Vijaya Bank dominate

The Bankmen, who have relied on their time-tested post formations for over a decade, used their trump card once again to telling effect in their 66-50 win over Jayanagar Sports Club here on Sunday.

Vijaya Bank’s six-foot, 11-inch power forward Srinivas Gowda, who has been out of his elements for a while now, notched up 18 points while point guard Srinivas Naik scored 12. Michael (17) and Sharath (12) were the best performers for JSC.

With this win, Vijaya Bank took their tally to 12 points from 6 matches. MEG, who eased past Karnataka State Police 67-42 with good contributions from Amal James (15) and Tinu Joseph (14), share the top spot with six wins out of their six matches in the two weeks since the start of the tournament.

Army Service Corps, who put to fore an impressive display in their 56-37 thumping of Indiranagar Basketball Club on Saturday, are in second place with five wins out of five matches.

Last year’s ‘B’ Division champions IBBC’s poor run in the highest division of basketball in the State continued as thei slumped to their fourth straight loss. The Indiranagar lads suffered a 50-70 loss at the hands of the up-and-coming Young Orions. Binoy (17) and Anirudh (13) were the chief performers for Orions while Shiva (16) and Kuttappa (10) raged a losing battle for IBBC.

In the day’s only other matche, Southern Blues rode on a match-high 23-point effort from Anand to waltz home against Sports Hostel. Anand was ably aided by Robson (17) in their 81-37 thumping of Sports Hostel.

Results: Vijaya Bank: 66 (Srinivas Gowda 18, Srinivas Naik 12) bt JSC: 50 (Michael 17, Sharath 12). HT: 41-25; MEG: 67 (Amal James 15, Tinu Joseph 14) bt KSP: 42 (Karan 15). HT: 34-21; Young Orions: 70 (Binoy 17, Anirudh 13) bt IBBC: 50 (Shiva 16, Kuttappa 10). HT: 25-30; Southern Blues: 81 (Anand 23, Robson 17) bt Sports Hostel: 37 (Aditya 19, Radhakrishna 10). HT: 39-28.