Winless Nagaland jr. basketball team seeks consolation win

Dimapur, May 8 (EMN): The Nagaland state Junior Basketball team who are currently participating in the 69th Junior National Basketball Championship at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana, Punjab are yet to win a game in the league matches despite an upbeat performance.

The team will be playing their last game against Jharkhand at 8:15 am on Wednesday, an update from the association informed on Tuesday.

Coach Rajan said “we will have to get more scoring from multiple players to win here. It has to be an all-round effort from our young boys both in our offensive and defensive games if we want to win our final game.”

In their first match on Monday, Gujarat team beat Nagaland 66-24 in a lopsided match.

The state team led the scoring in the first quarter 10-8 but fizzled out in the remaining quarters as the opponents took control of the game. The team drew blank in the third quarter of the game. Captain Keneingutou was the top scorer with 10 points, followed by Kethokhru Ernest Nakro who finished with 8 points.

In the second match on Tuesday, neighbouring state Assam defeated Nagaland 63-40. Despite a much-improved performance, the state team went down to the far experienced and superior team from Assam. The Assam boys led the scoring in all quarters of the game. The Naga boys experienced the third quarter blues for the second consecutive game scoring just 2 points in all, but they finished strongly in the last quarter outscoring their opponents 17-12 in a losing cause. Marshal Pashel was the top scorer for the Naga boys with 11 points and the consistent Keneingutou added 10 points.

Teja Singh Dahiwal, honorary general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association said 28 teams in the boys’ section and 25 contingents in the girls’ section are taking part in this eight-day championship. More than 145 matches will be conducted at three courts during the course of the event.

Nagaland Basketball Association in collaboration with Dimapur District Basketball Association has sent 12 member boys team under the age of 18 years, including manager and coach, to participate in this edition of the championship from May 7 to 14.

The junior boy’s team of Nagaland is led by Keneingutuo Kevin of Holy Cross HSS, Dimapur. officials Tiameren Amri and Rajan Nayak accompanied the team as Manager and Coach respectively.