HYDERABAD : In what turned out to be one-sided affairs, HMT thumped Telangana Hoopsters 71-34 and Keystone Basketball Academy thrashed Amruth Basketball Academy 86-42 in Level 3 of the HDBA’s Annual league Basketball Championship.
HMT’s Anurag and Sam combined well and put paid to the pretensions of the Telangana Hoopsters side as they took control from the initial stages of the game and consolidated their superiority with a thorough all-round performance which saw them lead 32-18 at halftime. For the losing side, Anurag and Rohit were the only players to catch the eye with their successful shots. Sai Krishna coming off the bench scored a couple of quick baskets including a three pointer in the match as HMT went on to score a 71-34 win.
Keystone Basketball Academy players are improving each game as they once again turned out a decent performance displaying perfect coordination and a positive approach. Aayush Arumalla led the pack with his control of the game which enabled Rohan and Subhash once again use their reach and height to a nicety. Scheming well was Akash and with Jayadev chipping with a three pointer and couple of shots, Keystone dominated the first quarter scoring 32 against 9 by Amruth Academy before leading 47-25 at the change-over.
The depth in the Keystone side was seen in full measure as Tanmay Chandekar, Vaishnav, Siddharth, Eshwar and Hitesh and Samhith continued in the same vein as they scored 39 in the second half with Amruth Academy players led by Piyush and Pranav scoring 17.
Rising Stars Hyderabad move up
Rising Stars Hyderabad with an unbeaten run in Level 4 and qualified for the next level at the expense of Sunday Basketballers. Rising Stars Hyderabad outscored their opponents in all four quarters after leading 28-17 at the breather before rounding off with a 63-33 win.
After an even first quarter when Rising Stars led 11-9, Sai Kumar displayed a high percentage of conversion from the 3-point area logging in thrice in the 2nd quarter before following it up with 4 more in the second half to emerge the top scorer with 26 points - 21 of them coming from long distance. The speedy Nikhil caught the rival defence gasping with his run down the flanks scoring 10 points while Varshith contributed 9 including a three pointer.
Sunday Basketballers tried in vain to put the skids on the marauding forwards but failed to get back to defend in time. Sishir and Venkatesh contributed through baskets at long intervals and their efforts could not be supplemented by their teammates as they ended up with a 30-point deficit at regulation time.
Results (Level 3): HMT 71 (Anurag 15, Sam 15, Sai Krishna 9) bt Telangana Hoopsters 34 (Anurag 15, Rohit 10). Keystone Basketball Academy 86 (Aayush Arumalla 22, Subhash 19, Rohan 14) bt Amruth Basketball Academy 42 (Piyush 11, Pranav 6).
Level 4: Rising Stars Hyderabad 63 (Sai Kumar 26, Nikhil 10, Varshith 9) bt Sunday Basketballers 33 (Sishir 10, Venkatesh 9).
