D.S Senanayake College Colombo emerged victorious over Dharmashoka Vidyalaya in the SLBA U-19 Schools tournament match that was played yesterday at the St Joseph’s College courts. The scoreboard read 52-48 in favor of the Senanayakans.
Senanayakans with a chance to surprise an action packed Sunday morning crowd were on song when Dasun Nilantha opened the score sheets for Dharmashoka. Kalana Madubashana got the party started for D.S and both teams were consistent in their defense during the first quarter. The score read 12- 11 favoring the lads from D.S at the end of the maiden quarter.
Dasun from Dharmashoka maintained his good form in the second quarter, didn’t allow the lads from D.S to keep the scoreboard running with some exceptional defensive skills. He also made quite an impression by scoring seven points in the quarter giving an all-round performance.However Kalana from D.S did what he does best praying for open space beyond the 3-point area, shimmying with the dribble, bouncing the ball behind his back, stepping back and letting go to score eleven points to keep them in the game. The lads from Down South managed to have a slight lead against the Senanayakans, the score was 31 – 25 as the game was called off for lemons.
Both the teams came back strong in the third quarter of the match equally good with their offence and defense which ended up scoring twelve points each by the end of the third quarter.
Senanayakans needed something special in the final quarter and Kalana delivered an amazing three pointer to kick off the final and crucial ten minutes of the match reversing the momentum where Sachintha Jayathillake also joined the party by scoring two eye pleasing back to back three pointers grabbing the match away from the underdogs in the last few minutes of the match.
The Amabanlangoda lads were under pressure for the first time in the match and were only able to score five points in the last quarter.
Full time – D.S Senanayake College – 52, Dharmashoka Vidyalaya – 48
ThePapare.com player of the match – Kalana Madubashana (D.S Senanayake College)
