Punjab overwhelmed Sindh 66-30 on the opening day of the Men’s Junior National Basketball Championship at the Hamidi Hall of the Pakistan Sports Complex on Friday. In the other matches, FATA registered a close 70-68 victory over Islamabad while KP beat Balochistan 27-8. Punjab dominated the proceeding from the word go and never allowed Sindh to even make any impression. Kashif Gill (22), Bilal Bajwa (12) and Fahim Ahmed (9) were the prominent scorer for Punjab while Sindh’s leading scorers were Shaz Gohar (8), Salamat Ilyas (8) and Abu Bakr (6).
In the second match, Islamabad started off well, taking a three point lead at the end of the first quarter but FATA players got their act together in the second quarter, out-scoring the hosts 19-13 in the 10-minute period to go into the break with a 29-26 lead. The real battle for supremacy started in the second half as both teams displayed some skillful play to the delight of a small gathering. The pendulum of the match kept shifting from one team to the other but there was very little to choose from as both sides seemed equally matched. Islamabad scored 42 points in the third and fourth quarters while FATA added 41. The visitors kept their cool in the final minute of the game to record their first victory in the tournament. FATA’s Wajid Khan was the best scorer with a contribution of 24 points while Waqar Khan scored 22 and Fardad Khan 11 points. Shumail Shigri led Islamabad’s challenge with 15 points while Muhammad Irfan (12), Saad Aslam (10) and Waqar Ahmed (6) were the other main scorers. In the other match, KP was comfortable winners against Balochistan. Awais (5) and Taimur Khan (6) were KP’s impressive players while Mir Waiz and Muhammad Qasim added four points each for Balochistan.
