Defending Champions Services and Punbaj scored contrasting wins to top their respective super league groups while Kerala booked their place in the quarterfinals in the mens section of the 58th senior national basketball championships here on Tuesday.
Services scrapped past a fighting Railway 67-63 in a thrilling Pool A tie for their fourth straight win after the young Punjab side overcame strong Tamil Nadu 100-86 in Pool B.
Uttarakhand with three wins and a loss to Services finished runners up followed by Railways (two wins two losses), Karnataka (one win, three losses) and Assam (four losses) in Pool A while Tamil Nadu (three wins and a loss) took the second spot followed by Kerala (two wins, tow losses) Rajasthan (one win,three losses) and Chandigarh (four losses).
Uttarakhand survived some anxious moments before downing Karnataka 83-72.
In the quarterfinals, Services will face the winner of the pre-quarterfinals between Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh while Punjab meet the winner of Andhra Pardesh and Karnataka. Uttarakhand take on Kerala, who entered the quarterfinal defeating Rajasthan 103-77 in their last league encounter earlier in the day, while Tamil Nadu run into Railways.
The Services-Railway match turned out to be a close affair with both the teams playing aggressive game. The last quarter saw an intense battle with rival teams matching each other basket for basket and committing mistakes also under tremendous pressure, though Railways held on to their lead almost till the end.
