Crowds flocked the stadium in anticipation of a keen encounter and they got more than their money’s worth. The Bankmen and MEG came into the title-decider with nine wins out of nine matches.
The bankmen looked rusty to begin with and coach Rajkumar had to take a time-out within minutes. Roshan (6) and Sanjay Raj (13) stepped up the tempo by passing the ball around and despite some tough man-on-man marking by the Sappers, Vijaya Bank took a 19-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. MEG’s shooting guard Tinu Joseph, known for his long-range shooting, marshalled his side to grab a 27-26 lead. Vijaya Bank then changed their offence strategy and tightened their defence as shooting guard Deva Kumar (15) took charge. The score read 34-31 in favour of the Bankmen at half-time
Coming into the game in the third quarter, Vijaya Bank’s power forward Basavaraj (11) immediately made the difference. He looked good in defence and scored fluently at the other end. MEG’s Sweeto (7) made some very good plays but Vijaya continued to plunder MEG’s defence as they took a 48-38 lead.
In the fourth quarter, MEG put up a fight through Tinu and Sweeto but the defending champions proved too good on the day.
IBBC defeated Southern Blues 62-39 to win the ‘B’ Division title while VBC, Mandya, claimed the ‘C’ Division crown after beating Nationals, Mysore 60-35.
IBBC and Southern Blues and earned promotion to the A Division while CMP and Ambedkar were relegated.
Results: ‘A’ Division: Vijaya Bank: 57 (Deva Kumar 15, Sanjay Raj 13, ]Basavaraj 11) bt MEG: 43 (Sweeto 7, Tinu Joseph 7). HT: 34-31.
‘B’ Division: IBBC: 62 (S Naveen 16, Abhilash 14) bt Southern Blues: 39 (Naveen 13, Mathew 11). HT: 25-27. ‘C’ Division: VBC, Mandya: 60 (Anil Kumar 14, Aravind A 25) bt Nationals, Mysore: 35 (Vishak 7, Shreyas 8). HT: 36-22.
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