Bengaluru Beast were on fire. This was evident when they pulled out a 99-84 against Mumbai Challengers, in the second session of the UBA Professional Basketball League, at the Balewadi Sports Complex hee on Wednesday.
Unbeaten in the last two outings, Mumbai found the real challenge in Bengaluru Beast, as they were on flat footed throughout the 40 minutes thriller. But, for the glimpses of a fight back in the last session, Mumbai were no match to the well-knit cagers from Bengaluru.
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It was coach Prasanna’s strategy of bringing a new pair of legs in substitution which did the trick for them. And there was a time when all the five playing were substituted.
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Raghuram, making a comeback in the side for Bengaluru was outstanding and rightly so he was adjudged as the best player of the match.
On the other hand, Gagandeep was a one-man-army for Mumbai, despite being booked thrice in the fist two sessions of the game, he came up with his best contribution for the team. And his season best of 35 points.
It was Mumbai were took a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game. But, that was short-lived as Bengaluru who leveled the score at 6-6 never looked back and led the game thereafter. Bengaluru took control of the game were 25-12 ahead in the first ten minutes of play.
Gagandeep led from the front for Mumbai side, but his three fouls in the second quarter saw him lay low, as advised by his coach, and played a second fiddle but held the fort up front for his side making the most of it.
But, the Bengaluru’s march was smooth with Raghuram and company denting into the rival basketball time and again and in the process kept on increasing their lead. And when the players walked into their locker rooms Bengaluru were sitting pretty with 14 points lead.
Bengaluru were on fire when they returned back from the locker room. As they garnered 23 points and increased their lead by 18 points. At one stage were 20 points ahead of their rivals, and it was Gagandeep fought a lone battle for Mumbai.
There was a slight comeback by Mumbai in the last session as the reduced the lead to mere single digit (nine points), but Bengaluru’s Raghuram with three-pointers saw them well ahead. However, Bengaluru fell short of the three-figure mark by one point as they signed off the encounter 99-84.
