Loyola Academy defeated St Thomas College, Bhilai, 74-62 in the basketball final to win the Fr. Balaiah Memorial All India tournament played at Loyola Academy games enclave in Hyderabad.
Pruthvi of Loyola Academy stood out by contributing 21 points to the team total followed by Arun who contributed 16 points. Loyola hoopsters held their nerves to carve a victory after being on level terms midway through the game but Loyola came from behind to emerge champions.
The third spot was secured by Bishop Heber College of Trichy, who clinched a 60-63 win over Mothilal College of Delhi. Bishop Heber’s side displayed strong nerves to hold on firm and seal the victory. Tamil and Prasad who scored 20 and 18 points respectively, were the star performers of the match. For Mothilal College, Harindam scored an impressive 25 points but in vain.
In the earlier matches, Loyola Academy and Bishop Heber registered easy wins over their rivals to confirm their spot in the finals. Jamal Mohamed College of Trichy turned in a great effort to grab the volleyball with a 20-25, 25-20, 22-25, 21-25 verdict over Jawahar Bharati College.
In the first game, the Jamal Mohamed side proved very strong but Jawahar Bharathi regrouped well to take the second game and level the scores. However, the tall players from Jamal Mohamed put in their best efforts to clinch two consecutive game and seal the title.
The match for the third place was between Hyderabad’s Loyola Academy and D. G. Vaishnav College of Chennai. The dominant Vaishnav College scored an easy 25-18, 25-22, 25-24 win as their rivals couldn’t win a single game.
The Vaishnav players were impressive throughout the match. In the first game Loyola Academy levelled the score at 9 but their opponents reeled 12 continuous points to pull away. Loyola were in doldrums after Vaishnav clinched the lead in the second game too before eventually going down. However, the third game saw a tough fight as the teams traded points before Vaishnav clinched the issue at 25-24.
