National Basketball League: Baladhaneshwar guides Chennai Heat past Bengaluru Kings
Kochi Tigers survived a scare, and completed a comeback win against Mumbai Titans to move to the top of the table.
Published : Oct 19, 2022 21:46 IST , KOCHI
Chennai Heat’ Baladhaneshwar scored 31 points against Bengaluru Kings in the INBL basketball in Kochi on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: H. Vibhu
He was everywhere! Be it scoring baskets or grabbing rebounds, smart passing or stealing the ball, captain P. Baladhaneshwar was in the thick of things and with some quality play too as Chennai Heat overcame a first half setback to defeat Bengaluru Kings 79-66 in the first Indian National Basketball League at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Wednesday.
Bengaluru, which had shocked Chandigarh Warriors on Tuesday, thrived with the rebounds and international Pratyanshu Tomar and captain Arvind Arumugam did a good job thwarting many a Chennai attempt to help their side to a five-point lead midway through the first half.
But Chennai came roaring back in the third quarter. It kept Bengaluru at bay with a smart zone defence and a little later had two men marking Abhishek Gowda who had produced a series of three-pointers against Chandigarh on Tuesday.
And the 23-year-old Baladhaneshwar, a former youth India captain, and Lokeswaran were on a free run, dodging through the defence smartly and scoring at will. Chennai had a 14-point lead by the end of the third quarter and that stood the side in good stead in the end.
Chennai now has three wins from four matches while Bengaluru has two from four.
Meanwhile, Kochi Tigers suffered a few jitters – they trailed 7-23 in the first quarter – before defeating Mumbai Tigers 70-57 and moved to the top of the six-team league with four wins from as many matches after the penultimate day’s action.
The Results
Chennai Heat 79 (P. Baladhaneshwar 31, Lokeshwaran 17, Muin Bek Hafeez 10) bt Bengaluru 66 (B.K. Anil Kumar 20, Pratyanshu Tomar 17, C.R. Abhishek Gowda 11).
Kochi Tigers 70 (Lalrina Renthlei 18, Jishnu V. Nair 17, Sejin Mathew 12) bt Mumbai Titans 57 (Sahaj R. Patel 13).
Chandigarh Warriors 81 (Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 23, Palpreet Singh Brar 20, Sahil 15, Lalit Pawdiya 11, Amarendra Nayak 10) bt Delhi Dribblers 67 (Mahipal Singh 18, Gaurav Chandel 17, Rishab Mathur 12, Piyush Meena 11).