Lions march into semis of 1st All-India Mastan Basketball Professional League

The star-studded Lions outfit from Group ‘A’ maintained their unbeaten run to become the first team to march into the men’s semifinals of the 1st All-India Mastan Basketball Professional League at the Mastan YMCA courts in Nagpada on Wednesday.

The Lions, bogged down by a series of miss-passes and poor shooting early on, came into their own in the second half to eventually win 87-57. All in all, the match was a dull affair.

Indian great Abbas Moontasir summed it up beautifully: “The Lions knew they would win and it seemed the Kings never wanted to win!” Moontasir, 68, is one of the very many greats who learnt the game on these courts.

Victory must have tasted even sweeter for Lions skipper Vishesh Bhriguvanshi who top-scored with 33 points. His side took the lead early on and the first quarter ended with the Group ‘A’ leaders firmly in the driver’s seat with 22 points to Kings’s 16. At half-time, it was 35-32 in favour of the Lions. For a while it seemed that we’d have a close encounter at hand.

However, all such hopes were thwarted in the third quarter. Lions’s ball handler Vipin Kumar, who plays for Services — rejuvenated after some rest — passed it around smartly for Vishesh and Vijobi Vakkachan to net a few. The Kings were back in it and scored 25 as against 11 by the Lions in the third quarter which ended 60-43. The Lions ran riot in the final quarter, too, netting 27 to Lions’s 14.

Result: Lions 87 (Vishesh 33, Vipin 14, Subbiah 12) bt Kings 57 (Eudrick Pereira 16, Arjun Singh 15, Harendra Singh 12); Player of the Match: Vishesh Bhriguvanshi Wonder Girls 55 (Anitha 11, Bharti 11, Reshma 11) bt Golden Girls 35 (Neeumol 10, Amruta 6); Player of the Match: Amruta Bhuskute (Golden Girls)