KARACHI, Sept 12: Hosts Sindh Greens enthralled spectators by registering an emphatic 77-57 victory over Balochistan in the third Inter-provincial basketball championship at the Arambagh floodlit court on Thursday.

The winners, who led 34-32 at half time, enhanced their lead substantially to post a huge total. Saifullah Khan and Saad Farooq were on a scoring spree and finished with 20 and 19 respectively. Abdullah Imam and Rehan contributed six and four respectively.

Rashid (17), Danish (15) and Ahmed Nawaz (10) were the main scorers for Balochistan.

Two-time champion Punjab opened their title defence campaign on a positive note imposing to 64-33 victory over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the second match of the evening that also marked the formal inauguration of the event.

Making good use of their abilities, formidable Punjab delighted fraternity of the game with brisk scoring and led 47-13 at half time. Gill brothers – Sunil and Kashif – were the pick of winners with 13 and 11 respectively. They were followed by Zahid (10) and M. Bilal (8).

Wahab, Haris and Mubarik contributed 15, eight and six respectively for KP which arrived in the morning.

The event was formally inaugurated by Mr. Ibne Hasan, Divisional Head, Corporate and Communications, National Bank of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, in the only match played on Wednesday evening, Sindh Whites thumped Sindh Greens 65-51 after enjoying 33-23 lead at breather.

Ahad Javeri starred for the winners and finished with a massive score of 26. He was ably supported by Fahad Ahmed (10), Hamza Ali (8) and Ali Abid (4).

Saifullah top scored for losers with 17 while Tahir Saeed and Mahad Tariq scored 11 points apiece.