YMCA Secunderabad emerge champions at E John Wesley Memorial Basketball tournament

Hyderabad: YMCA Secunderabad rallied from a 20-point deficit from the halfway mark to defeat Victory Playground 76-69 to emerge champions of the E John Wesley Memorial Basketball tournament at the YMCA Secunderabad on Sunday.

Victory Playgrounds dictated terms in the first quarter as Vamshi, using his height, scored 14 points from the paint as they scored 27 points and restricted YMCA to just 11 points. In the second quarter, YMCA regrouped well in defense. However, they were unable to penetrate the tight defense of VPG scoring just 13 points to 17 as VPG took a commanding 44-24 lead at the half-way stage.

But the change of ends also brought change in luck. YMCA switched to tight full court marking which surprised the VPG defense as Dennis combined well with Samuel and Harsha to score 25 points. They restricted VPG to just 15 points to reduce the deficit to just 10 points at 49 – 59. In the final quarter too, YMCA continued with the same rhythm to score a massive 27 points and restricted VPG to just 10 points to finally win the match.

For the winners, Dennis top-scored with 18 while Samuel added 16. For Victory Playground, Vamsi scored 21.

Results: YMCA Secunderabad 76 (Dennis 18; Samuel 16; Varma 13; Harsha 11; Rohan – 10) bt Victory Playgrounds 69 (Vamshi 21; Salman 15; Rahul 9).