UBA Pro Basketball League Season 4: Hyderabad Sky mounts a comeback to defeat Bengaluru Sky behind Tevin Kelly’s 51 points

Hyderabad Sky and Bengaluru Beast came into their second match looking for their first win of the season, having dropped their first games to Chennai Slam and Pune Peshwas respectively. Bengaluru started with a lineup of Chris Solomon, Visu Palani, Palpreet Brar, Raghuram Dhusianth and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi. Hyderabad’s starting five included Tevin Kelly, Mak Boskailo, Mahipal Singh, Manu Thomas and Mahesh Padmanabhan.

Mak opened up the scoring column by swishing a soft midrange jumper, and Vishesh responded with a similar move on the other end of the floor followed by a lay-in off a Euro-step. Chris Solomon hadn’t shot well from downtown in his first game but he ripped off eight three pointers in the first half without a miss.

Tevin and Mak found their way to the rim with their trademark ease as Hyderabad built an 11-9 lead halfway into the first quarter. Solomon added another three in transition and Manu Thomas began to redeem his showing in the first game with a block and a quick conversion inside. The end of the first quarter saw Hyderabad leading 24-23.

Kelly started off the second quarter with a three off a step-back crossover and Mahesh dropped a three from the wing as well. Solomon answered right back with four consecutive threes. Vishesh and Palpreet connected on an alley-oop, increasing their lead as Vishesh fed Loveneet for two as well.

While Hyderabad seemed to have the momentum and the crowd with big plays, the second quarter finished with Bengaluru leading 65-53 behind Solomon’s 30 points, 24 of which came from downtown without a miss.

Palpreet picked up his fifth foul in the opening minutes on an illegal screen and had to leave the floor. Hyderabad capitalized on the void in the middle by taking the ball inside. Manu Thomas uncoiled his lanky frame for a huge block on Loveneet as play stopped on a timeout with Bengaluru’s lead reducing to 69-62. Kaif put the clamps down on Hyderabad with a vice-like grip and forced them into the backcourt. Bengaluru found they staring down a 10-point deficit at the end of the third with Hyderabad leading 87-77. Tevin and Mak combined for 29 points in the third quarter alone.

The fourth quarter started off with Kelly finishing inside to the delight of the crowd as teammate Joginder Singh followed suit. Hyderabad soon pushed their lead to 17 points as Bengaluru struggled to find an answer on both ends. We’ve seen a stupendous start to the UBA Season 4 as the UBA scoring record has been broken multiple times already as Tevin Kelly dropped 51 Bengaluru for an impressive comeback win.

Players of the game: Tevin Kelly (International) Paveen Kumar (Indian)

Hyderabad Sky (Tevin Kelly 51, Mak Boskailo 31, Mahesh Padmanabhan 15) bt Bengaluru Beast (Chris Solomon 48, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 19, Palpreet Brar 12)