Nepal Police Club vaulted back into contention for the Nepal Basketball League playoffs with a stunning 70-63 victory over title contenders Times International Club on Wednesday.

The defeat has all but dented Times' chances of finishing at the top of the table after the double round robin league, while Police have taken a leap forward piling pressure on Golden Gate International Club and Budhanilkantha Municipality Basketball Club in the race for the playoffs.

While Times and Tribhuvan Army Club, who defeated South Siders Basketball Club in the day's evening game, have already secured the top two spots, Budhanilkantha and Police are tied on 20 points each with both teams left to play away to Royal Basketball Club. Golden Gate have 18 points and if all three teams in the running are tied on 22 points each, the head-to-head score difference between teams concerned will come into play.

Golden Gate will play home and away to Kirtipur Basketball Team in their last game and Army will seal the top spot if they win both their remaining games against Royal and Kirtipur.

In another nail-biting game where Times fought hard to tie the game with 2:32 remaining in the final quarter, Bangladeshi recruit Mohammad Khaled Mahmud Akash starred for NPC with 20 points and 12 crucial rebounds.

A day after losing to fellow title contenders Army 67-66, Times were surprisingly left behind in the game when Bimal Jung Karki scored eight points to put NPC 12-0 ahead. Times finally opened the account through Bijay Burja with four minutes remaining but NPC built a 17-10 lead in the first quarter. They reduced the deficit to two through Mabindra Chhetri at 15-17 but Jasang Sunwar regained the four-point lead with a two-pointer.

Sunwar, who scored eight of the 20 points that NPC scored in the second quarter, made it a 14-point game at 29-15 with a two-pointer. From there on Times played a catch up game with their opponents but could hardly overhaul them. Police headed into the second half with a strong 12-point lead after taking the second quarter 20-15.

The closest Times reached in the third quarter was when their skipper Sadhish Pradhan sunk a two-pointer to make it a six-point match at 47-41 heading onto the final quarter. Times had led the final quarter 16-10. A three-pointer from Sunwar with 8:36 remaining in the final quarter made it an eight-point game at 52-44.

With 5:15 remaining Pradhan converted two free throws to cut the lead back to four points at 54-50 but a three-pointer from Sunwar made it 57-50. Pradhan made 57-53 with 4:09 remaining after he drew a foul in a two-pointer and converted the resulting free shot. Sri Lankan Praneet Udumalagala made it three-point game at 58-55 with 3:51 remaining. With both teams converting in every possession, Pradhan's three-pointer tied the game at 60-60 with 2:32 remaining.

After Aakash missed one of his two free shots, Udumalagala and Pradhan drew foul at the other end of the court but they could convert only one out of four free throws and the game was locked at 61-61 with 1:40 left. Bikash Gurung put NPC three-point ahead after he drew a foul in a two-pointer and converted the free throw. A three-pointer from Prasang Maskey with 27 seconds left virtually sealed the game for NPC at 67-61.

Udumalagala converted only two out of five free throws after drawing two fouls — one in a three-point attempt — with 13 seconds left as Times went to lose two match in a row after 11-match unbeaten streak. Pradhan scored 16 points for Times, while Manish KC had 15. Sunwar also rolled in 16 points for NPC.

Late in the day, captain Robin Khatri netted 21 points and made nine assists in Army's convincing victory. Army took a 25-15 lead in the first quarter and stretched it to 17 points taking the second quarter 27-20. Siders led the third quarter 24-19 to cut the gap to 10 points but Army raced to victory leading the final quarter 21-12.