Sport - Basketball

Ernakulam upsets Thiruvananthapuram

KOTTAYAM: Ernakulam men upset defending champion Thiruvananthapuram 75-50 in a Group ‘A’ match in the 53rd Senior State Basketball championships at the Nehru stadium here on Tuesday.

Thiruvananthapuram started off with a flourish and held a 10-point lead for the major part of the first quarter. But Ernakulam staged a fine comeback largely due to the efforts of Subash J. Shenoy and R. Manoj. Thiruvananthapuram lost the intensity it showed at the start of the match and once Ernakulam levelled the scores at 16-all at stroke of the first quarter, it was all over bar the shouting.

Ernakulam did not look back after taking the lead mid-way through the second quarter. It led 42-31 at half-time and went on to register a thumping win.

Earlier, Ernakulam defeated Idukki 40-28 and is poised to win Group ‘A’.

The results (league): Men: Group A: Ernakulam 75 (Subash J. Shenoy 29, T.S. Abhilash 12, Joseph John 11, R. Manoj 11) bt Thiruvananthapuram 50 (Ullas Jose 19, Bobit Mathew 15); Ernakulam 40 (Raja Tomy 10) bt Idukki 28; Thiruvananthapuram 48 (Rahul Krishna 22) bt Kasaragod 40 (C.V. Ratheesh 15, Shabu Kumar 13). Group B: Pathanamthitta 55 (Aji Sugunan 12, Anoop Devasia 11) bt Malappuram 22 (Bobin 10); Thrissur 67 (Amal James 22, Gigo 14, Raseel 13) bt Kozhikode 47 (Bony Mathew 17, A. Mohammed 13).