LAHORE, Dec 31: Defending champions Army, Rangers, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Police and hosts Railways, earned wins as the 27th national men’s basketball championship resumed on Monday at Railways Stadium after a three-day break due to mourning for the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Army crushed Azad Jammu Kashmir with a big margin 164-49. They led the first half closely 30-20, but beefing up the speed in the remaining play, they completed an impressive win.

For Army the main scorers were Pervez (30), Mudassar (28), Mir Alam made (24), Khalid added (23) and Ilyas (21). AJK’s lone scorer was Shahbaz.

KESC beat Balochistan 79-33 in another high-scoring match. At half time the winners were 26-12 ahead.

KSEC’s main scorers were Hammad (25) and Rizwan (10). Balochistan reduced the margin through Azam (22) and Babar (11).

Railways scored a big 73-33 win against Sindh after leading the first half 22-12. Railways main scorers were Samson (14), Allah Bux (12) and Abdul Rehman (10). Faran Aziz (9) and Shabbir (8) caught the eyes from the losers.

Police carved out 69-41 triumph against Punjab Blues after being 24-7 up in the first half.

Police made their way to victory mainly due to some hard working efforts from Azmat (22),Zaheer (18) and Zahid (12). Ali Raza (12),Raja Ehsan (11) and Hassan (9) helped Punjab to show resistance.

Rangers registered 69-30 win against Fata after taking 59-29 lead in first half. Ahmed (22) Ahmer (22) and Ghulam Mustafa (11) were the key scorers. Murtaza Khan (12) and Dilawar Khan (14) were the main scorers from Fata.