TN men cagers tops

: Tamil Nadu won the men's title in the 51st Senior National basketball championship, crushing Railways 111-66 in the final in Bangalore in Friday.

It is the second consecutive year that Tamil Nadu is winning the title, and the fourth since 1992. Tamil Nadu had earlier won in 1996.

Scoring at a fast pace, Tamil Nadu led 56-25 at the break, and hardly encountered any challenge from their rivals.

Tamil Nadu virtually had Railways on the mat with their flawless passes and conversions. They posted a big lead at half-time itself and increased it to 84-40 in the third quarter. With the trend of scoring in their favour, Tamil Nadu rested their star ball handler and livewire S Gopinath after half-time.

Tamil Nadu's S Robinson was in his element and contributed 25 points, followed by skipper Moses Jeevananth (15), R Sivasanker (11), D Swaminathan (10) and Gopinath (7).

Railways, who had won the championship six times earlier, fared poorly in all departments of the game. They tried to check the rival's surge only in the fourth quarter. But by that time, it was too late. Islauddin Mohd and Dawood (both 17) played well for the losers.

In the losers' semi-finals, Punjab men edged out hosts Karnataka 75-71 and in women's Tamil Nadu scored a thrilling 56-54 win over Madhya Pradesh.

On Thursday, Railways won the women's title beating Kerala 91-75 in the final.