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Hassan, Karnataka, 26th November, 2016: Keral had an Mixed fortune ass the Boys after a Gap of 29yeras won the Tile while the girls had to satisfy withSilver here for the 33rd Youth National Basketball Championship 2016 concluded a short while ago at the Hasanamba Indoor Stadium here in Hassan.

The top three teams in both sections awarded cash prizes of Rs 75,000/-, Rs 50,000/- and Rs 25,000/- respectively.

Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 82-66

The only two undefeated teams in the championship, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, went head on in the girls finals.

In the first quarter, Tamil Nadu dominated the offensive boards early, but its players, specifically centre S Pushpa was unable to convert from under the basket. On the other end, Kerala was more efficient and able to rake up a 14-6 early lead. The match was much closer than what the scoreline suggested through.

At the end of the first quarter, the score read 18-16 in favour of Kerala.

In the second period, both teams were guilty of turning the ball over often, as either side’s man to man defence made offence hard for the other. Kerala was able to create some separation, leading 30-22 with 5 mins of play left for halftime. But Kerala’s Aparna Sadasivan’s sloppy turnovers allowed Tamil Nadu to bring it back within 2, 32-34. At halftime, Kerala held on to a slender 37-35.

The third quarter began explosively for Tamil Nadu, as guard T Dharshini showed tremendous hustle to win back the ball repeatedly. Thanks to her work, Kerala’s team offence was completely undone and its dynamic forward Shreekala R decided to do it all by herself, running coast to coast. However, Tamil Nadu had begun imposing its will on the match, outscoring Kerala 21-11, to take a 56-48 lead at the end of the quarter.

In the final 10 minutes, Tamil Nadu turned up its defensive pressure by another notch, double and at times triple teaming Shreekala. The ploy worked as Shreekala turned the ball over, while her teammates were unable to step up in terms of upping their scoring contribution.

Kerala bt UP boys 85-51

Kerala boys capped their dream run with a sensational drubbing of challengers Uttar Pradesh in the boys finals.

Throughout the championship, the undefeated Kerala side seemed to be in cruise control, and the final game simply marked a summation of their best qualities.

From the rock solid presence of captain centre Sejin Mathew in the paint, the natural flair for scoring of shooting guard Amal Reghu, the hustle and energy of backup point guard Shaun Luiz, to the role players Chacko Simon and Akshay Sunilkumar, all its starters played their parts to perfection.

Kerala started off on a 8-2 run. Uttar Pradesh, arguably one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the tournament had their backs to the wall from the get go. The side looked to run most of its offence through centre Bhagyansh Gulati and shooting guard Priyanshu. The strategy helped initially, as UP led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Kerala’s defensive intensity began to cause UP a lot of trouble. Centre Sejin posted two blocks midway through this period, as Kerala stifled UP to just 15 points. On the other end, back to back threes by backup point guard Shaun Luiz helped Kerala to 26 points in the quarter.

At halftime, Kerala now led 42-33.

Midway through the third frame, Kerala’s Shanazil Seeni got fouled out, but that did little to stem Kerala’s offensive onslaught. The side outscored UP 26-10 in the third period and again 17-8 in the fourth to close out the surprisingly easy 85-51 win.

Results from Day 8 (26th November)

Girls: Level 1 Finals
1. Tamil Nadu (Avanthi Vardhan 17, S Pushpa 17, T Dharshini 13, J Monica Jayaseeli 12) bt Kerala (Shreekala R 27, Olivia Shaibu 13, Jayalakshmi VJ 11, Festy P Jose 10) 82-66 [16-18, 19-19, 21-11, 26-18]

3rd-4th match
1. Uttar Pradesh (Vaishnavi Yadav 39, Shruti Yadav 12) bt Madhya Pradesh (Divyani Gangwal 22) 71-39 [10-8, 21-10, 26-13, 14

Boys: Level 1: Finals
1. Kerala (Amal Reghu 33, Chacko C Simon 19, Sejin Mathew 16, Shaun Luiz 10) bt Uttar Pradesh (Priyanshu 21, Bhagyansh Gulati 21) 85-51 [16-18, 26-15, 26-10, 17-8]