Sportspower, defeated by Services earlier in the group, required a win to stay in contention for a place in the final, but went down 67-79 to Punjab after leading at the end of the third quarter to be eliminated from the tournament, organised by the Don Bosco Recreation Centre here.
In the women's competition, Southern Railway, Tamil Nadu, scored their second successive win, edging past Chhattisgarh 72-71 at the Don Bosco School court in Matunga.
The Tamil Nadu side, who have a match in hand against Maharashtra, are now assured of a place in the final on January 18, while it was the second straight defeat for Chhattisgarh, who had earlier lost to Maharashtra 66-77.
However, they were unable to stave off the late fight back from Punjab and were squarely beaten.
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Despite not being at full strength, the American team, who were forced to include two Indian players to make up the numbers, showed great character and combined well as a unit. Several members of the US outfit could not travel to India due to visa issues.
Reed Baker played a pivotal role and orchestrated the attacks to set up Jahazeil Howard (21 points) and Prakash Mishra (27) to find the hoop with consistent regularity. Howard and Baker joined hands to support Richard Mahler who played a key role at the back.
Punjab were content to play second fiddle but kept pace with the Americans. However, in the last quarter, Punjab upped the ante and changed tactics, which worked for them.
With a little less than five minutes remaining on the clock and the scores tied at 61-all, Punjab scored three quick baskets on the counter to take a crucial 67-61 lead.
Thereafter, they kept their nerves and maintained the lead to emerge victorious.