KARACHI, Aug 12 Formidable Habib Bank survived a scare when they registered an exciting 60-54 victory over District South 'W' in the 3rd NBP President's Cup basketball tournament which was marred by power failure at Arambagh floodlit court on Tuesday night.

The bankers, a combination of experienced players having in their fold former internationals like Mohammad Azam and S. M. Tanveer, though led the first quarter 13-9 but could not maintain their pace.

The losers fought back with vengeance and enjoyed a slender 17-16 lead in the second to trail 26-29 at half time. Again the third quarter saw them winning 16-13 which brought the two teams on an even terms - 42-all. But it was the experience that finally prevailed as bankers sealed the fourth and last quarter 18-12 to earn full points.

The District South 'W' who was close to upset the results should curse them for the defeat for wasting couple of scoring opportunities that came their way.

Altaf Habib top scored for bankers with 20. He was followed by Azam (14) and Umer (10).

Akmal Jamil who contributed 26 in his team's success in the opener, continued his shooting spree with a tally of 22. Adnan Ali and Ashraf scored 16 and 9 respectively.

Earlier, District Malir carved out 48-42 victory over Sindh Police after leading 21-16 at half time.

Ali Raza scored 14 while Bilal and Ameer Ali shared 12 points amongst themselves. Asif Mahmood shone for Policemen with 25 while Mumtaz Ahmed scored 10.

In another match, District East 'G' chalked up 99-85 victory over District East 'W'. Talha Awan and Meraj contributed 16 and 13 respectively while Ghani-ur-Rehman (16), M. Shabbar (14) and M. Haroon (13) were prominent for losers.—Sports Correspondent