Suchitra Academy pulled off a thrilling 40-31 win in overtime against Abhaya School — after trailing 23-29 with less than three minutes remaining — in the semifinal of the boys competition at the fifth B. Ramender Reddy Memorial inter-school tournament being conducted by Niraj International School in Hyderabad.
At 23-29, Vaagesh and Sarvesh combined well to close the gap, and then shut out all escape routes for Abhaya, scoring 11 points and allowing their opponents to score only two.
They will take on hosts Niraj International School in the final. Niraj International too scored a nailbiting win, 27-24, against St Joseph’s School, AG Palace Malakpet.
In the girls competition, Suchitra Academy had a field day. Trailing 2-11 at the halfway mark, the girls bounced back, scoring nine points to defeat St Joseph’s School 13-11 in a quarterfinal clash. In the semifinals, they will meet hosts Niraj International, who thrashed Sunflower Vedic School 20-2.
In the other quarterfinals, Oakridge International beat Niraj Public School 31-28 and Sadhu Vaswani International defeated Abhaya school 14-2.
