IOB saw off the challenge from ONGC winning 79-62, while Army knocked out defending champions Western Railway 71-57 to enter the final of the UPL-26th All India Ramu Memorial basketball at the Indian Gymkhana on Saturday.
IOB who came in after a strong win against Punjab seemed to have a gameplan against ONGC too as they took the 39-31 lead at half time. IOB pulled away in the fourth quarter with a couple of loose passes from ONGC making it easier for them. Robinson was in supreme form again scoring 29 points and 13 rebounds for IOB while Mihir Pandey scored 15 points despite cutting it close with four personal fouls. Vineet Mathew chipped in with 16 rebounds and 12 points to his name.
For ONGC, Trideep Rai was out of sorts scoring only seven points while Shiv Kumar was the top scorer with 20 points while Murali Krishna was fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Indian Army, on the other hand, were clinical in their win and Sambhaji Kadam and Nixon teamed up to thwart their opponents, Sambaji scored 17 points along with nine assists and Nixon scored 15 points.
Army contained Vishesh and Yadwinder Singh to sway the match to their advantage.
Results: Indian Army 71 (Sambhaji Kadam 17) bt WR 57 (Prakash Mishra 17); IOB 79 (S Robinson 29) bt ONGC 62 (Shiv Kumar 20).
