The start itself was furious. A. Rajakaruna won the jump ball start for Sri Lanka Navy and C. Perera instantly was at the ring aiming for 2 points, but it was a near miss.
Following a rebound with a turnover bad pass by T. Bandara gave an opportunity for Police for the first time. Stealing off the ball K. Indhika passes on to S. Jeewantha for another 2 pointer which also is misses to the unfortunate odds of the Police. With an offensive rebound C. Perera takes another shot at his previously missed basket scoring the first two pints of the game. That hunt for the ball taking place within less than 40 seconds just proved how intense the game is about to turn into.
Police was getting aggressive by the minute while Navy was taking on a more calm and steady stance. Though the point gap was minute – still in favor of the Navy- the approach to the points was different. Navy was gunning for easy but sure 2 point baskets. On the other hand the Police were showing off with three pointers. K Indhika was the ice breaker for Police with the first three- pointer at 2 minute of the game. And this spell continued. As the point gap increased K Indhika himself would do a recovery through three pointers. He was able to score three 3-pointers within just the first half.
Second quarter kicked off in favor of Navy at 17-15. But it was a turn-over quarter with Police taking on the game. In the second quarter the Navy’s plan on point scoring was stolen by Police. Sure, at first police continued to aim for the big shots but realizing the high risk factor soon afterwards they were playing with the ring, looking for rather safer moves. It worked like magic. Police was leading the game within the first 5 minutes of the second quarter. At the end it was 27 – 25 with Police in the lead.
The drawback in the points was long living; Navy didn’t recover throughout the third quarter. Even in the last quarter the recovery was turned against them soon enough to bring back the pride to the Police camp. The intensive playing up-roared; Navy was 13 points behind police losing the faith of the fans. Yet they recovered. Navy managed to settle down for a score of 40 – 43 just 3 points behind at the end of the third quarter.
The final few minutes took a similar shape to that of the start. Only difference being now the leading team was Police instead of Navy. The final opportunity for Navy was two free- throws which they were not able to outshine in the performance, giving away the victory for Police by just 3 points. On the highlights, K Indhika’s efficiency of 11.8 contributed the most for the team in their triumph.
