Asian International School and Colombo International School Kandy battled for the championship as Gateway and CIS Colombo struggled for the 3rd position.
Gateway College Colombo and CIS Colombo battled at the British School outdoor basketball stadium. Off to a good start CIS Colombo was leading the first quarter easily by 5 points. Though no three pointers were recorded, since Gateway’s reply wasn’t strong enough CIS was able to outshine in the second quarter as well. Nithesh Ranasinghe at number 14, representing CIS, contributed immensely to the overall score with four consecutive baskets within the second quarter.
As the game reached the third quarter Gateway College was already thirteen points behind CIS and things didn’t turn around for Gateway. By the end of the third quarter the scored drifted apart by 17 points with CIS reaching to 39 while Gateway’s was just 22 points. Arunod Dundedu was the only player who was able to break through the defenses with his lay ups for Gateway. On the contrary for CIS at numbers 5, 11, 7 and 14 were equally efficient in scoring baskets.
Gateway College was able to make the biggest comeback in the fourth quarter but it was not quite good enough. While CIS Colombo was scoring merely 10 points, Gateway could put together 21 points. Melantha Janz was the biggest contributor to the impressive 21 points. Yet this 11 point margin wasn’t good enough to make up for loses Gateway made throughout the match in the first few quarter which settled them to the fourth place. The matched wrapped up at 49 to 43 pushing CIS Colombo to the third place.
The boy’s ultimate struggle for the Under 19 Inter-International Championships was taking place parallel to the consolation finals between Asian International School and CIS Kandy. Off to a very similar start with each team scoring in exchange the first ten minutes of the first quarter was a motion to and fro. Even the first three pointers came in from both the teams at the same time. However, just before the first quarter came to an end, Praveen from AIS was able to go for steal mid-way from CIS Kandy adding additional 2 points to the first quarter total. AIS was leading by 2 points at 19 -17.
The second and the third quarters of the game were filled with fouls at the intensity rose. Rimzy Ahmed of CIS Kandy was the player with highest number of fouls in the tournament. In the second quarter CIS Kandy slightly moved ahead of the position by picking up 1 point. The quarter total was 14 to 13 in favor of CIS. At the third quarter the game phase changed. AIS dropped down on its performance while Salim Khan with his great height and Umair Naleer who played the game of his life pushed on furiously for CISK. By the end of the third quarter the overall scores were 51 to 48 with CIS Kandy taking the lead for the first time in the game.
The final quarter of the game was extremely intense with coaches taking 3 requested time outs. Partially due to AIS almost closing up on CIS Kandy driving the intensity of the game to fever pitch. With 5 minutes to the time out, AIS reached 59 while CIS Kandy was at 61. Yet it was the closest they could move. CIS recovered the game for the final time reaching a final score of 71 to 62 points by AIS.
As the boy’s overall Under 19 Inter-International championship was awarded to CIS Kandy, the best male defender, best male offensive player and the most valuable player were assessed. Scoring 29 points in the finals itself, Salim Khan from CIS Kandy was awarded the best defender of the tournament. The best Offensive player was from Asian International School; Dimitri Grebe who was also the highest scorer for AIS. As the second highest scorer of CIS Kandy, with 25 points in the finals Umair Naleer was named the Most Valuable player of the tournament.
