LAHORE: Pakistan Army, Wapda, Pakistan Air Force and Lahore Division qualified for the National Men’s Basketball Championship semi-finals here at the Government College, University on Wednesday.

In the semi-finals to be held on Thursday, Army face Lahore while PAF take on Wapda.

The clash between Lahore and Wapda proved an exciting affair.

Wapda held their nerves to eventually earn a 77-62 win. However, despite losing this match Lahore also made the last four.

At halftime, Wapda led 36-25. The top contributors from Wapda were Mohammad Usman (26), Zain-ul-Hassan (20) and Amir Farooq (11). For Lahore, Saboor Mehdi (16), Safi Khan (15) and Ahmed Abbas (14) were the main scorers.

Army registered an overwhelming 93-48 victory over POF to reach the last-four stage. At halftime Army held a commanding 54-30 lead which they maintained till the very end.

Imad (18), Mohammad Usman (14) and Tughlab (11) scored bulk of the points for Army.

For POF, Izharullah (18), Tayyab (13), Mohammad Farooq (10) were the major scorers.

Meanwhile, the PAF outclassed Faisalabad 111-62 in a one-sided match.

The winners enjoyed a huge 51-19 lead at the breather.

The primary PAF scorers were Mehtab (23), Mohammad Akhtar (18) and Mohammad Zuhair (12).

For Faisalabad, Gul Baaz (15), Usman Talib (15) and Faheem Sattar (nine) contributed heavily.

Islamabad fought hard against Navy in a match which had no impact on the semi-finals spots. Islamabad won the match 62-54.

The fight for supremacy was contested closely from the start to finish as at halftime it was 32-29 in favour of the winners.

For Islamabad, Ali Kazimi (22), Farhan Qayyum (17) and Haris Siddiqui (eight) were standout performers. For Navy, Zaiur Rehman (19), Babar Manan (10) and Muhammad Adnan (eight) scored most of the points.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2023