The boy’s quarterfinals of ThePapare Basketball Tournament commenced earlier today with Asian International School playing against Lyceum Wattala. AIS got sweet revenge against Lyceum for the loss they faced in the Inter-International tournament, advancing forward with a scoreline of 66-52.
Pre-Match Quotes
Lyceum Wattala Coach: “We’ve won against this team before hopefully if we can play the same game we did that day we can win today as well.”
Asian International Coach: “We’re looking to rectify the mistakes we made at the Inter-International tournament, they do have an advantage on us having a well-experienced team who have excellent chemistry from playing together for a while but hopefully we will be able to overcome all of that.”
Match Report
The AIS players got first possession of the ball and took the first basket of the game. AIS immediately moved into a zone defence and double teamed anyone who tried to penetrate from the center lane reducing the Lyceum offensive opportunities. Although Lyceum had an edge on collecting both offensive and defensive rebounds and managed to take the lead at the end of the first quarter.
First-Quarter: Asian International School-10 Lyceum Wattala- 15
Lyceum didn’t leave any open spaces in their defence for the AIS players to take a secure shot, forcing the AIS players to pass the ball around the perimeter a lot more than they would have liked to. Lyceum managed to maintain the lead until the final couple minutes of the quarter through fast breaks but once the AIS key player settled into the game Arnold Brendt started to turn the tables on Lyceum and took the lead going into lemons.
Half-time: Asian International School-29 Lyceum Wattala- 24
Although Lyceum reduced the distance between the two teams on the scoreboard, the AIS team came into the second half with a better planned offensive strategy giving Arnold Brendt the support he needed to execute his shots better and maintain control of the game. Both teams scored 16 points during the quarter though Lyceum still trailed by 5 at the end of the third quarter failing to tighten their zone defence and stop Brendt’s offensive attempts.
Third-Quarter: Asian International School-45 Lyceum Wattala- 40
During the fourth quarter, the deficit grew larger as the AIS players continued to get jump shot after jump shot with Thurith supporting Brendt near the post on his missed attempts. Lyceum lost the plot on the game during the last few minutes failing to convert ball possessions to successful offensive attempts. AIS outscored Lyceum by an additional 9 points during the quarter securing victory and getting sweet revenge for the loss they faced against Lyceum earlier this week at the finals of the Inter-International tournament.
Full-time: Asian International School-66 Lyceum Wattala- 52
Speaking to the coach of the AIS team after the match he had this to say to ThePapare.com: “We definitely played better today than we did at the Inter-International tournament. We had fewer mistakes and a better defence which allowed us to win the match.”
