Western Railway bounce back with a win over IOB in Savio Cup

Western Railway, who suffered a blowout in their opening match of the Savio Cup All India Basketball tournament, kept their hopes alive by defeating Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) 84-56 at the Don Bosco School, Matunga, here today. IOB, who were the finalists in the Ramu Memorial tournament and had lost to Western Railway, were hardly the shadow of the team that did so well in Ramu. Their attitude towards the game was so apathetic that it was appalling watching them lose so meekly.

Some of the prime donnas in the team were hardly pulling in their weight. Western, on the other hand, were looking to play as well as they could. Despite the demoralizing loss to Services, when their game just would not pick up, they got the momentum right.

Their pointsman, point guard Prakash Mishra was in pristine form, taking the team along with his brilliant play. He had a game high of 29 points and that showed his quality as a player when he shot from distance, broke through and set up assists to his teammates.

Despite the absence of Arjun Rawat who suffered an injury above his eye after a clash with Services Jai Ram Jat, Western hardly looked like they were suffering.

For IOB, only Abhilek Paul was showing the attitude, pulling down rebounds, making steals. He did not have too much points, though, to show for, but his eight were well earned.

On the women's side Chattisgarh girls, one of the favorites, crossed their second minor hurdle and they have reached the final irrespective of their final match result. Today, they defeated Kerala 111-69. Chattisgarh play Maharashtra and that match, provided Maharashtra defeat Tamil Nadu women on Thursday, should be a formality.

Going by current form and the way Tamil Nadu have played, Maharashtra should win the contest rather easily.

For Kerala, Litty Matthew worked hard and had 26 points for her team. M Pushpa had a game high of 40 points for Chattisgarh.

Results: Men's: Western Railways 84 (Prakash Mishra 29, Arjun Singh 15, Nikhil Chopra 14) bt I.O.B. 56 (Robinson 12, Mihir Pandey 11). Women: Chattisgarh 111 (M Pushpa 40, Anju lakra 23, Seema Singh 14, Akansha singh 10) bt Kerala 69 (Litty Matthew 26, Merlin baby 14, Ligi Mathew 10, Nimmy Thomas 8).

-- (UNI) -- 04SPB5.xml

Viewer's Comment

Comments Not Available

More Stories