SAI to lock horns with Blues in title clash

The Blues marched past a resilient VBC, Mandya, 58-50 while SAI blunted the challenge of National Games Village Basketball Club 61-45 in a second semifinal that was more one-sided than the first.

With an obvious home court advantage, the Blues’ aggressive play made scoring a tough task for VBC as they lagged behind 22-37 at half-time.

Karthik’s eleven points and Abhilash Shetty’s seven helped VBC close in on the deficit. But Blues’ Shylu, who scored a match-high 22 points, and Anand (21) demolished VBC’s hopes of going through to the final.

In the second semifinal, Abhishek led the SAI charge with 19 points to give them a 35-22 lead at half-time.

NGV’s Pramod (10) and Hardeep (8) tried to even the scores but with Kelvin Daniel (16) also rising to the occasion, SAI marched into the title round.

Results: SAI, Dharwad: 61 (Abhishek 19, Kelvin Daniel 16) bt NGVBC: 45 (Pramod 10, Hardeep 8). HT: 35-22. Southern Blues: 58 (Shylu 22, Anand 21) bt VBC, Mandya: 50 (Karthik 11, Abhilash Shetty 7). HT: 37-22.