Winning the jump-ball off to a healthy start were the HSC Blacks. Following K keyser, T. Nithushan was the one to get the Blacks on the score board first: not with 2 points but with 4 points with a follow up two pointers by Nithushan himself.
Though late in action, the Blues had a more glorious start with a three pointer by N. Wickramarathne. This pattern followed for while- the Blacks were the first to score but the Blues followed up soon after. By the sixth minute of the game the Blues were finally able to lead for the first time through a three pointer made by D. Perera. Though the gap did not improve since then, the Blues were always able to manage the points in their favor throughout the first quarter, reaching a 15-16 at the end.
The second quarter was very advantageous for the Blues. Not only were they the first to score a basket in the second quarter but they were able to do so with a three pointer. A Sidhath and M Fawhan followed this spell making the point gap reach 10 in the favor of the Blues while the Blacks were struggling to score a single basket. Picking up from that point the Blacks could not turn around the game in the second quarter, if anything they were fighting to at least settle the scores. Finally the second quarter too was a win for the Blues: 26 -32.
The third quarter was a mixture of the two previous quarters. By now the Blues were not having the same efficiency with three pointers either. Missing Fawshan’s 3 pointer they had to settle for a 2 point shot by Sidath to kick-in the third quarter. They were not the only team to lose the previous accuracy; so were the opponents. Blacks were giving out fouls and were not managing the tension properly. They had 8 fouls reported under their name compared to the 5 by Blues by the end of the play. Ultimately this was the cause they lost control of their game. The third quarter was a much obvious win to the Blues: 39-49.
The final quarter was an almost game changer for the Blacks. They were really good, but unfortunately not good enough. Though the Blues were initially able to take the 10 point gap up to a 14, the blacks made a huge comeback from that point. With 8 seconds to the end the Blacks were just 2 points behind the Blues. Unfortunately the overly intensified Blacks gave away a foul in the last minute driving away their victory. The game wrapped up at 61 -65 with HSC Blues winning the title.
