KARACHI, March 15: Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) beat University of Karachi 53-50 in nail-biting final to win the 36th HEC Inter-university Zone G Basketball Championship at The Aga Khan University gymnasium on Thursday.

The winners led 26-19 at the half time.

Both the teams fought neck-and-neck throughout the play and were tied 35-35, 42-42 and 50-50. As the final was approaching to a close Bilal Khan scored a point on a free shot to make 51-50 and soon Aryan Meknat added two more to the tally to win their maiden inter-varsity zonal title.

After trailing 10-11 at the end of first quarter, the DUHS enjoyed an upper hand in the following two 16-8, 18-16 that made the difference as they again finished the last quarter 9-15.

Sabih Alam led the team from the front with 18 points. Hmmad Aftab, Aryn Meknat and Ghazi Khan scored nine, eight and six points respectively.

The trio of Mohammad Rehan 14, Syed Adnan Ali 12 and Tahir Ahmed 11 shone for the losers.

Both the finalists have qualified for the final round of the championship being held under the aegis of Bahria University, Islamabad, from March 28.

Sabih, who received the winner’s trophy from FIBA referee Yaqoob Qadri, was also adjudged Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the event. Abdullah Imam of KU received the runner-up trophy.—Sports Correspondent