In an absolutely stunning encounter, S. Thomas’ College cruised to victory against arch-rivals Royal College 66-49 in the annual Royal-Thomian Basketball Encounter, played for the 19th Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake Challenge Cup. This year’s encounter was hosted by the Reid Avenue school at the Royal College Indoor Sports Complex on Friday (4) evening, amidst a packed house exceeding capacity.
Thomian Skipper Yehan ‘Bula’ Bulathsinghalage capped off his Thomian sporting career on a high as he marshalled his troops valiantly as they outclassed the Royalists in absolute style to win back to back. This year’s win is pretty ironic, as last year, the STC lads won with a similar deficit under Thishan Perera’s captaincy 71-54 in a 17-point big win.
This time around, Royal came all guns blazing right from the opening jump ball and proved threatening at most parts of the opening half: however the lads from the school by the sea played their hearts out in the latter stages as the D. S. Senanayake Cup took the long drive back to Mt. Lavinia for yet another year. Much appreciation should go the Thomian duo Kavindha Ramanayake (66) and Shadrach Seneviratne (31), who were the smallest players in size from both teams but played like giants against much bigger opponents in physicality, and proved everyone what it takes to wear the your college crest in your chest.
After 19 encounters and with this year’s win for the Thomians, the overall tally stands at 12 wins for S. Thomas’ College and 7 wins for Royal College.
U-19 SPECIAL AWARD WINNERS
- Best Offensive Player – Oshada Hettiarachchi (RC)
- Best Offensive Player – Kavindha Ramanayake (STC)
- Most Valuable Player – Yehan Bulathsinghalage (STC)
Results
- Under 19 – S. Thomas’ beat Royal 66-49
- Under 17 – Royal beat S. Thomas’ 45-44
- Under 15 – S. Thomas’ beat Royal 37-26
- Under 13 – Royal beat S. Thomas’ 48-47
- Old Boys – Old Royalists beat Old Thomians 40-29
