Freestyle Ballers and Secunderabad Club qualify for knockout phase in basketball championship

Don Bosco beat Secunderabad Club 63-47, but missed knockout qualification due to a negative points difference. Freestyle Ballers defeated SSBA Tarnaka 71-20 and advanced to the knockout phase of the championship

Hyderabad: In a thrilling outcome, Don Bosco fell short by three points for knockout qualification, though it beat Secunderabad Club 63-47, whereas Freestyle Ballers defeated SSBA Tarnaka 71-20. All three teams were locked on four points each in the Annual League Basketball Championship for the G.M. Sampath Kumar Trophy at YMCA Secunderabad here.

However, with a higher points difference, Freestyle Ballers (+5) and Secunderabad Club (+1) qualified for the knockout phase.

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Don Bosco played a fast-paced game and, with the aid of two three-pointers from Nishanth, took a 17-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In a high-scoring second quarter, Don Bosco scored 24 points as Ravinder and Shivaraj combined well to score in tandem. Secunderabad Club was not far behind, with Zain and Daman contributing at regular intervals, as Don Bosco led 41-32 at halftime. After the change of ends, Don Bosco was scoring at a good rate, but their defense faltered on many occasions, handing Secunderabad Club easy points. Finally, Don Bosco beat Secunderabad 63-47, a difference of 16 points, which was not enough to improve their Negative Difference (-6) as they had lost to Freestyle Ballers by 22 points in earlier league matches.

In another match, Freestyle Ballers breezed past SSBA Tarnaka 71-20 after leading 37-8 at halftime to qualify for the knockout.

The Scores:
Don Bosco 63 (Ravinder 24, Shivaraj 13, Varun 7) bt Sec’bad Club 47 (Zain 13, Daman 9, Vishal 8).
Freestyle Ballers 71 (Sanjay 26, Anthony 18, Sachin 13) bt SSBA Tarnaka 20 (Jaswanth 8, Karthik 4).