TN, Punjab in national basketball final

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu and Punjab entered the men's final of the 62nd National Basketball Championships in Chennai on Friday, even though they took entirely different routes.
While the error-strewn hosts huffed and puffed before prevailing 74-70 against Services in the overtime, Punjab made a mince-meat of defending champions Railways in the other semifinal, winning 95-61 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.
Talwinder Singh top-scored for Punjab with 29 points and was nicely supported by Amritpal Singh junior and Amjyot Singh who made 24 and 22 points. Gagandeep Singh waged a lone battle for Railways, scoring 25 points. The final will be played at 4.30 pm on Saturday.
After finishing on the glorious side of a thrilling quarterfinal match against Uttarakhand, the hosts almost hit the self-destruction button in the semifinal. On Friday, they allowed Services, who were trailing by 16 points in the second quarter, to stage a comeback, and could so easily have lost their chance for a shot at an eighth national title.
"We lost our penetration in the fourth quarter and we couldn't stop their three point shooters," said Tamil Nadu coach MS Nazar.