KARACHI: Newly raised Rayden Hawks opened their account by registering a 26-19 victory over Munawwar Abbasi Club in the 12th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Cup basketball tournament at the Arambagh floodlit court here on Sunday evening.

The low-scoring match had some ups and downs as both the outfits won two quarters apiece.

The winners who trailed 3-4 in the first quarter won the following two 8-2, 8-2 before losing the fourth and the last 7-11.

Shehryar was the only player who finshed in double figures with 13 and was followed by Raheel (seven) and Kashif (four).

Maaz scored seven while Moyed and Hassan contributed four apiece for the losers.

This was youthful Munawar Abbasi Club’s second straight defeat in group ‘B’. Earlier, they lost to Askari Alphas.

Meanwhile, Karachi thrashed visiting Hyderabad 63-41 to win the triangular series which concluded at the Arambagh court on Sunday.

It is pertinent to mention that Karachi had defeated Mirpurkhas 46-32 in the opening fixture on latter’s court while Hyderabad carved out a 8-4 victory over Mirpurkhas in extra time after the clash had ended in a 26-26 stalemate in regulation time at Agriculture University Tandojam.

Karachi had a brisk start and availed maximum scoring chances to lead 28-7 at first quarter that paved their way to success.

The visitors fought back and held the local side 13-13 in the second quarter to trail 20-41 at half time.

Karachi succumbed to pressure and lost the third quarter 9-12 before they were held to 9-9 in the last.

The trio of Fazeel (15), Zain (13) and Keneth (10) were instrumental in Karachi’s success.

Kashif finished in double figures with 15 while Hamza and Mudassir shared 16 points amongst themselves for the losers.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2017