Services trounced Kerala in a thriller

Jaipur, Dec 30 (UNI) Jairam (29) inspired Services to tame giant-killer Kerala 86-73 in a thrilling super league group A tie in the 57th Senior National Basketball Chamapionship here today.

The see-saw battle had Services leading 43-39 at the interval.

Besides Jairam, Phool Singh and Dilip Vergis scored 14 and 13 respectively for the Armymen while Subhash (16) and Vinit Ravi (13) were the main scoreref for Kerala, who had earlier shocked champion Railways.

Earlier last night, hosts Rajasthan created an upset knocking down last year's runners up Punjab 71-69 after trailing by 29-41 at the interval.

Ashok turned the table in the last three seconds when he converted a rebounder beautifully before a packed house.

Sandeep (14)and Lokesh Yadav (13) were the notable scorers for the home team while Punjab's main contributions came from Yogendra Singh (18) and Samardeep Singh (15).

In men's super league group B match, fine performance by Roshan (26) and Kaushik (19) helped Karnataka outclass Madhya Pradesh 98-62 after leading 45-37 at the interval.

Resurts: Men's section: Group A: Services 86 (Jairam 29, Phool Singh 14, Dilip Vergis 13) bt Kerala 73 (Subhash 16, Vinit Ravi 13) Group B: Rajasthan 71 (Sandeep 14, Lokesh Yadav 13) bt Punjab 69 (Yogendra Singh 18, Samardeep Singh 15); Karnataka 98 (Roshan 26, Kaushik 19) bt Madhya Pradesh 67 (Sukwant 21) Women Section: Group A: Maharashtra 82 (Beena 29, Meenakshi 22) bt Kerala 47 (Liti Methew 14) Group B: Delhi 80 (Divya Singh 26, Prashanti Singh 13) bt Punjab 55 (Paramjeet Kaur 9).

UNI MY AY BD1505