KPHB, St Francis book spots at the Annual League Basketball Championship

KPHB and St. Francis Boys advanced to the knock-out stage of the G M Sampath Kumar Trophy basketball championship, with Secunderabad Club and Don Bosco also remaining in contention after strong wins

Hyderabad: Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB) maintained a clean slate by defeating Rovers 76-44 after leading 39-25 at halftime, to qualify for the knock-out phase from Level-III to Level-II in the Annual League Basketball Championship 2025-26 for the G M Sampath Kumar Trophy, being held at YMCA Secunderabad.

The first quarter was closely contested, with KPHB using their height advantage to score in the paint through Sai and Srikant, while Rovers relied on outside shooting, hitting five three-pointers—four of them by Mahesh. KPHB led 22-19 at the end of the first quarter.

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In the second quarter, Sriram joined the scoring spree with 17 points, and with tight defence on Rovers’ shooters, limited them to just six points, giving KPHB a decisive 39-25 halftime lead.

KPHB continued their rhythm in the second half, scoring 19 and 18 points in the third and fourth quarters respectively. Rovers were unable to break through KPHB’s tight defence as KPHB secured a convincing 76-44 win.

In other matches, St. Francis Boys defeated D-Fence 75-48 after leading 33-22 at halftime to also qualify for the knock-out phase.

Secunderabad Club notched its second win, beating Freestyle Ballers 52-40 after leading 24-20, moving a step closer to qualification.

Don Bosco registered a dominant 68-29 win over SSBA Tarnaka after leading 43-16 at halftime, but they face a must-win game against Secunderabad Club to secure knock-out qualification.

The scores:
KPHB 76 (Sai 20, Srimant 14, Sriram 11) bt Rovers 44 (Mahesh 20, Nithin 8);
St. Francis Boys 75 (Peter 22, Auranzeb 19, Shoaib 8) bt D-Fence 48 (Revanth 19, Vikranth 12, Sandeep 8);
Secunderabad Club 52 (Vishal 23, Daman 11, Pranav 8) bt Freestyle Ballers 40 (Sanjay 21, Josh 9, Sampath 7);
Don Bosco 68 (Ravinder 39, Shiva Raj 11) bt SSBA Tarnaka 29 (Karthik 9, Rithvik 7).