South Zone Basketball Q'fiers: Andhra Pradesh stops Puducherry with late strikes

Later, Tamil Nadu men and women teams began their campaign on a rousing note, with them men thrashing Telangana 107-45 and women thumping a 103-35 win over Andhra Pradesh.

Chaitanya (25 points) scored eight points towards the end to guide Andhra Pradesh to the finish line. (Representative Image)

Captain Kumar Varma came to the rescue of Andhra Pradesh as it warded off a late surge by Puducherry to triumph 115-107 in a men's match of the South Zone basketball qualifiers here on Monday.

Later, Tamil Nadu men and women teams began their campaign on a rousing note. The men's side thrashed Telangana 107-45 while the women's scored a thumping 103-35 win over Andhra Pradesh

Leading in all three quarters--thanks to Aravind Varma's fine show, AP was taken aback by Puducherry's counter-attack in the closing stages of the fourth and final quarter.

With four and a half minutes remaining for the final whistle, Puducherry equalised 105-each after trailing by seven points. Chaitanya (25 points) scored eight points towards the end to guide AP to the finish line.

RESULTS:

Men: AP 115 (Intiyaz 28, Aravind Varma 20, Kumar Varma 25, Ronit 17) bt Puducherry 107 (Srikanth 25, Lavan 22, Gokul 22); TN 107 (Anantharaj 25, Muin Bek 14, Soorya 13) bt Telangana 45 (Santhosh 10) Women: TN 103 (Darshini  19, Aishwarya 16, Pratheba 11) bt Andhra Pradesh 35 ( Dhana 11).