Tamil Nadu men registered a third straight win, beating a strong Punjab team 88-74 in a Group 'B' match of the 68th Senior National Basketball Championship here today.
The host trailed by one point after the first quarter but bounced back well to march ahead.
Justin Gnanaraj was the top-scorer for Tamil Nadu, with 17 points.
NBA player Satnam Singh was in fine fettle, scoring 26 points for Punjab.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Kerala defeated Chhattisgarh 76-62 today in a women's Group 'A' match.
The fancied Kerala women, who had suffered a reverse at the hands of Karnataka yesterday, faced stiff resistance from the Chhattisgarh girls.
The first quarter saw the two teams locked at 15-all before Kerala nosed ahead in the second, by seven points.
Though their rivals tried hard, they couldn't quite bridge the gap and went down by six points.
The formidable Railways team crushed Rajasthan 91-38 in a Group 'B' encounter with Madhu Kumari logging 24 points.
Karnataka women, who shocked Kerala yesterday, continued the good run, beating Madhya Pradesh 79-68.
They hit back strongly after conceding a small lead in the first quarter and won rather comfortably.
In a Group 'B' game,Delhi overcame a deficit in the first quarter to post a 73-53 over Maharashtra, dominating towards the end of the match.
In the first game of the day, Himachal Pradesh men cruised to an easy 70-34 win over Sikkim.
In a men's Group A fixture, Rajasthan and Odisha were involved in a close tussle, before the former prevailed 85-71 with an impressive performance in the final quarter.
Later in a Group 'B' match, a strong Indian Railways team held off Gujarat's challenge to win 74-65.
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