MSSA basketball: St Joseph's, St Anthony's hoopsters reign supreme

The victorious St Joseph's (Wadala) team at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pics/ Suresh Karkera

St Joseph's (Wadala) underlined their supremacy and dominance as they outplayed Don Bosco (Matunga), recording an authoritative 31-11 victory in the mini boys' under-13 final of the MSSA inter-school basketball tournament at Azad Maidan on Thursday.

Aaron Serrao, who has scored consistently, and industrious ball handler Nathan Baretto rose to the occasion and once again played an inspirational role, helping St Joseph's complete a hat-trick of title wins. Both Aaron and Nathan scored eight points each and Sarthak Sarang and Kevin Karzai chipped in with five points each. Don Bosco's Pranav Menon could only manage two baskets (four points), while Vignesh Nadar scored three points.

The final started on a cautious note, but the Wadala schoolboys slowly and steadily took control after Aaron shot the first basket in the second minute. He scored one more as St Joseph's raced to an 8-2 lead in the first quarter and they extended it to 15-9 at the break.

The Matunga side lacked understanding and coordination and made too many errors especially with their passing, which left a lot to be desired.

St Anthony's (Chembur) side are all smiles

They had their share of chances, but poor shooting also let them down. Don Bosco scored just one basket in the last two quarters, with Vignesh finding the hoop in the final seconds of the match.

Earlier, riding on Karyaa Pagare's impressive all-round brilliance, St Anthony's (Chembur) easily defeated Vibgyor High (Malad) 30-17. Karyaa top-scored with 12 points, while Aishwarya Pednekar and Aadhya Hegde played supporting roles with seven and six points respectively. For Vigbyor, Chahek Udwani scored seven points and Teesta Tulsyan scored four points.

The first two quarters witnessed an even contest as the scores were tied at 11-all at the break. On resumption, St Anthony's girls were a completely transformed side as they dominated the last two quarters scoring 19 points (eight in the third and 11 in the fourth).

In the girls' third place match, Dominic Savio Vidyalaya (Ghatkopar) defeated Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) 29-9, while Campion School (Cooperage) boys beat Lakshdham (Goregaon) 20-5.

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