Mamata Medical College and Golden Phoenixes scored hard fought victories to secure their berths in the Level I of the GM Sampath Kumar Annual League Basketball Championship 2026-27 at Don Bosco High School in Hyderabad.
Mamata Medical College overcame a fighting Rising Stars (Secunderabad) 66-63, while Golden Phoenixes edged YMCA Hyderabad 75-71. Two more spots in Level I are up for grabs for the teams competing in Level II.
The match started well with Rising Stars and Mamata Medical College matching basket-for-basket. Srikanth of Mamata Medical College made the difference between the teams as his brilliance helped his team take a 10-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.
In a high scoring second quarter, Yeshwant and Nipun scored three 3-pointers as Rising Stars scored 17 points. However, Akash and Abhiram joined the scoring spree as Mamata amassed a massive 23 points to take a 33-26 lead at half-time.
After change of ends, Rising Stars tightened their defense to restrict Mamata Medical College to just 14 points and in turn playing a fast-paced game scored 19 points to bridge the gap to just 2 points as Mamata led 47-45 by the end of the third quarter.
In the fiercely fought last quarter, Nipun tanked two 3-pointers, Srinivas, Yeshwanth and Yagnesh chipped in with a brace of drive-in shots to score 18 points. However, it was not enough as they were just not able to stop Srikanth who scored 10 points in the last quarter alone and aided with two 3-pointers from Akash, Mamata scored 19 points to finally win the match 66-63.
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In another match there was wide swings of lead for both Golden Phoenixes and YMCA Hyderabad. Khadeer scored two 3-pointers and with David combining well with Anurag scored a massive 21 points for the Phoenixes. Krish and Vishwa played in tandem to help YMCA score 11 points even as Golden Phoenixes took the first quarter 21-11.
In the second quarter, YMCA tightened their defense to restrict Golden to just 14 points, forcing turnovers and scored 27 points to take a 38-35 lead at half-time.
After the lemon break, Ajay scored a 3-pointer to level the scores at 40-40, thereafter the match went neck-and-neck. With just one minute left for the 3rd quarter, Sam scored two consecutive shots through drive-in and Ajay closed the quarter with a 3-pointer to help Golden Phoenixes take a handy 59-54 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the last quarter, it was a cat and mouse chase as Aadvik and Krish were chipping it with baskets for YMCA but Golden replied back with Sam and Kanthu to finally win the math 75-71.
Results: Golden Phoenixes 75 (Sam 21; David 19; Kanthu 14; Khadeer 11; Ajay 6) beat YMCA Hyderabad 71 (Krish 27; Aadvik 21; Dheeraj 7; Vishwa 7) Half-time: 35-38.
Mamata Medical College 66 (Srikanth 19; Abhiram 16; Aakash 15; Dheeraj 9) beat Rising Stars (Secunderabad) 61 (Nipun 16; Srinivas 14; Yeshwanth 14; Yagnesh 10).
