Ludhiana college in national basketball league final

It was a mixed day Sunday for Government College, Ludhiana, as their boys' team reached the final but the girls went down in the semifinals of the first BFI-IMG Reliance National School and College Basketball League at the Thyagaraj Stadium here.

The Ludhiana boys narrowly beat SBM Jain College, Bangalore, 94-90 but the latter's girls team got the better of Government College 93-70 in the semis.

Government College boys put in a clinical performance in the first two quarters going into the half 47-36 in the lead. However, SBM Jain College cut the lead down to six points in the third quarter with Yashas (20 points) playing a starring role. The Bangalore team made a late charge outscoring their opponents 25-23 but that wasn't enough as they fell four points short.

Harmandeep, who has been Government College's main scorer, was again on fire making a match-high 27. He was well supported by Palpreet Singh who added 21 points.

In the girls' semis, a dream second quarter for SBM Jain College, where they scored 31 points, helped them put one over the Ludhiana girls. The Bangalore college held the lead from start to finish and were never under any pressure. They took the gas off the pedal in the third quarter but still managed to beat Government College by two points.

Simonelle was the star of the day, scoring a mammoth 47 points. Sinshurii and Sandhya chipped in with 12 and 9, respectively.

Nirmal (35) and Nagma (27) were excellent for the Ludhiana but didn't get any support from their teammates.