Basketball: Water fail to douse fiery cagers

Dubai - Wind downed Team Earth 66-59 in another closely fought encounter

Team Fire displayed better defensive and rebound collection abilities to wade past Team Water 68-64 in fourth Shreyas Memorial Basketball Tournament-2016 at the Shoba Heartland School, Dubai.
In form in the inaugural rounds of the league-knockout championship this season were Roger and Siddiq who kept pounding on the Water net for 16 points each. Further court assistance was provided by Bilal whose 14 points, mostly at critical moments, tilted the scales in favour of Team Fire. On other hand Ciaran registered for 18 points on the scorer's list, supported by the able allround work of Romy who came good for 12 points, for Team Water.
Wind downed Team Earth 66-59 in another closely fought encounter playmaker point guard Paylee came up with this year's tournament high of 27 points. Kunal added further meat for a 13-point return for the Wind men while Rijo (17) and Fawaz's 16 gave Earth a chance in the final quarters.
Team Ice held well against the fierce inroads of Team Wood during the second and third periods before etching out a narrow 50-46 victory. Ice saw Kenneth pump up form for a 17-point haul which was given a big boost when Savio and Pranay contributed with shares of 11. Shetty was brilliant though on a losing cause this time, finding the target for a game high 19.
Organiser Rakesh Rathore, said: "The increase in the number of teams in the fourth chapter shows the sport's popularity among the expats in the UAE. This year's event as usual sees a charity angle to it."
The annual championships is in memory of Rathore's son who was a keen basketball player in school.
The tourney is being held from Sept. 22 to Oct. 7 and is played during the weekends - 8pm-11p.m. Over 70 players and 200 spectators were seen at the venue during the first two rounds where different nationalities from Abu Dhabi and Dubai took part.
moni@khaleejtimes.com