Royal College, Colombo and Holy Family Convent,Bambalapitiya won the overall Championships of the Under-19 Inter-School Basketball Tournament which concluded at Henry Pediris Courts in Colombo under lights on Sunday.
The tournament was sponsored by Pan Asia Bank and Sri Lanka Schools Basketball Association conducted it.
Having defeated last year’s Under-19 runners-up Colombo International School, Kandy in the semi-final Royal were the favourites, but they kept their cool specially when the margin of scores were as thin as five points.
Royal started dominating from the very beginning as Chanaka led from the front driving through and netting the ball regularly early in the game. Royal scored their first 12 points blanking their opposition. They led 13-4 at the end of the first quarter.
However St. Joseph’s fought-back when their main player Brendon Keyser launched a counter attack to narrow the gap between the two teams to five points during the second quarter.
Royal’s post player Julian Gunasinghe helped ease nerves taking a majority of rebounds and scoring under the basket shots. His efforts helped Royal to maintain an eight point lead towards the end of the first half as the score red 26-18.
Both teams fought hard and Joes came with a better defence during the third quarter. But things went against Joes in the final quarter with the scoreboard stuck on 28. Royalists went on scoring to expand the gap between the two teams.
Sameera Chanaka who was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament scored 15 points for Royal in the final. Ashen Menuka also from Royal was named the Best Defensive player of the tournament while Joes’ Brendon Keyser was adjudged the Best Offensive player of the tournament. He scored 12 points for his team while his team-mate Pruthuvi Fernando netted eight points.
Meanwhile, in the girls’ final, Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya pulled-off a thrilling win beating St. Joseph’s College, Nugegoda 43-39 in a close game. HFC led 23-16 at the half way mark.
It was a tough battle from the beginning in the girls final where both schools struggled to open their accounts. Nethmi Herath of St Joseph’s opened the scoring with a smooth jump-shot from the left base line and Familian Yasara Siriwardena replied with an excellent three pointer from the left corner. Bambalapitiya lads maintained their lead and never let the strong defending champions to play their usual aggressive game.
The Familians had slight one-point advantage at the end of first quarter (8-7) and widened the gap in the following quarter by adding 15 points while restricting opponents for nine points. They posted a considerable seven point lead at short whistle (23-16).
Josephian girls entered the third quarter with a much organized manner and managed to close the gap. But both teams seemed to be tired and missed several easy shooting opportunities while committing unnecessary fouls. Josephian Sanjana Madushi had to leave the court committing five fouls, but the Nugegodan girls scored 11 points against seven from the rivals in the third quarter. HFC led 30-27 at the end of third quarter.
Both teams tried to overcome each other with a speedy play in the Final quarter. Josephian girls tied the scores 32 all with Imesha Thathsarani sinking a lay-up Josephian took the lead. But they were unable to maintain the lead after their re-bounder Kavitha Devanjalee left the court on five fouls in latter part of the quarter. HFC added more points taking the maximum advantage of the situation to seal the game ending long standing Josephian girls’ dominance in the ‘A’ division championship.
Yasara Siriwardena was picked as the girls’ Most Valuable Player of the Tournament along with Melissa Dunuwila, the Best Defensive Player award scored 11 points for HFC in the final. Keyasha Siriwardena contributed with nine points for HFC. Imesha Thathsarani who was awarded as Best Offensive Player scored 17 points and Anne Stephani 9 points were the main contributors for St. Joseph’s.
Meanwhile Colombo International School (CIS), Kandy won the boys’ third place beating Gatway College, Colombo by 59 points to 51. It was a tough game during the first half and CIS were one point ahead at half time (30-29). Lahiru Karaliyedda contributed 20 with points while Azzan Manzil added 17 points to the winners. Nichula Liyanage (21 points) and Veen Karunaratne (11 points) were the best scorers for the losing team.
Girls’ consolation final for the third place was won by St. Lawrence’s Convent, Wellawatte defeating Good Shepherd Convent, Kotahena by 43 points to 33 after leading 18-15 midway. Natasha Perera and Tracy Planket scored 19 and 10 points respectively for Wellawatte lasses while Imesha Fernando (16 points) and Anjum Perera (8 points) top scored for the Shepherdians.
