Bombers gun for sweep

The Bombay Bombers shoot for a sweep of the best-of-three finals of the 2000 Filipino-Indian Basketball League (FIBL) cagefest when they face the Knights at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow at Makati Coliseum.

The Bombay Bombers beat the Knights handily, 82-71, in Game One behind the hot hands of Kishore Mirpuri and Harish Mirchandani, who scored 25 and 24 points, respectively.

The Bombers led from the start to finish taking the first quarter, 25-16. There were only two deadlocks in the contest at 2-all and 5-all. After that, it was an all Bombay Bombers show the rest of the way.

With Baj Khatao and Rajinder Talwar joining the scoring spree and asserting their superiority over their opponents, the Bombers padded their lead to 15, 44-29 at the half and posted their biggest lead to 18 points, 71-53 with 6:51 left in the game.

Despite the loss, Knights coach Leovino Austria is confident that his wards can still level the series at 1-all and force a deciding Game Three. After all, the Knights had upset the Bombers during the elimination round in order to make it to the finals.

Meanwhile, individual awards will be handed out prior to the start of Game Two with plaques and trophies to be given to the Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Mythical Five, All-Defensive Team, and the league's top Rebounder and Assist man, among others.

The scores:

Bombay Bombers 82--K. Mirpuri 25, H. Mirchandani 24, B. Khatao 10, P. Jiandani 8, R. Talwar 7, J. Melwani 4, M. Balani 2, H. Mirchandani 2.

Knights 71--T. Sarda 18, R. Gurnamal 18, S. Jiandani 17, R. Chandiramani 9, M. Mohnani 3, R. Chulani 2, V. Daswani 2, H. Uttanchandani 1.