Varun M R hogged the limelight with a match-high 34 points as Sports Hostel, Bangalore, maintained their fine run in the State ‘A’ Division basketball league, securing their third consecutive win by beating NAL Colony 64-59 at the Sree Kanteerava stadium outdoor courts here on Sunday.

Varun  did the bulk of the scoring for the Hostelers. The NAL guards found Varun too hot to handle as the hostel trainee piled on the misery right from the start to fetch a good seven-point lead for his team at 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.

NAL’s Siddharth (12 points) and Naveen (12) then matched their rivals basket for basket in the second quarter as both teams scored 17 points each. At half-time, the score read 33-26 in favour of Hostel. NAL outscored the Hostel lads 24-20 in the fourth quarter. However, the damage done by Hostel hoopsters in the first and third quarters (12-9) was enough for them to cruise home. The league will resume on November 1 at Beagles courts in Malleswaram.

Results: MEG: 64 (Tinu Joseph 21, Peter John 12, Sridhar 10) bt JSC: 48 (Kaushal 21, Siddhu 10). Sports Hostel, Bangalore: 65 (Varun MR 34, Varun 12) bt NAL Colony: 59 (Siddarth 12, Naveen 12). HT: 33-26. KSP: 61 (Shyam Sundar 16, Bharath 14) bt Beagles: 42 (Shiva 15, Fernando 10). HT: 34-26. ASC: 62 (Pankaj 18, Harish 16) bt Koramangala SC: 55 (John 20). HT: 32-30.