Baladhaneshwar guides Chennai Heat past Bengaluru Kings

Kochi Tigers survive scare, move to the top of the table

He was everywhere! Be it scoring baskets or grabbing rebounds, smart passing or stealing the ball, captain P. Baladhaneshwar was in the thick of things and with some quality play too as Chennai Heat overcame a first-half setback to defeat Bengaluru Kings 79-66 in the first Indian National Basketball League at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Wednesday.

Bengaluru, which had shocked Chandigarh Warriors on Tuesday, thrived with the rebounds and international Pratyanshu Tomar and captain Arvind Arumugam did a good job thwarting many a Chennai attempt to help their side to a five-point lead midway through the first half.

But Chennai came roaring back in the third quarter. It kept Bengaluru at bay with a smart zone defence and a little later had two men marking Abhishek Gowda who had produced a series of three-pointers against Chandigarh on Tuesday.

And the 23-year-old Baladhaneshwar, a former youth India captain, and Lokeswaran were on a free run, dodging through the defence smartly and scoring at will. Chennai had a 14-point lead by the end of the third quarter and that stood the side in good stead in the end.

Chennai now has three wins from four matches while Bengaluru has two from four.

Meanwhile, Kochi Tigers suffered a few jitters — it trailed 7-23 in the first quarter — before defeating Mumbai Tigers 70-57 and moved to the top of the six-team league with four wins from as many matches after the penultimate day’s action.

The results: Chennai Heat 79 (P. Baladhaneshwar 31, Lokeshwaran 17, Muin Bek Hafeez 10) bt Bengaluru 66 (B.K. Anil Kumar 20, Pratyanshu Tomar 17, C.R. Abhishek Gowda 11).