RAIA: Goa’s campaign in the 73rd Senior National Basketball Championships finally came to an end in Ludhiana, Punjab, on Friday.
Injuries to key players, a tough schedule, and the three-point shot refusing to fall, all combined for a bad day at the box office, for the men’s team which had remained undefeated in the group league stage.
While the women’s team could not make it beyond the group stages, the men’s team had topped Pool C and faced Pool F toppers Karnataka, for a place in the top 10.
But in-spite of having a great run of victories for the last five days, getting a win against a strong Karnataka team, proved to be a tough ask.
The teams were separated by just a few points at the half. At start of the third quarter, the Karnataka team just managed to find another gear. The fact that Goa converted just three of their three pointer attempts, and Karnataka converted 13 of theirs finally led to them winning 79-43.
For Goa, Aaron Blessen with 15 points and Vivek Goti with 11 points kept fighting till the end, while team captain, the usually high scoring Jeshua Pinto, could manage only six points. For Karnataka Abhishek with 18 and Pratyanshu with 17 did the major damage.
