Khyber PK registered a major upset in the 50th National Basketball Championship after outplaying Navy 71-69 in a thrilling encounter here at Pakistan Sports Complex Hameedi Hall on Thursday. Navy scored 14 and 21 points in the first two quarters while KPK added 12 and 22; just one point separated the teams. Navy increased the tempo in the third quarter with some skilful play. The sailors scored 16 points in the 20-minute period and restricted KPK to 11, which meant that they entered the final quarter with a healthy six points lead. KPK needed to play out of their skin to register an upset and they did exactly that. The boys from KP wrested the initiative with a fine display of basketball. Navy seemed under pressure and started making mistakes and KPK took full advantage. KPK scored 26 points in the final quarter and restricted Navy to 18 to record a narrow two-point victory. Navy’s Ghulam Mustafa was the most prominent player of the match. President Pakistan Basketball Federation Asif Bajwa was the chief guest at the opening ceremony.
