LAHORE, May 1: Runners-up Wapda and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) moved ahead in the 43rd National Basketball Championship after recording easy victories at Railways Stadium here on Thursday.

Punjab and KESC also won their matches.

Wapda halted the unbeaten run of hosts Railways by winning 82-65. Leading 66-52 at half time, Wapda never let Railways make a comeback in the game.

Wapda’s chief point scorers were Aamir Iqbal (24), Jahangir (18) and Imran (15). Railways’ main contributor was Liaquat with 30 points.

HBL routed Police 93-55 after going ahead 52-31 at the interval. Mohammad Azam (22), Falak Farid (19) and Zahid (16) were the bankers’ main scorers.

For Police, Zaheer (11), Azmat Mirza and Anthony (nine each) were the leading scorers.

Punjab meanwhile, eased past lowly-rated Balochistan 62-30 through the efforts of Abdul Rehman (27) and Zahid (13).

In the best match of the day, KESC scored a narrow 63-61 victory over Pakistan Universities after trailing 28-34 at the break.

KESC owed their success to Mohammad Arif (22), Talha Amjad (13) and Mohammad Azeem (10). Universities main scorers were Muzammil (19), Kashif (13) and Asif Akram (12).—APP