Punjab opened their campaign in the 28th Ramu Memorial All India Basketball Tournament with a rather easy 76-71 victory over Karnataka at the Indian Gymkhana court here today.
Punjab were not pressed enough by the Karnataka players who were struggling on all fronts. Amritpal Singh had a game-high 25 points for the Punjab team. Ranbir Singh had 11 points while Harvinder Singh had 12.
Karnataka, who had a better second half and outscored Punjab 46-43, paid for their first half lethargy. Arvind notched up 24 points while Sanjay Raj scored 12 and Srinivas Naik chipped in with 13.
In another match held late last night, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Overseas Bank fought a close game before the bankmen put their superior experience to use to prevail 72-65 with Harish Koreth coming up with 19 points and 4 rebounds.
Mihir Pandey, looking far from match fit, had 12 points and 4 rebounds, and R Vineeth contributed 12 points and got 10 rebounds.
For IAF, S Narender was the top scorer in the game with 27 points and 6 rebounds while K Pravin pulled down 5 rebounds and scored 16 points.
