NBYS cagers retain U-13 Nagpur district crown

NAGPUR: Nutan Bharat Yuwak Sangh (NBYS) boys and girls' teams successfully defended their U-13 district basketball crown on Saturday. In the summit clash of the Sub-Junior district basketball championship, NBYS cagers registered victories in contrasting fashion over hosts Shivaji Nagar Gymkhana (SNG) to once again stamp their authority in the U-13 category.
In the girls' final, NBYS scripted the triumph by a wafer thin margin of a point 47-46 to leave the home team from SNG heart broken. NBYS shooting guard Abha Lad fired a team-high 19 points and combined well with Devashree Ambegaonkar who contributed 12 points for the triumph. A valiant 21-point effort from SNG's point guard Siya Deodhar went in vain.
In contrast, NBYS boys made most of their aggressive start to sail smoothly over SNG and retain the district U-13 title that they won last year. Pint-sized point guard Smit Joshi, who missed out the school U-14 national berth by a whisker, fired a game-high 25 points and gelled well with Kshtij Agarkar (16) to share 41 points between them as NBYS defeated SNG 74-64 for the title. For SNG, Sumedh Nipane (16) and Nirav Naidu (6) played well.
Results (both finals)
Girls: NBYS-A (Abha Lad 19, Devashree Ambegaonkar 12) bt SNG-A (Siya Deodhar 21, Shivali Jaggi 10) 47-46 (13-12, 10-6, 5-14, 19-14)
Boys: NBYS-A (Smit Joshi 25, Kshitij 16) bt SNG-A (Sumedh Nipane 16, Nirav Naidu 6) 74-64 (22-18, 15-6, 15-22, 21-19)