Chennai, Apr 8 (Basketball News) Defending champion Punjab and host Tamil Nadu entered the men's semifinals of the 71st Senior National Basketball Championship here with straight-forward wins over Uttarakhand and Kerala respectively on Friday.
They were joined in the last four by Karnataka and Indian Railways.
Punjab bounced back after a lacklustre show in the second stage where they lost two matches to hold off the challenge of a strong Uttarakhand 90-64 while Tamil Nadu continued their good run with a commanding 81-57 win over Kerala.
Amjyot Singh (22 points) and Kanvar Gurbal Singh Sandhu (19) were in good form for Punjab as they raised their game against a dangerous opponent.
Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, rode on the efforts of captain Muin Bek (17 points) and Arvind A (15) to get past Kerala.
Karnataka also continued their good run by beating Haryana 82-65 to advance to the last four while the formidable Indian Railways defeated Services 90-68 to book a semifinal berth.
Semifinal line-up: Karnataka vs Punjab; Indian Railways vs TN.
In the women's event, Indian Railways stormed into the semifinals, outclassing Assam 94-36.
Tamil Nadu women edged out Punjab 73-70 to enter the last four along with Kerala and Telangana.
Semifinal line-up: Railways vs TN; Telangana vs Kerala.
RESULTS: Men's Quarterfinals — Karnataka 82 (Harish Muthu 20, Pratyanshu Tomar 14, Abhishek Gowda 16, Anil Kumar BK 13) beat Haryana 65 (Lalit 29, Sunil Rathee 12).
Indian Railways 90 (Palpreet Singh 25, Praveen Kumar 13, Santosh Mani 13) beat Services 68 (Akhilesh Kumar 14, Deepak 13, Nikhil Kumar 13).
Punjab 90 (Amjyot Singh 22, Kanvar Gurbal Singh Sandhu 19) beat Uttarakhand 64 (Vignesh Bhriguvanshi 33, Prashanth Rawat 17).
Tamil Nadu 81 (Muin Bek 17, Arvind A 15) beat Kerala 57 (Muhammed Shiras 15, Sejin Mathew 12).
Women's Quarterfinals — Indian Railways 94 (Nilma Doma Bhutia 21, Gulabsha Ali 19, Bandhavya 18) beat Assam 36.
Kerala 83 (Sreekala R 22, Kavitha Jose 17) beat Karnataka 79 (Grishma Niranja 22, Lopamudra Thimmaiah 14).
Telangana 72 (Aswathy Thampi 22, R Anbarasi 15, Anjusree A M 12) beat Madhya Pradesh 64 (Priya Sharma 28).
Tamil Nadu 73 (Sruthy R 21, Asmitha A 16) beat Punjab 70 (Ritika 22, Manpreet Kaur 19).
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News Source : PTI
