As the first round of the Mercantile Basketball League continues at the Henry Pedris Basketball Court, DFCC and Airport Aviation faced off against Sampath Bank and Maulana Travels with the matches ending in favour of DFCC and Maulana.
Peoples Team of the MSBA League 2017 – Vote
The 27th Edition of the Mercantile Basketball League will commence….
DFCC vs Sampath Bank (A division men’s)
The game was started off by DFCC getting the first basket but Sampath bank retaliated momentarily getting in a shot from downtown to even the score. The Sampath players had a preference to taking long distance shots while DFCC, on the other hand, missed many of the jump shots they took. Both teams had a tight defence with Sampath opting for a zone defence and DFCC opting for a man to man defence. Neither team was able to get a substantial lead during the first half as it was turning out to be a very close game. By the end of the half it was Sampath Bank who went into lemons leading by 02 points.
Half-time: DFCC- 24 Sampath Bank- 26
Coming into the second half DFCC had the time to regain their energy getting in a couple consecutive shots beating the defence off the dribble and driving in. Although Sampath Bank kept the deficit small the DFCC players had speed on their side allowing them to make more interceptions and steal the ball of their opponents giving them more offensive opportunities. The DFCC players worked the ball well between all the players on the court slowing the game down once they had a considerable lead and although a couple free shots were made with a minute to go the deficit was too large for it to have made a difference and DFCC took home the victory.
Full-time: DFCC- 60 Sampath Bank- 50
Speaking to the coach of the winning team he had this to say after their victory: “Sampath Bank gave us a good game it’s clear that their practices have definitely paid off. It was our first match of the season so we were a little rusty our defence started to pick up only during the second half but we hope to fix our mistakes and perform better at the next match.”
Photo Album-27th Mercantile Basketball League
Maulana Travels vs Airport and Aviation (E Division men’s)
The game was started off by Maulana with a shot from downtown while Airport Aviation struggled to make their shots count and lost the ball on numerous occasions due to bad ball control and missed passes. While Maulana, on the other hand, had a very balanced team who preferred to take their chances from beyond the perimeter. Towards the end of the first half, it began to seem like a one-sided affair as Maulana took a significant lead going into halftime with Airport and Aviation struggling to keep up.
Half-time: Maulana Travels-30 Airport and Aviation-13
Although both teams had a small bench the average age of the Airport Aviation team was much higher than that of their opponents putting them at a considerable disadvantage as they lacked the fitness to keep up with the younger team, thus the Airport Aviation team failed to recover after their offensive attempts making their defense almost nonexistent and allowing Maulana to easily increase the deficit. Although Maulana had the game in the bag from the very beginning, not at any point did they let up and they gave it their 100% throughout the game.
Full-time: Maulana Travels-53 Airport and Aviation- 29
Speaking to the coach of Maulana he had this to say to ThePapare: “We played a good game today our ball movement across the court was good and there weren’t too many mistakes. We’re looking to top the division this year and this team definitely has the potential to do that if we keep playing like this.”
