Rabin Khatri scored a whooping 35 points as Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) crushed Xavier International College 92-59 to continue their dominating performance in the Kwiks Basketball League on Saturday.

In their home match at the Nepal Army Headquarters in Bhadrakali, the Armymen registered their sixth consecutive victory to cement their position at the top of the table with 18 points. Another unbeaten side Kirtipur Basketball Team are second in the table with 15 points from four win in a row.

Bishal Milan Kendra (BMK), who upset a star-studded Golden Gate International College (GGIC) 88-82 at their home in an evening match on Saturday, are tied on points with Kirtipur but stay third on score difference. BMK, however, have played two matches more than Kirtipur.

Listless Xavier were no match for TAC side who rested their national team skipper Sadish Pradhan but still went ahead in the first quarter 19-7. Army then built a 22-point lead heading into third quarter scoring another 27 and restricting Xavier to 11 points. The match went beyond Xavier’s reach after TAC led the third quarter 20-15. The third quarter ended on 26-26.

Khatri, who now has 127 points in six games, also made six assists. Ayush Singh netted 15 points and took five rebounds. While Ketan Khadka had nine rebounds for TAC, Nischal Maharjan had an allround game with 13 points, five rebounds and three steals. Ashil Udash had a double-double for Xavier with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

At GGIC, Bikash Gurung contributed a match-high 31 points with five three-pointers, 11 rebounds and five assists in BMK’s victory. His performance overshadowed an age-defying display from GGIC’s Bipendra Maharjan, the former national skipper, who had 27 points, nine turnovers and four assists.

A closely-contested first quarter ended on 20-20 and BMK took a slim three-point cushion leading the second quarter 27-24. GGIC blew the match wide open after leading the third quarter 20-17 to level the scores going into the decider. But BMK prevailed in the final period to scored 24 points to that of 18 from GGIC.

Sandesh Tamang continued to be an integral part in BMK’s success after chipping in with 15 points, six rebounds, four steals and making two assists. Bibek Shrestha had 14 points and 15 rebounds. Rajiv Joshi scored 17 points, while Anish Shahi Thakuri netted 14. He and Manish Raj Rajopadhyaya had 17 rebounds each.