Yashas lifts Presidency to victory

Guard scores 31 to fashion four-point win over SBMJC

The Beagles’ shooting guard missed open lay ups, floundered free throws, barely got his rhythm outside the perimeter and was rather selfish with the ball. But inspite of it all, and a wary shooting arm not keeping with his intentions, the lanky lad drove past the little lads from Jain and their noisy supporters.

With neither height on their side nor a star point guard, Jain had no choice but to get physical against a team which relies heavily on its lanky centre Hrishikesh, a hyperactive point guard with a bag full of entertaining tricks Vinay and Yashas.

However, with these three men not able to find their range, Jain took an early lead but Presidency managed to tie scores at the end of the first quarter. Yashas seemed to have got his act right after a couple of baskets at the start of the second quarter, and after a six-minute lull, he scored seven more points on the trot but Farveez (22) and Varun M (10) joined hands to put jain ahead at 27-24.

The third quarter saw fortunes swing back and fro on a couple of occasions but Jain managed to hold onto a three-point lead with the last quarter to go.

Ferveez, Jain’s only hope, made some improbable shots count but Yashas dashed their chances by levelling the odds at 42 apiece with four minutes and forty seconds to go.

From then on, Yashas made every drive count, and even when the ball refused to go in, he stuck by it and carried Presidency through to a 50-46 lead, which eventually resulted in a memorable win.

Other results: Men: RVCE: 74 (Vinay 14, Surya 20) bt BMC: 50 (Preetham 14, Bharath 12). HT: 34-26; MSRIT: 42 (Samarth 10, Ananth 7) bt MVJCE: 30 (Jayshankar 12, Ritesh 8). HT: 28-12; SJCC: 52 (Rahul 22, Sesharaj 12) bt Baldwins: 44 (Dennis 22, Arun 19). HT: 23-24.

Women: MCC: 69 (Monica 10, Kruthika 16) bt Christ College: 27 (Zelda 14, Anusha 10). HT: 46-19; SBMJC: 39 (Amrutha 10, Sindhu 8) bt Kristu Jayanti College: 25 (Shika Jose 25). HT: 20-7.