Kathmandu, September 20:

Nepal Basketball Academy (NBA) advanced to the quarter-finals on Thursday after handing Learning Realm International (LRI) their second defeat at the Samsung National Basketball Championship here today.

Utsav Chand netted 23 points as NBA defeated LRI 69-44 in the men’s Group D match. LRI crashed out of the competition after losing to Himalayan White House, who joined NBA in the last eight, in their first match on Wednesday. LRI lost control of the game despite a competitive score of 21-24 by the end of the half time. NBA extended their lead in the third quarter adding 21 while restricting the LRI to just six points. NBA scored further 24 to that of 17 by LRI in the last quarter.

In Group ‘C’ matches, Sunsari overwhelmed Makawanpur 69-26 and Chitwan overcame a 10-point deficit in the first quarter to defeat Rupandehi 47-44. Sunsari dominated Makawanpur from the very beginning taking 23-2 lead in the first quarter. Sunsari netted 17, eight and 21 in the next three quarters giving away just four, 12 and eight points. Bhupal top-scored for Sunsari with 13 points.

Chitwan had a slow start scoring four against 14 points of Rupandehi but managed to outscore Rupandehi in the next two quarters. Chitwan netted 16 and 15 to that of 11 and five points, taking five-point lead (35-30) going into the final quarter. Chitwan won the match after Rupandehi managed to bridge the gap by only two points in the final quarter.

In the Group ‘A’ match, Rhododendron International Boarding School (RIBS) defeated K&K 56-50 riding on 18 points from Robin Khatri while Public Youth Campus (PYC) thrashed Shrine Academy 80-35 in Group ‘B’. Bikram Joshi scored the highest 20 points for PYC.

Shrine Academy beat Rato Bangala 58-40 while Oasis got a walkover win from Little Angels’ in the women’s section matches. Shrine led from the start with Rato Bangala hardly threatening the opponents. Sangita Shrestha top-scored for Shrine with 14 points.