New Delhi [India], February 28 : The Gujarat Stallions booked their place in the InBL Pro U25 final with a nail-biting 89-85 victory over Chennai Heat at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Led by standout performances from Trendon Hankerson (21 points) and Josh Duach (20 points), the Stallions overcame a late surge from the Heat to seal their spot in the championship game. Meanwhile, birthday boy Nate Roberts delivered a monster 16-point, 14-rebound double-double to power the Stallions over the finish line.
The game tipped off with Hankerson's back-to-back three-pointers igniting the Stallions' charge, but the Heat answered swiftly through Arvind Kumar and Malak Majak, who kept the Chennai side in the hunt with quick transition plays. The Stallions' size advantage began to tell as Roberts and Jock Perry muscled their way to the rim, helping Gujarat close the first quarter with a narrow three-point lead.
As the battle intensified, the Stallions controlled the tempo through their inside game, but the Heat clawed back with Tad Dufelmeier's drives and Matt Gray's long-range shooting. However, Chennai's foul trouble proved costly, with Duach repeatedly attacking the basket to stretch the Stallions' advantage to four points at halftime.
The third quarter saw fireworks as Arvind Kumar caught fire, scoring 11 consecutive points to bring the Heat back into contention. But Gujarat stayed composed, with Hankerson and Duach trading buckets to keep their noses in front. With Duach forced to the bench after picking up his fourth foul, Roberts delivered a thunderous two-handed slam to send the crowd into a frenzy and restore a five-point cushion heading into the final quarter.
The Stallions turned up the defensive heat in the fourth, suffocating Dufelmeier and pushing their lead to eight points. Chennai refused to back down, trimming the gap to three points in the dying minutes. With the game on a knife's edge, Duach stepped up again, draining a clutch corner three with two minutes left before icing the game from the free-throw line to send the Stallions galloping into the final.
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