Deshmukh slam dunks BEG

MUMBAI, May 27: It was another night of brilliance from Pankaj Deshmukh of Shivaji Nagar Gymkhana, Nagpur, who powered his side to regain th...

MUMBAI, May 27: It was another night of brilliance from Pankaj Deshmukh of Shivaji Nagar Gymkhana, Nagpur, who powered his side to regain the Killer Jeans, Pepsi and Colgate-sponsored Savio Invitational Basketball title with a 67-54 victory over Bombay Engineering Group, Kirkee at the Don Bosco School, Matunga today.

Deshmukh notched 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as SNG turned a 32-38 deficit into a brilliant victory.

Last year, SNG had lost to the same opponents after a thrilling final which had seen two extra time periods.

But it was BEG, who started in blazing fashion. After 10-all, they went on a 10-0 run which gave them the dominance. SNG were driving in, picking up the rebounds but were not scoring from even under the basket.

But they never gave up. From 19-30 down, they fought back to make it 32-28 at half-time.

It was in the second half that the tide turned decisively in SNG8217;s favour. In the first eight minutes after resumption, they had outscored BEG 14-4 which had also giventhem the lead at 46-42.

The problem for BEG was their scorers8217; inability to convert their shots into points. Centre Om Prakash scored eight points, all of which came in the first half. Gurmit Singh, their top scorer, netted 20 points, of which only six came in the second half. Satpal Singh had seven of his 11 points in the first half. Besides, they were guilty of giving away too many turnovers.

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Of course, there was Deshmukh for SNG. He had eight of his nine assists in the second half, most of them brilliant blind side passes to either Shashwat Gokhale or Shrihari Garge.

Another factor that went into SNG8217;s favour was their tighter defence in the second-half. BEG8217;s Om Prakash was blocked out. They kept the rebound boards clean and converted their turnovers too.

Deshmukh was declared the Player of the Tournament. He won the Dr Harish Nayak Memorial trophy while Garge was voted Player of the Final. SNG were richer by Rs 7,000. Runners-up BEG had to settle for Rs 4,000.

RESULTS

SNG 67 PankajDeshmukh 19, Shashwat Gokhale 15, Shrihari Garge 16, Shatrughana Gokhale 10 bt BEG Gurmit Singh 20, Satpal Singh 11, Sanjay Sawant 8, Atma Ram 12.