Saints record first win, beat Telangana Youth “A” at Samuel Vasanth Kumar Basketball Tournament

Rohan, Dhruv Boppanna and Gowtham struggled hard and brought about some brilliant moves that caught the Saints on the wrong foot on many occasion, but could not sustain the tempo and fell short at the final whistle

Hyderabad: Saints recorded their first win after the loss they faced in their opening encounter getting the measure of Telangana Youth “A” 61-53 leading 30-28 at halftime in the 5th Samuel Vasanth Kumar Memorial Basketball Tournament conducted by Sports Writers Association of Telangana and Telangana Basketball Association at Secunderabad YMCA.

Though the Youth team lost, they made the Saints team struggle for every point and it was only towards the dying minutes of the game, the experience of the winner saw them score 3 fast break baskets as they scored 18 points against 7 by the loser to stand a chance of qualifying for Level 1. Speedy Abhishek along with their seasoned point guard Dujon combined well and with Charith and Vishal towering at the offensive board, the Saints team held a clear upper hand in the final quarter.

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Rohan, Dhruv Boppanna and Gowtham struggled hard and brought about some brilliant moves that caught the Saints on the wrong foot many an occasion, but could not sustain the tempo and fell short at the final whistle.

Trailing by a point 20 seconds from the hooter, Saharsh’s three-pointer turned the tables on WE3 as Telangana Youth Boys ‘B’ posted a thrilling 66-64 win on Wednesday evening. That was the prolific scorer’s seventh long range hit in a 26-point personal tally.

Backed up by Reyhan Ellore’s 22 and Swaksh playing point guard to perfection, WE3 was hard to keep this attacking trio at bay. Leading 41-39 when the third quarter ended, WE3’s efforts evaporated in the game’s dying moments.

HAL cruised to a 71-58 win against Victory Play Ground (VPG) in the next match. David Livingstone top scored with 19, Ajay and Anurag chipping in 15 points each for the winner. Slokh with 16, Vamshi and Shashank with 13 each worked hard for the Chaderghat squad.

The scores:

Wednesday’s games: Telangana Youth “B” 66 (Saharsh 26 Reyhan Ellore 22) bt WE3 64 (Sanjay 27 Tharun 12);
HAL 71 (David Livingstone 19, Anurag 15, Ajay 15) bt VPG 58 (Slokh 16, Vamshi 13, Shashank 13)
Saints 61(Abhishek 19 Charith 16 Vishal 10) bt Telangana Youth “A” 53 (Dhruv Boppanna 12 Rohan 13 Gowtham 12) HT 30-28