Kirtipur Basketball Team registered an important victory beating Bishal Milan Kendra (BMK) 60-51 to get back in the contention for the top four playoff spot on Monday.

A strong display in the first quarter did the job for Kirtipur as they ended their five-match losing streak to script 15 points from 10 matches. They are fifth and wins in two out of four games can take them to playoffs provided other results also go in their favour. Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) all but confirmed top spot for the double round robin league with 33 points from 11 consecutive victories.

Only third-placed BMK are left with mathematical chances to topple TAC as they have 24 points from 11 games. BMK are tied on points with Golden Gate International College (GGIC) but the latter stay ahead on score difference. Himalayan Hounds are fourth with 21 points from 12 games. South Siders Basketball Club, Team Budanilkantha Municipality and Xavier International College are already out of contention.

Hosts Kirtipur moved ahead 18-8. BMK reduced the deficit to nine points taking the second period 14-13. But Kirtipur built a 13-point cushion with 19-15 lead in third quarter. BMK did control the final period 14-10 but their effort fell short.

Abhishek Singh scored 17 points and took six rebounds for Kirtipur. Anil Khadgi Shahi had 11 points and nine rebounds. Bikash Gurung netted 13 points for BMK with Bibek Shrestha scoring 11.

In an away match at Xavier, TAC hammered the bottom team 93-73 after Sadish Pradhan rolled in five 3-pointers in his 26 points and contributed with six assists and seven rebounds. Xavier took the first quarter 28-23. But TAC bounced back, first by overturning the advantage to one point with a 22-16 lead in the second quarter.

They added another 22 points in the third quarter and restricted Xavier to 14 heading into the decider with nine-point cushion. A 26-15 lead in the final quarter sealed yet another convincing victory for the Armymen. Rabin Khatri also scored 22 points for Army, while Ayush Singh chipped in 19 points and took seven rebounds.