Blues of Hambantota Sposts Club brings home the Carton Cup

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A strong battle, magnificent piece of basketball and a breathtaking game: the Carlton Cup finals close up leaving Colombo Basketball Club runners up while HSC Blues takes on the trophy.

It was the last jump-ball start for the Carlton Cup season 2013; G De Croos and A. Sidhath were airborne for a couple of minutes and finally De Croos had his hand on the ball winning the start for the Colombo Basketball Club(CBC). Yes, the CBC did not let go of the opportunity to be the first to score. Though J. Kulathnga did not get the basket in the first attempt he was able to make it soon after with the help of De Croos at the offensive rebound. From the kick start CBC was able to stay on top till a foul was reported by Udumalgala allowing HSC Blues to score the first point in the game.

With R. Fernando scoring the only 3 pointer in the first half, CBC was at a massive lead till the last few minutes of the first quarter. A couple of free throws thanks to a foul and HSC Blues were just one point behind. The first quarter wrapped up at 13 – 12 in favor of the Colombo Basketball club.

M Fawsan stealing the ball off within the first 10 seconds of the game, the HSC Blues were off to a good start in the second quarter. Not only were they first to score but also able to turn the game to their advantage. It was as if  some superficial belief coming true – the first to score takes the lead. The second quarter was dominated by the HSC Blues. Starting from a negative point difference the blues were able to reach a positive 6 towards the end of the second quarter. This was an un-breached gap. A. Sidath, A Alponsu and M Fawsan had their names recorded many times for performance skills: rebounds, steals and of course scoring baskets.

The Colombo Basket Ball club’s De Croos managed to record the highest efficiency of the game: 20.6 in 42:04 minutes. P. Udalagamege was the highest three point scorer, with 3 out of the 8. On the same note it’s lamentable that this performance was against the HSC Blues’ extremely accurate blocks.

Taking the start to the third quarter with CBC at 22 and HSC at 28, the game was already thundering with cheers by HSC blues supporters. This motivated the CBC folks; the start was with a tap blocking an obvious basket of HSC’s. DE Croos did not simply stop with the block, he was at a defensive rebound passing on to J. Kulathunga to score the first basket of the third quarter.

On to the game H. De Silva was at a remarkable show down with a 3 pointer two minutes to end the quarter. Not forgetting De Croos  who made a three pointer a few minutes before.  And the trend continued and CBC made the third quarter theirs. It was a three point lead, but they were gradually gaining from a 6 point drawback. Everyone had to keep their fingers crossed till the last minute, the final out not being clear even ten minutes to finish the game.

HSCs took the start to the fourth quarter. Yes, this was quarter which turned out to be very advantageous to the Blues, at least till the very last 6 seconds. 52 – 55 the Blues were leading and P. Uladalagam from CBC made his final three pointer settling the scores. Though the Blues were in a strong position with a huge gap all throughout the last quarter of the final, the game ended at a tie.

The extra time was called in where HSC Blues regained their lost dominance. The finals of CARTON CUP 2013 came to an end with HSC blues to winning the championship beating the Colombo Basketball Club by 3 pionts.