In the first semi-final, Punjab Police shut out whatever little ambition runners-up Western Railway might have nurtured to book a berth in the final with a 105-67 verdict. Tisco, helped by the consistent Nishant Kumar and Shahid Qureshi, downed India Juniors 83-63 in the second semis.

Thus Punjab Police, virtually the state team, will get a chance to avenge their title loss to Bihar in the Ludhiana Nationals, for it is the Tisco men who form their state team.

All in all, it should be a keenly fought final tomorrow despite the fact that both teams have some hiccups: Punjab Police will not have the service of Parminder Junior as the ball-handler, who twisted his ankle in the first game of the tournament, is yet to recover. And Bihar's worry could be that they have very little bench strength.

In the match against Western Railway, Punjab Police could afford the luxury of resting Parminder Sr, Lakwinder, Gurkirpal, Gagnesh and Preetinder for most part of the second half. Yet, they won comfortably because the five-some had completely shattered the confidence of the railwaymen in the first session itself.

Going for a full-court press, the Punjab Police hoopsters hardly allowed any elbow room for Ram Kumar, the mainstay of Western Railway, to manoeuvre. Even outside shooter Uday Yadav failed to find his touch with Lakwinder taking care of him. This action caught Uday on the wrong foot and he ran up a personal foul of three within five minutes of the game and had to be pulled out by his coach. He was brought back with a couple of minutes on the clock but a resurrection was impossible.

Things became rather easy for Punjab Police as Parminder was under the basket for those short and long passes and to collect all those rebounds. He cleverly switched roles with Lakwinder and the two exploited the holes in Western Railway defence admirably. Gagnesh and Gurkirpal not only did the feeding but also made easy inroads to score off every opportunity that came their way.

Parminder was just a point short of what would have been a well-deserved half century, to borrow the cricket parlance. Gurkirpal, excelling with three-point shots, was the second best with 22 points while Lakwinder scored 18. For Western Railway, Ram Kumar and Ashok Kumar scored 14 points apiece.

As for Tisco, they seemed to be conserving energy for the grand finale tomorrow as the team took its game very lightly against India Juniors. But the latter gave a good fight to bring some sense and speed into Tisco's game. In fact, India Juniors could have given more worries but the inexperience of a big match occasion did them in.

Mohit Bhandari was swift in his movements and combined well with Des Raj and the two had to share the burden after their sharp shooter Robinson was effectively checked by the tall Ishlauddin of Tisco. On the other hand, Nishant Kumar and Qureshi manoeuvred easily to basket time and again.

Nishant was the topscorer with 24 points while Qureshi (20) and N.S. Rawat (18) were the other contributors for Tisco. Des Raj (17), Bhandari (17) and Ranjeet Singh (15) were the main scorers for India Juniors.

In the women's section, Eastern Railway defeated Punjab 64-47 with Rekha Chaudhary scoring the maximum for the winners. Punjab women were totally off-colour today and gave in without much fight.

Results: Men: (Semi-finals): Punjab Police 105 (Parminder Sr 49, Gurkirpal Singh 22, Lakwinder Singh 18) bt Western Railway 67 (Ram Kumar 14, Ashok Kumar 14, Uday Yadav 11) HT: 47-26; Tisco 83 (Nishant Kumar 24, Shahid Qureshi 20, N.S. Rawat 18) bt India Juniors 63 (Des Raj 17, Mohit Bhandari 17, Ranjeet Singh 15, Robinson 10) HT: 46-36.

League (men): Punjab Police 99 (Parminder Sr 52, Gagnesh 17, Gurkirpal 16) bt India Juniors 54 (Ranjeet Singh 17, Mohit Bhandari 13, Des Raj 13, Robinson 11) HT 42-28; Tisco 76 (Nishant Kumar 20, Cyril Miranda 16, Islauddin 15, Shahid Qureshi 15, NS Rawat 10) bt ONGC 72 (Anoop 28, M. Ashokan 14, Rajinder Singh 13, Suresh Kumar 11).

Women: South Central Railway 65 (Yamuna K. Philip 20, Sisley 8, Sreeja 13, Anandhi 10) bt Punjab 53 (Lav Raj 14, Karanjit 13, Anu 10) HT 35-26; Eastern Railway 64 (Rekha Chaudhary 16, Prithi Vanitha 13, Shantha 10, Aparna Ghosh 10) bt Punjab 47 (Reena 16, Anu 8) HT 38-11.