23rd July 2016 - Balewadi Stadium, Pune: Maintaining their imperious form Pune Peshwas got the better of Hyderabad Sky as they beat them 109-99 in the UBA Pro Basketball League season 3 on Saturday evening.
Pic 1: Pune Peshwas and Hyderabad Sky in action during the Season 3 of the UBA Pro Basketball League.
Pic 3: Match in progress between Pune Peshwas and Hyderabad Sky at the Balewadi sports complex on Saturday.
Both the teams clash again on Sunday in the playoffs and it was a chance for both the teams to gauge each other's strengths ahead of the big match.
This was also the third match in a row where Pune scored over a 100 points - an ominous sign for other teams and a warning for Chennai Slam, who would be facing the winner of the Hyderabad Sky -Pune Peshwas game tomorrow.
In the absence of their star player Shinde (down with fever) from the start, Pune Peshwas led 27-22 in the first quarter and both teams, having already qualified for the playoffs, took the opportunity to experiment with their strategies.
Narender continued his rich vein of form as he and Mane continued to bag points and keep up the momentum the Pune Peshwas had seized. For Hyderabad Sky, Thomas was tasked with keeping up the pressure on Pune and he also started the game brightly.
In the second quarter, Hyderabad Sky worked their way back into the game and cut the lead to just a point at 39-38 with 4 minutes left and thanks to the efforts of Mahesh and Mahipal, took the lead for the first time in the match.
Buoyed by Shinde's return, Pune Peshwas finished the second quarter nudging ahead 53-52. In the rebounds and turnovers section, Pune was the better team with 21 and 13 while Hyderabad could manage 16 and 6.
The third quarter also saw rivetting stuff as Hyderabad Sky managed to take a slender lead of 79-77 going into the fourth quarter.
Pune Peshwas bounced back in the final quarter, thanks to Shinde and Narender as they opened up a 10 point lead with just over two minutes left. In the end, Hyderabad couldn't muster enough to give the Pune Peshwas a late scare.
Pune Peshwas 109 & Hyderabad Sky 99
Pune Peshwas 109 (Narender 27, Mane 16, Arjun 14) & Hyderabad Sky 99 (Mahipal 26, Mahesh 20, Thomas 17)