Karnataka Settle the Score With Haryana to Seize the Junior Crown

Revenge rarely comes this cleanly. Karnataka, hammered by 26 points by Haryana in the pool stage, turned the tables on the very same side when it mattered most, beating an otherwise unbeaten Haryana 83-75 in the final to win the boys' title at the 76th Junior National Basketball Championship.
Haryana had looked the team to beat all week. They blitzed Karnataka 94-68 in their Pool B meeting and rolled through the bracket without a loss past Delhi 89-65 in the quarterfinals and Rajasthan 87-73 in the semifinals to reach the final at 6-0. Karnataka, meanwhile, regrouped after that pool defeat, dispatching Tamil Nadu 84-72 in the quarterfinals and Chandigarh 84-68 in the semifinals to set up the rematch.
This time there would be no runaway. Karnataka controlled the decider from start to finish, handing Haryana their only loss of the tournament and erasing the memory of the earlier rout with an eight-point win.
In the third-place game, the 2024 boys' champions Rajasthan edged Chandigarh 85-78 to round out the podium. Uttar Pradesh finished fifth after an 86-55 win over Kerala, while Tamil Nadu took seventh.