Mumbai Warriors fought hard and rallied from a 29-34 first half deficit, to overcome Aurangabad Eagles by a close 68-61 points margin in a junior boys Group-B match of the Basketball Network Academy (BNA) organised Junior Basketball League 2022 for the ageasFEDERAL Trophy, and player under floodlights at the Dr. Muthukumar Basketball Court, Indian Gymkhana, Matunga on Friday evening. The tournament is being conducted under the auspices of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association & in association with Indian Gymkhana.
The players responsible for Mumbai Warriors’ win was Siddhant Doshi with a high of 20 points, Pawan Yadav 16 points, Mahesh Prajapati and Arnav Gorantala, both contributing 15 points each, while Aurangabad Eagles scored through Badal Singh Rawat 20 and Chirag Sharma 14.
Earlier in a boys Group-A match, Pune Panthers defeated Ratnagiri Vipers 74-63 after leading 38-32 at the end of the first two periods. Leading Pune’s charge to victory was Sahil Dhanawate who shot 36 points, Ayush Sahasrabudhe 14 points, and Devang Pawar 11 points. Ratnagiri managed to shoot baskets through Vivek Yadav and Vishal Mustari both scoring 19 points each and Naoman Khan 11 points.
Later, Nashik Lions marched to an easy 61-38 (half-time 35-19) point victory against Nagpur Blasters in another Group-A encounter. Shivraj S. and Bharat Bhausaheb scored 13 and 12 points respectively for Nashik while Rahul Gupta 11 points, Jayesh Mevada 10 points and Gautam Shah 8 points scored for the losing team.
Results – Junior boys: Pune Panthers (Sahil Dhanawate 36 points, Ayush Sahasrabudhe 14, Devang Pawar 11) beat Ratnagiri Vipers 74-63 (half-time 38-32).
Mumbai Warriors (Siddhant Doshi 20, Pawan Yadav 16, Mahesh Prajapati 15, Arnav Gorantala 15) beat Aurangabad Eagles (Badal Singh Rawat 20, Chirag Sharma 14) – 68-61 (half-time: 29-34).
Nashik Lions (Shivrraj S. 13, Bharat Bhausaheb 12) beat Nagpur Blasters (Rahul Gupta 11, Jayesh Mevada 10, Gautam Shah 8) – 61-38 (half-time: 35-19).