India cruised past Sri Lanka to record a 93-44 win to maintain a clean slate and lift the South Asian Basketball Championship at the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium here on Sunday.
The win also meant the Indian hoopsters booked their ticket to the 2015 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship as they finished with ten points, leaving the Lankans (9 points) in second place.
Coming on the back of a commanding 128-48 win over Maldives in the morning session, the Indians were expected to dominate the proceedings in their final league game. And the script was played out in expected lines as GLR Prasad’s men were up for the job against the Lankans.
Power forward Pratham Singh, Aravind Annadurai, Joginder Singh and Rikin Pethani in defence performed their rolls well for the hosts. Pratham’s deceptive dribbling skills helped him to get past the Lankan defence who adopted a zonal defensive approach to stop the Indians. Pratham’s 17 points included two three-pointers and five baskets from inside paint.
Supporting the 24-year-old forward was Tamil Nadu’s Aravind. The lanky shooting guard had the Lankan defence in all sorts of trouble as he pocketed six rebounds on the offence, while netting in eight two pointers and an attempt from the three-point line.
While the Pratham-Aravind duo were busy piling up points at will, the Lankans attempted to make an impact on the score board but they ran into Pethani, who, despite having a disappointing game on the offence, made good use of his 6’8’’ built to nip the rival attacks. Four blocks and 11 rebounds on the defence by the Tamil Nadu centre meant that the Lankans were restricted to shooting from a distance.
The Lankans, who posted a close win over Nepal in the morning, did put a fight in the later period of the game. Led by Praneeth Udumalagala, the islanders were successful in breaching India’s man-to-man marking in occasional bursts.
The Indians also saw local boy Arvind A and Venkatesh Prasanna inflict some damage on the opponents. Arvind was in the thick of action in the third quarter as he rose high to net in four attempts from the paint, while helping his side with three rebounds on the defence. Prasanna, meanwhile, displayed his shooting skills notching up nine points and four rebounds.
Eyeing a better show
The Indians are grouped along with Malaysia, Japan and defending champions Iran in the Asian meet at Hunan, China later this year. They are expected to have a tough time but power forward Pratham said the team will be prepared for the challenge.
“In previous years, we lost narrowly to the big teams. But this time we will do better. We are expecting to have the senior guys back by then, so that will also add to our strength,” said the Punjab-born player.
Results: Sri Lanka: 76 (Randima Sooriyaachchi 16, Thimothi Thineshkanth 14, Sudesh Ahmed 11) bt Nepal: 68 (Ayush Singh 13, Bikram Joshi 12, Sadish Pradhan 12); India: 128 (Prasanna Venkatesh 26, Rikin Pethani 21, Akashdeep Hazra 17, A Aravind 17) bt Maldives: 48 (Zakariya Latheef 14); Bangladesh: 82 (Md Tareq Aziz 26, Mithunkumar Biswas, Mithun Sarkan 17) bt Bhutan: 70 (Dorji 21, Tashi Tendhar 12); India: 93 (Aravind A 22, Pratham Singh 17, Joginder Singh Saharan 13) bt Sri Lanka: 44 (Praneeth Udumalagala 13); Maldives: 97 (Zilaal 18, Amhed Firaash 16, Ilyas Ibrahim 13) bt Bhutan: 55 (Chimi Wangchuk 11, Karma Wangchuk 11).
Final standing: India, 1; Sri Lanka, 2; Nepal, 3; Bangladesh, 4; Maldives, 5; Bhutan, 6.
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