Chennai won the 4th edition of the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty Trophy All India Men's Basketball Tourney by beating Integral Coach Factory (ICF) 77-50 in the final, played at Sri Kanteerava Indoor Courts here yesterday. Heavy favourites IOB, Chennai had cruised into the finals with a 33 point win over Chennai Customs. The finale too began where they had left off in the semis, as IOB raced away to an early lead. IOB’s in-form international centre A. Aravind controlled the paint with numerous offensive and defensive rebounds. He even had two powerful dunks for good measure as IOB led 19-9 at the end of 10 minutes. But the hardworking ICF side too had some tricks up their sleeve. High scoring point guard Anto Bethle pushed the tempo of the game resulting in some acrobatic layups by shooting guard Praveen Kumar. ICF centre P. Vijay had his task cut out at both ends of the floor, as he was deftly contained by Aravind. The seasoned IOB side, with numerous former and current internationals, made full use of their deep bench. Slowly but surely, the only eight member strong ICF began tiring by the end of the third quarter. With the wily veteran backup centre Vineeth Revi Mathew too proving to be effective, IOB had built up a strong 60-42 lead going into the final 10 minutes. The fourth quarter was entirely dominated by IOB, which was happy to give its bit players some playing time. ICF Forward K. Jeya Venkatesh memorably posted back to back blocks on IOB’s Abhilek Paul in a late possession, but by then it was too little too late. The Bankers from Chennai were pleased as punch to re-emerge champs after nearly four years. SCORE: IOB, Chennai (A. Aravind 23, P. Jeevanantham 14) bt ICF, Chennai (P. Vijay 13, K. Mukunth 10) 77-50 .
