Indian National Basketball League

Stan Rayan

KOCHI

Despite losing their last league match 72-88 against Bengaluru Kings, Kochi Tigers won the opening leg honours in the first Indian National Basketball League (INBL) at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Thursday.

With Chennai Heat losing its last game against Chandigarh Warriors 69-83 earlier in the evening, the Tigers were assured of the title even before they took on Bengaluru Kings in the last league match on Thursday night. The Tigers finished the first leg on top of the six-team table with four wins and a loss for a total of nine points. Chandigarh Warriors (three wins, two losses, eight points) finished in a three-way tie for second place.

Kochi Tigers’ Lalrina Renthlei, left, in action.
| Photo Credit: Photo : H Vibhu

The Tigers were a weary bunch. In fact, a few of their stars had played for their employer KSEB in an all-Kerala tournament nearby earlier in the evening and that showed in their game.

With that being the situation, the Tigers brought out many from from the bench frequently. The team led 26-17 in the first quarter but it was mostly downhill from there.

That made the Kings’ job easier in the end. The second leg will be held in Jaipur from October 26.

The results:

Bengaluru Kings 88 (Abhishek Gowda 18, Arvind Arumugam 15, M. Harish 14, BK. Anil Kumar 13, Pratyanshu Tomar 12) bt Kochi Tigers 72 (Jishnu G. Nair 24, Lalrina Renthlei 13).

Chandigarh Warriors 83 (Sahil 22, Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 21, Palpreet Singh Brar 27) bt Chennai Heat 69 (M. Arvind Kumar 18, Muin Bek Hafeez 16, B. Soorya 10).

Delhi Dribblers 99 (Rajeev Kumar 24, Rishabh Mathur 20, Piyush Meena 11, Mahipal Singh 20, Gaurav Chandel 20) bt Mumbai Titans 74 (Kuldeep Tamaliya 22, Sayyed Yousuf 15, Sameer Qureshi 13).

Points table:

Kochi Tigers (9), Chandigarh Warriors (8), Chennai Heat (8), Bengaluru Kings (8), Delhi Dribblers (6), Mumbai Titans (6).