PANAJI
Defending champions ONGC, Dehradun stayed on course for their title defence as they set up the men's finals with Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai at the 30th Federation Cup 2016 basketball tournament at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Taleigao Plateau, on Sunday.
In a closely fought last four clash ONGC beat Army Red 55-51 while IOB got the better of Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru 74-71. On the women's side, Kerala will play the final against Chhattisgarh. Kerala women beat Telangana 68-54 while Chhattisgarh outplayed South-eastern Central Railways, Bilaspur 83-68.
In the first men’s semifinal, ONGC took on a dangerous Army Red side, featuring prominent players from the Services team that won the Senior Nationals this year. The game turned out to be closer than expected, with Army Red eager to prove their mettle and pull off an upset. As usual, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi (18 points) was ONGC’s go-to scorer pushing the tempo and finishing in transition, while fellow international Yadwinder hustled his way to 8 points. Veteran guard Riyazuddin (17 points and 10 rebounds) provided the offensive spark for ONGC, with his assertive drives to the basket and getting to the freethrow line.
But ONGC was cold from 3-point range today. Shooting guard Trideep Rai made just one out of his eight attempts, while Vishesh was unable to connect on all four of his 3-point shots. ONGC’s shooting troubles kept Army in the contest as the game went down to the final minutes. But too many turnovers (22 in the entire game) proved disastrous for Army leading to transition buckets for ONGC in the dying minutes. Former India player Mohit Bhandari came off the bench for ONGC to knock down a crucial late triple that sealed the deal for his team and ending Army’s campaign.
The other semi-final of the day was a thriller of a contest between southern powerhouse clubs, IOB and Vijaya Bank. IOB were slow to get out of the gates struggling to knock down shots in the early going. Vijaya Bank came out ready to play, led by their international point guard Rajesh Uppar. Uppar’s unexpected 3-point shooting took IOB by surprise as Vijaya Bank established an early lead in the contest. Shooting guard Anil Kumar (20 points) also had a good beginning, knocking down outside shots and finishing in transition.
But IOB managed to keep themselves close to Vijaya Bank with the help of Tamil Nadu guard Siva Balan, who had success driving to the basket. International guard Pratham Singh was the other major scorer for IOB, knocking down three triples in the game.
Towards the end of the second half, with Vijaya Bank holding on to a slim lead, IOB centre Vineeth Mathew got into a tussle with Vijaya Bank forward Navin, resulting in both players getting ejected. This seemed to have fired up the IOB players, who came out resilient in the second half. Siva Balan’s decisive drives to the basket helped cut down Vijaya Bank’s lead. IOB forward Aravind Annadurai (10 points and 10 rebounds) had a huge putback dunk in the fourth quarter that gave his team some momentum going into the final minutes.
But Rajesh Uppar (25 points) kept firing away, knocking down six 3-pointers in the contest. The match came down to the final minutes with the scores tied at 71 apiece and under a minute left to play. After a couple of botched possessions from both teams, IOB’s veteran Hareesh Koroth hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 2.8 second left on the clock to give his team a 3-point lead. Uppar could not connect on his team’s final attempt and IOB ended up securing a 74-71 victory.
Menwhile in the women's field, Kerala stuck to their game plan against Telangana, running their offense through centre Stephy Nixon and forward Jeena PS. Both the Kerala international players delivered for the team, using their size and skill in the post to outmatch the Telangana frontcourt. The dynamic duo put their entire offensive arsenal on display with an array of post moves, finishing around the rim with both hands and knocking down close jumpers.
Telangana did manage to stay within striking distance of Kerala in the first half, led by R. Ramya (14 points) and their most consistent player P. Divya (14 points). But Kerala pulled away in the second half mainly owing to the stellar play of Jeena and Stephy, who kept firing away, shooting well above 50% from the field.
Anjana PG provided support with a 15-point contribution for Kerala and Rojamol came off the bench to further bolster Kerala’s rebounding advantage with 12 rebounds. Kerala outrebounded Telangana by a huge 65 to 38 margin, giving away very few second chance opportunities to Telangana. On the defensive end, Kerala made life difficult for Telangana keeping their shooting down to a woeful 28% from the field. Kerala sailed through the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead, ending up with a 68-54 victory and sealing a berth in the final.
The second women’s semi-final was a battle between two Chhattisgarh-based teams “ Chhattisgarh state and SECR. Chhattisgarh’s main weapon, Poonam Chaturvedi started out slow for her standards. SECR put multiple bodies on Poonam making it difficult for her to catch the ball or score in the paint.
For SECR, Seema Singh (27 points) carried the bulk of the scoring load in the first half operating in the post and stepping outside as well to knock down the occasional 3-pointer. With Poonam’s slow start, Saranjeet Kaur stepped up for Chhattisgarh finding her touch from deep and breaking out for transition buckets. Down by two points entering the second half, Poonam came alive to score all 21 of her team’s third quarter buckets. Chhattisgarh’s guards Sangeeta Das (9 assists) and Riya Varma (8 assists) improved on their lobs to Poonam, helping her catch right in the shot pocket.
Poonam added another 16 points in the fourth to help her team outscore SECR 31 to 16 in the last period turning the game into a blowout. On the back on Poonam’s mammoth 46-point effort, Chhattisgarh clinched a spot in the final where they will face the Kerala women.
RESULTS
Men’s semi-finals: ONGC, Dehradun (Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 18pts, Riyazuddin 17pts, Yadwinder Singh 8pts) bt Army Red (Mayur Bhat 20pts, Ramesh Kumar 12pts 14rbs, Jairam Jat 10pts 10rbs) 55-51 (21-18, 9-10, 16-10, 9-13); Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai (Sivabalan S 20pts, Pratham Singh 16pts, Aravind Annadurai 10pts 10rbs) bt Vijaya Bank, Bengaluru (Rajesh Uppar 25pts, Anil Kumar BK 20pts, Arvind Arumugam 9pts) 74-71 (18-17, 17-20, 18-18, 21-16)
Women’s semi-finals: Kerala (Stephy Nixon 24pts 13rbs, Jeena PS 19pts 12rbs, Anjana PG 15pts) bt Telangana (Palanivel Divya 14pts 12rbs, R. Ramya 14pts, M. Gayathri 12pts) 68-54 (20-11, 13-15, 16-13, 19-15); Chhattisgarh (Poonam Chaturvedi 46pts 10rbs, Saranjeet Kaur 16pts, Riya Varma 11pts 8asts) bt South-eastern Central Railways, Bilaspur (Seema Singh 27pts, Sangeeta Kaur 14pts, Bharti Netam 9pts) 83-68 (16-19, 15-14, 21-19, 31-16).
