Customs & Central Excise, Pune and Agredneya Vyayam Shala (AVS) emerged champions winning the men’s and women’s titles respectively in the Nagpada Basketball Association (NBA) organised 18th NBA Invitational Basketball Tournament, played at the floodlit Late Bachoo Khan basketball courts, Nagpada.
The Customs & Central Excise players are all smiles as they pose with the winners’ trophy along with the Chief Guests and Guests of Honour and other dignitaries.
In an absorbing men’s final, Customs staved off a strong challenge from hosts NBA to record a tense 75-71 point victory. Customs trailed 20-25 at the halfway stage. On the other hand, AVS had things much their own way and strolled past Bandra YMCA winning by a 53-31 margin after enjoying a slender 24-22 half-time lead.
Earlier, in the Mini boys U-13 final, a dominant Mastan YMCA breezed past NBA coasting to a 76-36 victory after taking a sizable 31-06 lead at the break.
The Agredneya VS players are all smiles as they pose with the winners’ trophy after winning the NBA 18th Invitational Basketball Tournament.
The men’s final played in front of a large number of spectators witnessed a keen battle for supremacy as both teams went on the offensive from the start.
The home team gained the initial ascendancy taking a 24-17 lead in the first quarter. But, the visitors from Pune closed the gap in the second to reduce the scores to 24-22 in NBA’s favour. Customs gradually took control and with more consistency in their shooting went on to dominate the last two quarters and scored a high 25 points during the last quarter to snatch a tight win and claim the top honours.
Customs, who shot 10 three-pointer baskets in the match, scored through the efforts of Yusuf Sayyed 20 points, Sameer Qureshi 16 points, Siddhant Shinde 14 points, Ajinkya Mane 12 (4×3-pointer), and Shubham Yadav 9 points. For NBA the main shooters were Naved Qureshi 18 points, Mearaj Shaikh 16 points, Faiz Shaikh 13 points, and Faizan Shaikh 12 points.
The women’s final was a one-sided affair as the superior Agrenedya VS at regular intervals found the basket through Neha P. 25 points, Sakshi S. 16 points, and Darshana P. 9 points. Bandra YMCA who could not match the opponents managed to score points through Priyanka M. 10 points, Pooja B. 7 points, and Darrienne C. 6 points.
Results (all finals) – Mini boys U-13: Mastan YMCA (Vidit Damani 25, Aditya Keshwani 21, Neev Menon 14) beat NBA (Imran A. 18, Aymen S. 8) – 76-36 (half-time: 31-06).
Women: Agredneya VS (Neha P. 25, Sakshi S. 16, Darshana P. 9) beat Bandra YMCA (Priyanka M. 10, Pooja B. 7, Darrienne C. 6) – 53-31 (half-time: 24-22).
Men: Customs & Central Excise, Pune beat NBA (Yusuf Sayyed 20, Sameer Qureshi 16, Siddhant Shinde 14, Ajinkya Mane 12, Shubham Yadav 9) beat NBA (Naved Qureshi 18, Mearaj Shaikh 16, Faiz Shaikh 13, Faizan Shaikh 12) – 75-71 (half-time: 32-35) 4-(25-20).