Vijaya Bank to lock horns with MEG for top honours

Friday’s 61-42 win over Army Service Corps was the Bankmen’s eighth consecutive win. MEG too have an identical number of wins, and the two unbeaten teams will lock horns with each other for the title.

Vijaya Bank held the upper hand in terms of experience over ASC, but the Armymen’s resoluteness proved a tough challenge to put away. Despite ASC’s man-to-man marking, Vijaya’s Roshan (13) and Sanjay Raj (23) played well under the basket to give their side a 15-10 lead in the first quarter.

Vijaya’s Murali Mohan made a couple of three-pointers early in the second quarter but Gautham (9) and skipped Prasad (6) kept ASC in the hunt, the score reading 31-23 at half-time. A verbal fight aggravated the situation but the Bankmen stuck to their clinical approach to take a 52-29 lead after the third quarter.

Sanjay stepped up his scoring rate in the final quarter to give Vijaya Bank a shot at retaining their title.
Other results: HASC: 66 (Markesh 13, Girish 9) bt CMP: 65 (Vinay Kumar 11). HT: 31-33; YOSC: 54 (Siddharth 8, Trishul 12) bt Sports Hostel: 49 (Praveen 19, MR Varun 8). HT: 40-32.