As a repeat of their recent clash at the 28th Federation Cup title contest in Ahmedabad, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation outclassed Indian Overseas Bank 70-52 in the final to lift the men's title in the 9th Savio Club Basketball Championship here.
The oilmen from Jharkhand, who had overcome their arch-rivals from Tamil Nadu 60-53 on January 15, scored an even more emphatic victory at the Don Bosco School court in Matunga to keep the goodly crowd entertained last night.
Excellent defending by ONGC coupled with some poor conversion from good scoring positions cost the bankmen dear after they led briefly in the initial stage of the summit contest.
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IOB started in promising fashion to lead 20-15 at the end of the first ten-minute quarter even as ONGC were warming up but then took the backseat once the oilmen fought back and leveled the score 29-all in the second quarter and led 31-19 at half time.
Tightening their defense and making better use of the offensive board, ONGC went from strength to strength on the back of some splendid display from their India trio Trideep Roy, Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, the most valuable player in the Ahmedabad Fed Cup, to scamper home in convincing style.
Leading 53-42 after the third quarter, ONGC applied pressure continuously on IOB to increase the edge to 60-49 five minutes from the final hooter and the game looked secure in their arms.
The victory was worth Rs 1.25 lakh for the winners while IOB received Rs 65,000.
Result: ONGC 70 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 13, Yadwinder Singh 19, Trideep Rai 22) beat IOB 52 (Rikin Pethani 12, P Venkatesh 10).
