BITS (Hyderabad) edged Rahimpura Playground 41-40 in a thrilling Pool M deciding league match in the GM Sampath Kumar Annual League Basketball Championship 2026-2027 at YMCA Secunderabad.
BITS started brilliantly with Srinath and Hari combining well to score 20 points. Srinath along with his 3 drive-in shots scored a 3-pointer too. Hari sunk in two 3-pointers and Tejas chipped in with a 3-pointer and drive-in.
Rahimpura, on the other hand, were a little sluggish. However, Ravinath scored 7 of the 9 points scored as BITS led 20-9 at the end of the first quarter.
In the equally contested second quarter, both teams scored 10 points apiece. They scored two 3-pointers and 2 drive-in shots apiece. BITS maintained their 11-point lead to end the 1st half 30-19.
After change of ends, Rahimpura PG tightened their defense to restrict BITS to just 6 points and in turn found their bearings by scoring a massive 14 points with three shots outside the arc by Ravinath. Thereby they reduced the margin to just three points 36-33 by the end of the third quarter.
In the last quarter with both teams emphasizing more on defense, BITS scored only 5 points, but their defense was just as good restricting Rahimpura PG to just 7 points. Ravinath & Adarsh scored a 3-pointer apiece for Rahimpura PG but it was just not enough as BITS controlled the ball well to win the thriller 41-40.
BITS (Hyderabad) qualified for knockout for promotion to Level-II as the pool winners, while Rahimpura PG also qualified as pool runner-up.
In another match, Freestyle Ballers maintained a clean slate beating Sunday Ballers 66-61 after the scores were tied 31-31 at half time to qualify as the pool winners for the knockout match to get promoted to Level-II.
Results: BITS Hyderabad 41 (Hari 16; Srinath 10; Vaidyanath 8) beat Rahimpura PG 40 (Ravinath 27; Prudhvi 6; Adarsh 9) Half Time: 30-19.
Freestyle Ballers 66 (Sanjan 26; Kinshuk 13; Abhiram 13) beat Sunday Ballers 61 (Sriram 27; Ravi 9) Half Time: 31-31.
Trinity Basketball Promotions 56 (Rishab 23; Aditya 13; Vishanth 13) beat Alpha Basketball Academy 30 (Kaido 6; Varun 6; James 7) Half Time: 38-17.
