A. Anantharaj’s spectacular efficiency (24 factors) within the final three minutes of the third quarter flipped what was till then a good encounter into a comparatively snug 87-57 win for Tamil Nadu in opposition to Kerala within the quarterfinals of the seventy fifth Senior Nationals basketball match on the Nehru Indoor Stadium right here on Friday.
Total, the 29-year-old transformed six out of his 9 three-point makes an attempt.
TN was stretched within the first half by Kerala, led by A.S. Sharath, who scored 17 factors, as the 2 sides performed an intense recreation of cat-and-mouse, with the lead altering arms repeatedly. On the finish of the primary quarter, the scores have been tied at 15-15, whereas TN led by two factors on the break (36-34).
Within the second half, the host discovered the next gear, with Anantharaj scoring 13 factors, together with three three-pointers within the third quarter. The reigning champion went on an 18-point run during the last two quarters and raced to a 24-point lead in an area of 5 minutes, leaving Kerala gasping for breath.
Earlier within the day, Delhi edged previous Karnataka 80-73 in a gripping contest to achieve the final 4. For Delhi, first Ravi Bhardwaj set it up, scoring 10 out of the primary 13 factors, and later Jeethandar Singh and Ayush Sharma took over.
Karnataka, although, fought again within the second half, narrowing a 15-point deficit to only six due to Sumanth Satynarayan’s effective driving lay-ups and three-pointers. Nevertheless, Delhi managed to attain twice, together with two free throws in the previous couple of minutes, to seal the tie.
Outcomes: Males’s Quarterfinals
Tamil Nadu 87 (A. Anantharaj 24, Pranav Prince 10) bt Kerala 57 (A.S Sharath 17, Aaron Varghese Bleesen 17)
Rajasthan 90 (Mohammad Ishan 29, Akshit Hooda 21, Lokendra Singh 15, Mahaveer 13, Ashish Trivedi 10) misplaced to Uttar Pradesh 93 (Harsh Dagar 30, Kushal Singh 22, Digvijay Singh 15, Satyajeet Chaprana 11, Prince Tyagi 11).
Karnataka 73 (Sumanth Satyanarayan 19, Arvind Arumugam 14, Aaron Monteiro 11) misplaced to Delhi 80 (Jeethandar Singh 26, Ayush Sharma 18, Ravi Bhardwaj 17, M. Sivasakthivel 10).
Railways 82 (Palpreet Singh Brar 13, Himanshu Sharma 12, Sahaij Pratap Singh 11, Manik 10, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 10) bt Telengana 53.
Girls: Karnataka 63 (Sruthi Arvind 20, Sanjana Ramesh 14, H.M. Bhandavya 12) misplaced to Madhya Pradesh 64 (Manvi Srivastava 24, Ananya Maheshwari 17, Khushi Pal Singh 10).
Tamil Nadu 72 (R. Sruthy 22, Shree Varshini 19, J. Ishwarya 11) bt Maharashtra 70 (Ankita Kumari 17, Siya Deodhar 14, S. Lakshmi Priya 13, Reva Kulkarni 12).
Railways 101 (Ok. Sathya 30, Pushpa Senthilkumar 12, Manmeet Kaur 10, Poonam Chaturvedi 10, Namrata 10) bt Gujarat 17.
Kerala 91 (Sreekala Rani 23, Aneesha Cleetus 19, Kavitha Jose 14, J. Jayalakshmi 10) bt Delhi 54 (Suman 16, Neha Hooda 10).
Revealed on Jan 09, 2026