Colombo International School Kandy wins the Sri Lanka Schools Basketball Association Championship against Asian International School.
The most awaited encounter from among the international schools as well as the local schools was the battle of Asian International School and Colombo International School Kandy. Since the last loss to CIS Kandy, Asian International school had invested so much on practices to unveil for their Kandy opponents at the S. L. S. B. A. finals.
With whole lot of tension between the two teams the ones to win the tip off was the Colombo International School Kandy. AIS’s quick reaction did not work in their favor but caused a line out. Making the maximum out Umair, captain of Colombo International School Kandy scored a three-pointer as the first basket. It was an ‘in-your-face’ gesture; AIS to know you cannot undermine their opponent. Three baskets coming from Umair himself, including another three-pointer CIS Kandy reached the 10 points very easily. Praveen Ganlath returned the attack towards CIS Kandy. His swift moves though the covers of Slim Kahn and Kiran Karaliyadda was impressive. One of the most significant of his moves and passes was the one to Anuk Ganegoda who was in the rebound. Anuk grabbed onto the ball, already air-borne was gunning for a sure basket. CIS Kandy was aiming for more three pointers and Kiran succeeded in his third attempt. Getting the action into his head he was able to score two consecutive three pointers. The additions to the Kandy score with straight shoots were massive. They were able to reach 24 points as Umair wrapped the quarter with another three pointer. Asian
International School was 10 points behind.
(Asian International School 14: Colombo International School Kandy 24)
Second quarter was brief, for both schools. Asian International School successfully blocked CIS Kandy with an effective defense strategy. Instead of being stuck within the circle, which allowed the Kandy rivals to shoot for three pointers, AIS expanded their blocks through to the court. The earliest signs of defense were with tall Salim Khan getting tapped as he aims for a basket. Though this effort turned into a foul, it was an impressive tap, especially considering Salim’s height. Yet they were not able to make their offense strong enough to score against, which limited the score within the second quarter. Most of the scores AIS did gain was through the free throws they were awarded. Rimzy Ahmed at number 13 for CIS Kandy himself gave away three fouls to AIS. Still the quarter ended in favor of Colombo International School Kandy.
(Asian International School 26: Colombo International School Kandy 39)
The healthiest move AIS made was in the third quarter. Staring off with a free throw they went around the center towards the free throw line and pushed in solid baskets. As we saw early on, Kiran joined by Umair were on the edge with three-pointers. But the flipside of long shots is that the rebounds allowed AIS to score some additional points. Slowly but surely Asians were able to catch up the mighty CIS Kandy who were invested on three-pointers. The individual score of the third quarter was led by AIS; still the overall score was beyond the reach.
(Asian International School 47: Colombo International School Kandy 54)
Fourth quarter tuned SLSBA. finals from an average basketball finals to a must witness. The intensity was so high the spectators literally stood up to in support of their respective teams. With four minutes to end the game, the scores of the two teams were a tie at 69. At this point CIS Kandy temporarily lost their captain, due to an injury. The massive crowd supporting the AIS was all up on toes as AIS started leading the game with few minutes to the end. But as soon as the class of Umair graced the court, the game changed back again. With less than two minutes counting down, 7 baskets were scored by the two teams. The victory assuring basket was scored by Umair himself, which was another 3 pointer. With that long shoot, CIS Kandy was crowned as the under 19 Basketball Champions.
(Asian International School 74: Colombo International School Kandy 78)
