Ruthvik stars for Mangalore

Teenager scores a match-high 13 points in a thriller

Mangalore Basketball Club held their nerves to book a semifinal league berth in the State Sub-junior basketball championship with a narrow 31-29 win over Young Orions here on Wednesday.

The Orions were looking to dominate the proceedings with their formidable line-up of forwards and the star point-guard Thomson Daniel, but they encountered an entirely different challenge as the boys’ from Mangalore unleashed power-forward Ruthvik.

The Mangalore outfit made sensible use of their time with the ball and with a good conversion rate set the pace early on as they rallied on to score the first five points without a contest. But Orions offence, though rusty under the board, met with some success as they brought up the first points for the team to have the scores at 8-4 in favour of MBC.

Coach Shinto VP brought his trump card Daniel to stage a revival and the ploy worked as the young guard penetrated the rival defence with ease to even the scores at 10-10 and with assistance from the lanky Pradeep Reddy, he gave Orions a 12-11 lead.

Pradeep posted up on the left with authority and this made room for his team-mates to drive in but Orions could not match Ruthvik on the inside. Ruthvik capitalised on the the man-to-man rule to score at will, leading his side to a 24-16 lead at the end of second quarter. Ruthvik scored a match-high 13 points.

With 11 points for Orions, Pradeep reduced the deficit, but MBC’s Vishal B, who scored 12 points, came up with a series of lay-ups to have the scores tied at 29-29. With the clock ticking, MBC found their saviour in Tejas, who put up a long-range jump shot with nine second remaining to seal MBC’s place in the semifinal league.

Results: Boys: Mangalore Basketball Club: 31 (Ruthvik 13, Vishal B 12) bt Young Orions: 29 (Pradeep Reddy 11, Daniel 8). HT: 12-11; Vijayanagar Sports Club, Hospet:40 (Puneeth 22, Asif 8) bt Beagles: 25 (Nitin 6). HT: 22-8; JSC: 30 (Sachin 12, Sajith 9) bt Southern Blues: 17 (Apraemya 8). HT: 18-11; VBC, Mandya: 35 (Vinay 12) bt YCBC, Bellary: 10(Prashanth 6). HT: 18-2.

Girls: Naveen Shetty, Mangalore: 31 (Pallavi Rao 11, Achamma 5) bt Vimanapura SC: 18(Dhanya 5, Sneha 5). HT: 18-7; Sports School, Mandya: 16 (Supritha 4, Chandana 4, Aprova 4) bt VNS: 0. HT: 14-0; JSC: 27 (Avanthi 9, Sanchi 9) bt Bharath SU: 5 ( Bhagi 5). HT:13-0; Mounts Club: 28 (Sahana 12) bt Merchants, Davangere: 3. HT: 12-0.