Chennai, Apr 7 (Basketball News) Host team Tamil Nadu defeated a strong Indian Railways 85-74 in a Group F match in the second round stage of the 71st Senior National Basketball Championship here on Thursday.
Aravind Kumar with 29 points led the way for the home time while Arvind A (19) and captain Muin Bek (18) also performed strongly.
Meanwhile, Karnataka scored a 90-81 win over defending champions Punjab while a formidable Uttarakhand recorded 94-75 victory over Haryana.
Punjab advanced to the quarterfinals along with Tamil Nadu despite the defeat and will face Uttarakhand on Friday.
Tamil Nadu runs into Kerala in the quarterfinals while the other last eight matches would be: Indian Railways vs Services and Karnataka against Haryana.
In the women's event, the favourites Indian Railways put it across a fighting Kerala 86-73 and Tamil Nadu trounced Madhya Pradesh 87-63. Both qualified for the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinal line-up: Railways vs Assam, Kerala vs Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh vs Telangana, Tamil Nadu vs Punjab.
Results: Men: Group E: Services 88 (Nikhil Kumar 30, Akhilesh Kumar 15) beat Kerala 69 (Sejin Matham 17). Karnataka 90 (Arvind 30, Anil Kumar 22) beat Punjab 81 (Tejinder Pal Singh 19, Amjot Singh 13).
Group F: Uttarakhand 94 (Prashant Rawat 37, Abhishek Rai 22, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 16) beat Haryana 75 (Sunil Rathee 19, Vikrant 13).
Tamil Nadu 85 (Arvind Kumar 29, Arvind A 19, Muin Bek 18) beat Indian Railways 74 (Palpreet Singh 27, Praveen Kumar 18).
Group G: Uttar Pradesh 81 (Harsh Dagar 18) beat Gujarat 63 (Sagar More 13).
Women: Group F: Karnataka 80 (Chandana G 21, Rini L 14) beat Assam 47 (Gita Sahani 10, Reena Patil 11, Jonali Dutta 11). Telangana 80 (Priyanka P 20, Aswathy S Thampi 21, Kiran Prajapati 15) beat Punjab 61 (Manmeet Kaur 20, Ritika 12).
Group E: Indian Railways 86 (Pushpa S 23, Madhu Kumari 18) beat Kerala 73 (Aneesha Cleetus 24, Sreekala 18, Stephy Nixon 16). Tamil Nadu 87 (Sathya 18, Rajeshwari 13) beat Madhya Pradesh 63 (Divyani Gangwal 19, Priya Sharma 19).
Also Read : NBA: Mavericks secured a playoff berth as Clippers beat the Suns
News Source : PTI
