The HSC Blacks versus Moratuwa was one of the most decent games of all time – with hardly any fouls recorded and only one time out for all four quarters.
On to the cons, the game had a very pale outlook. Being the first game of the day played at 6 in the evening, the lighting conditions too contributed to the dullness of the atmosphere.
Moratuwa playing soon after a loss against HSC blues were precaution from the start. However, Shanmugaralindam was able to win the jumpball for HSC Blacks. Making a huge comeback from this point, S De Mel was able to shoot two consecutive three pointers for Moratuwa. But the lead was short lived while G. Sankhapala and T Nicholas recovered the point loss.The first quarter was a giant win for the HSC Blacks at 15 – 6. Yet in a fans perspective the Moratuwa’s 6 points were perfect baskets.
The first few baskets came in handy for the Moratuwa folks. Even the second quarter opening was a three pointer, but this time by F. Mohammed. Moratuwa was able to drop down the point difference from 9 to 2 within a couple of minutes. This turned over with new substitutions from HSC Blacks who soon realized the game was turning against them. This brought back the glory with doubling down on the point difference to that of the first quarter with blacks at 35 while Moratuwa struggling at 19. The time limit prevented a near 3 pointer off a turnover travel from Moratuwa which might have furthered the point difference.
The third quarter did not drive any optimism to the Moratuwa supporters. Picking from already a huge point margin of 16 points, situation deteriorated: the difference went upto 22 points. 54 – 32 were the final scores of the third quarter. Though on a percentage Moratuwa was good at achieving the three pointers, the long shots did not work in their favor most of the time. Blacks keeping an eye on the shooters further made it impossible to gun for the big points. The overall backlashes worked the decrease in the point gain for Moratuwa.
The final quarter was filled with gaming customs – substitutions and a time out. This also hindered the point progress of both the teams. The winning blacks were able to make only two two-pointers and a three pointer for the whole quarter. Moratuwa had already lost faith in the game by now. It was a the exhaustion of the players that killed the gaming experience; being a hot day regardless of the fact that it was evening hours.
