At the end of an exciting game against Colombo International School Kandy, Lyceum International School Wattala won 71-57 securing their place in the finals of the Inter-International Basketball Championship against AIS.
CISK was quick to collect the ball from the jump ball start and they successfully converted it to draw first blood from beyond the perimeter. But their glory was short-lived as Lyceum got back into the game taking the lead with a couple shots followed by a shot from downtown. However, CISK did not give up and the teams finished the 1st quarter with the scores tied on 13.
First Quarter: Colombo International School Kandy- 13 Lyceum International School Wattala- 13
Both teams were evenly matched and therefore found it difficult to get through each other’s defenses as it took them a couple attempts at shooting until Lyceum finally got in a basket to score first for the quarter. Lyceum seemed to have finally settled into the game as they started to take control forcing CISK to trail behind them. Lyceum took advantage of the gaps in the CISK defense as they were slow to recover and get back into formation. Sonal from Lyceum scored a couple of shots from downtown to further increase their lead as they went into lemons.
Half time: Colombo International School Kandy 25 Lyceum International School Wattala – 33
CISK capitalized on a bad pass by Lyceum as they scored first in the 3rd quarter but had to make a quick substitution for one of their key players Kiran just as the quarter started due to an injury. Lyceum decided to switch to a man to man defense in this half to try and stop the baskets early on and reduce the jump shots taken. Having realized Kiran’s importance to the CISK offense, he came back into the game but the deficit was too large at this point in the quarter to reduce it by just a substitution as they trailed by 18 heading into the final quarter.
Third Quarter: Colombo International School Kandy – 38 Lyceum International School Wattala – 56
At the start of the final 10 minutes CISK also switched to a man to man defense and began on the offensive as Dinal penetrated the gaps of their opponents’ defense and began to score but the deficit had accumulated and was too large to reduce by this time in the game. CISK did reduce it to a great extent, making best use of the free throws. It all came down to which team had the better defensive side, in this case, it was Lyceum as CISK put up a valiant effort yet it was not enough to secure the victory.
Full Time: Colombo International School Kandy – 59 Lyceum International School Wattala – 71
Speaking to ThePapare the coach of Lyceum Wattala had this to say to “I think we could have performed better compared with the way our practices have been going especially considering the fact that our team has 2 national players but anyway we are looking forward to the finals. Hope to perform better there.”
