Basketball Nationals | Tamil Nadu downs Karnataka, both teams in quarters

Defending men’s champion Tamil Nadu defeated Karnataka 71-63 to record its third win at the 75th senior National basketball championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.

The win ensured TN remained unbeaten while Karnataka suffered its first defeat, with both sides also confirming their berths in the quarterfinals.

The host, though, was stretched in the first two quarters before producing a sensational comeback in the second half.

Karnataka’s Aaron Monteiro was on fire in the opening 10 minutes to put his side in the lead at 14-9.

TN then brought it back to parity 28-28 going into the half-time, led by Pranav Pirnce, who scored eight points in this phase of the game.

After the break, TN came out guns blazing, going on a 15-point run as A. Anantharaj (16) and Arvind Kumar (15) rained three-pointers, leaving Karnataka stunned.

In the last quarter, TN stitched together another 10-point run that put the game beyond the visitors’ reach.

Top results: Women: Group A: Indian Railways 84 (K. Sathya 14, Poonam Chaturvedi 12, Vaishnavi Yadav 11) bt Chhattisgarh 40 (Gulabsha Ali 16, Ishika Singh 15).

Delhi 45 (Garima Gosain 11, Prakriti Ranjan 11) lost to Maharashtra 67 (Lakshmi Raj 15, Siya Deodhar 21).

Group B: Gujarat 70 (Netra Rawat 15, Naomi Lakhanpal 17, Vidhiben Baria 15, Aahana George 11) bt West Bengal 41 (Madhu Kumari 19, Amanda Maria Rocha 10).

Tamil Nadu 65 (R. Sruthy 25) lost to Kerala 82 (Kavitha Jose 23, Aneesha Cleetus 21, Sreekala Rani 13, J. Jayalakshmi 13).

Men: Group A: Rajasthan 88 (Mohammad Ishan 26, Ashish Trivedi 17, Mahaveer 14, Lokendra Singh 13, Akshit Hooda 12) bt Services 80 (T.S. Santosh 20, Himanshu Hooda 18, Sunil Rathee 17, Hemant Sheoran 14).

Tamil Nadu 71 (A. Anantharaj 16, Arvid Kumar 15, Pranav Prince 12, Muin Bek Hafeez 10) bt Karnataka 63 (Aaron Monteiro 18, Arvind Arumugam 14, Sumanth Satyanarayan 19).

Group B: Uttar Pradesh 89 (Prince Tyagi 17, Harsh Dagar 16, Kushal Singh 15, Shreyansh Raj Singh 12) bt Chandigarh 56 (Aditya 12).

Indian Railways 95 (Palpreet Singh Brar 18, Manik 16, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 15) bt Punjab 56 (Gurwinder Singh 12, Sahibjit Singh 11).