MSSA: Veer Subandh victorious!

Cathedral and John Connon's Veer Subandh at Azad Maidan yesterday

A versatile all-round sportsman, Veer Subandh played his heart out to inspire Cathedral and John Connon (Fort) to a stunning 33-31 win against defending champions St Joseph's (Wadala) in a thrilling boys U-16 quarter-final of the MSSA inter-school basketball tournament at Azad Maidan on Monday.

Versatile striker

Veer, who is also the star striker of the school's football team, top-scored with 15 points while teammate Devansh Desai contributed 10, including two crucial points from free-throws at the death. Karan Shah was St Joseph's leading scorer with 10 points.

The Cathedral lads, who were trailing 11-16 at the break, staged a solid fight back and dominated the third quarter, scoring eight points to just three by the Wadala boys, to level scores at 19-all. In the fourth quarter, Cathedral scored two quick baskets through Veer and Devansh at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 23-19 lead. The Cathedral lads then tightened their grip on the game and were compact in defence, making it difficult for the St Joseph's shooters to get under the board and find the hoop. The St Joseph's boys tried hard but the Cathedral boys held on and eventually closed out the match to knock out the champions and storm into the semi-finals.

"This win feels good not only because they are the defending champions but because they had beaten us by a big margin in the DSO tournament a couple of weeks ago. We were determined to hit back and worked hard on ironing out our flaws. They were a tad overconfident today while we simply played to our potential," Veer told mid-day later.

Big win for Jamnabai

In the second quarter-final, Jamnabai Narsee International (Juhu) beat Navy Children School (Colaba) 27-12 and will clash with Cathedral in Wednesday's semi-final.

Meanwhile, Don Bosco (Matunga) outplayed St Mary's SSC (Mazagon) 35-18, while Vibgyor High (Goregaon) beat Fatima High School (Vidyavihar) 36-22 (half-time 23-9). Don Bosco and Vibgyor will clash in the second semi-final.

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