State eves survive scare

The winners meet West Bengal, who defeated Punjab 69-42 in a one-sided match, in the summit clash tomorrow.

Bihar’s superior defence gave them a fantastic start to their semi-final a 11-0 lead. Mobin Islauddin the 7-2 guard and Jaideep Dhaiwal at 6-9 denied TN players any room to take pivot shots. There were also many blocks by these two. Islauddin added to TN’s miseries by converting good close-range shots.

But from the that position Tamil Nadu fought back to make it 36-35 by changing tactics. They attempted shots from long and converted. From a defensive rebound they quickly relayed the ball to the forward, who scored many fast breaks.

At half time the teams were 37-36. After the break, Bihar again gained momentum to take their lead to 12 points (52-40). TN once again inched closer to Bihar’s total by using the long way Hari Hara Sudan and Moses Jevanandanan converting a high percentage of three-pointers.

At 65-all Cyril Miranda converted a three point to once again give Bihar the advantage at 68-65 when Mohin Islaudin was fouled he converted both the free-throws to make it 70-85.

Pressing forward with little time left on the clock. TN committed another foul to Dhaliwal to sink both his free-throws.

The Maharashtra-AP eves match was a thriller. Maharashtra struggled initially but had a slender advantage in the scores. Later, they struck a fine combination and ran up a huge lead. Shanti Saldanha was handling the ball well and the passes flowed smoothly. Rebounder Jiji Jose and Sonal Kavade scored baskets at will as Maharashtra went 31-16 up.

Then a break, forced by the leaking roof, stopped the game for nearly 10 minutes. At resumption, AP were a changed team. They were hustling opponents and fighting for every ball. Yamuna Philip scored some important baskets and their smaller players, captain UP Laiji and A Alamelu were running all over the court. Maharashtra’s shooting dipped several notches and AP caught up from 16-31 down to 34-38.

At this point, the shrewd Maharashtra coach, Mukand Dhus, initiated a series of changes which resulted in Maharashtra gaining ascendency again. He substituted all his important players. After giving them adequate rest, they were brought back but Manisha Kaprekar was kept on court. She obliged by scoring three important basket which relieved the pressure.

Dhus’s use of the time-outs also upset the AP plan. Just after AP had availed a time-out, Dhus used Maharashtra’s.

RESULTS (all semis)

MEN: Punjab 81 (Parminder Singh 27, Gagnesh Kumar 16, Parminder Singh Jr 15) bt AP 53 (D Babu 12, P B Srinath 13); Bihar 72 (Cyril Miranda 16, Nishant Kumar 16, Shahid Qureshi 16, Mobin Islaudddin 15) bt Tamil Nadu 67 (Hari Hara Sudan 17, Shiva Kumar 19, Jayashankar Menon 12).

WOMEN: West Bengal 69 (Rekha Choudhary 17, Aparna Ghosh 19, Preeti Vanitha 10, Kalyani Rudra 10) bt Punjab 42 (Shivani 7, Prabjot Gill, 12, Pauneet 9); Maharashtra 50 (Sonal Kavde 20, Jiji Jose 12) bt Andhra Pradesh 42 (Anandi 16, Shreeja 16)

Today’s Fixtures: 2 pm Punjab Vs Andhra (Women’s third place match); 3.30 pm Andhra vs TN (Men’s 3rd place) 5 pm Maharashtra vs West Bengal (Women’s Final); 6.30 pm Punjab Vs Bihar (Men’s final)