded on almost similar lines to the previous edition's summit clash, Pune boys prevailed over Mumbai South West 85-67 in extra time.
The exciting quarterfinal clash was stretched to the limit as both the teams scored 61 points at regulation and were again tied 67-67 after the first five-minutes of extra time before the home team rose to the occasion in the second extra period. Pune scored 18 points as against 11 by Mumbai in the second extra time to snatch a thrilling 9-point victory.
For the winners, Arun Harikumar fired 35 points while Nitin Chopde netted 21. Mumbai boys Kartik C and Saleem Malik contributed 25 and 23 points respectively.
In the semifinals to be played on Tuesday morning, city girls will play hosts Pune while boys face an uphill task against Mumbai South East.
Results:
Girls: Thane (Sanskruti Barve 20, Tanvi Dhabade 10) bt Mumbai South East (Afsana Mansoree 10, Zarin Rangwalla 7) 53-33 (28-12); Nagpur (Aditi Chatterjee 10, Ruchita Shrivastav 9, Anushree kaloti 8) bt Mumbai Central (Archana Gupta 13, Devika N 6) 42-26 (32-15)
Boys: Pune (Arun Harikumar 35, Nitin Chopade 21, Nipun Jadhav 12) bt Mumbai South West (Kartik C 25, Saleem Malik 23) 85-76 (27-25); Nagpur (Parth Vipani 23, Nikhil Choudhary 17) bt Mumbai central (Lav Singh 18, Paras 11) 65-58 (28-17)