A sparkling display by Amritpal Singh and Indian captain Jagdeep Singh helped Punjab Police edge out last year's runner-up Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Chennai, 69-65 and enter the men's final of the 26th Federation Cup basketball championship at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, here on Saturday.
Solid defence
The game was close all through, but it was Punjab Police's solid defence, especially in the last quarter, that won the day for them.
With a strong zone defence, Punjab Police did not allow the IOB players much space to move under the basket.
The Chennai players appeared uncomfortable and when they did move in, they were off target often.
Amritpal Singh, the Punjab Police centre, was a tower of strength in the defence, plucking rebounds and rushing to score at the other end even before IOB could settle down.
Backing him up nicely were Jagdeep and point guard Amanjot Singh. The scores were level at 25 and 33 and IOB went ahead 40-37 when the seasoned Mihir Pandey scored a beauty with a turnaround jumper in the third quarter.
Around this time, there were some lovely passes between Vineeth Ravi Mathew and Aravind and the left-hander Rikin Prathani which ended in baskets.
The teams were tied at 59-59 with about two-and-half minutes to go, but IOB committed a series of fouls under pressure.
With Amritpal and Jagdeep converting them coolly, the Chennai men became desperate and let the game slip away.
Later, ONGC (Dehradun) defeated Central Excise (Kochi) 47-44 to enter the final. ONGC, which included internationals Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Yadwinder Singh, was trailing 20-24 at half-time.
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