Vijaya Bank outclassed Madras Engineer Group and Centre (MEG) 49-36 to clinch the men’s title of the State Association Cup basketball championship for the twelfth straight time at the Sree Kanteerava stadium outdoor courts here on Monday.
The Bankmen’s triumph tasted that much sweeter as it came without three of their key players — international Roshan Thankachan, Srinivas Naik and Rony Zacharia. They were all out with injuries. Vijaya also erased the bitter memories of their loss to the Sappers in the ‘A’ Division league on Thursday.
The start of the match gave a false hopes of cliff-hanger. But the contest was close was only mid-way through the first quarter when the Bankmen led by a point at 9-8. The Bankmen then called the shots to gain a seven point lead (19-12) at the end of the first quarter.
MEG were upset about many decisions by referee Venkatesh, who had earned their ire also in the ‘A’ Division title decider. They felt the erroneous calls snapped their momentum, undermining their title chances.
Vijaya Bank then took a firm grip on the match as a frustrated Sappers missed sitters.
To their credit, the Bankmen kept their cool to stretch their lead at 30-21 at half-time. Gowda, who basketted 10 points and Basavaraj made every chance count during that period.
With good defensive work from former international Gautam, who came up with good three pointers as well, and Austin (10), the Bankmen breathed easy at 38-32 at the end of third quarter. Sappers’ Peter John and Lloyd Antony missed a couple of chances level the scores in the fourth quarter while the determined Bankmen did well in counters to emerge champions.
Indiranagar Basketball Club outplayed Viveknagar Sports Club 52-26 to retain the women’s title. Sonam and Sushma scored 11 points each for winners while Reeth netted a eight points for Viveknagar.
