The second match of the sixth day of the Carlton Cup – 2014 was held at the Hendry Pedris Basketball Complex between Sri-Lankan Navy SC and HSC Blacks. Both the teams losing their first match of the season was in hunger for victory and was glad to be back on the winning road. When the clock ran down concluding four passages of plays the mighty seamen sailed away with victory leaving behind the home team HSC Blacks. At full time scoreboard read in favour SLN SC 74 – 60.
With the clock striking twenty minutes past eight the ball was handed over to the sky to let any of the hand get the first touch of it. Though the navy finger tips touched the ball the first look of offense was gained by the home team where Khanishka Sulakkana started troubling the scorers by bagging the first points of the game inside the first minute with a soft touch off the board. The equaliser from the seamen was right up the sleeve when Jayamaha took off a mid-range jump shot.
Both teams settled down to the game in a commendable manner. Navy SC focused mainly on the set pieces of the game while the home team was running the long pass down for fast breaks. Both teams contained players with commendable height but Navy SC was the better side tonight in height. Both the teams opted for sagging man to man defence during the first phase of the game. With just three and half minutes to run down in the first quarter Navy SC point guard Sitharshana scored off a soft touch finger-roll off the board when he made the defender just a mere spectator with his roll-off where he scored two points and an addition of three points was followed when Nerranja Civijic swished the nets from downtown to increase the lead up to five points. The shots off the paint showed a higher percentage on the sailors side which made the exact difference between the two teams and helped the Navy SC to gain territory of the game when the whistle concluded the first ten minutes.
(First Quarter – Sri Lanka Navy SC -15 HSC Blacks – 09)
With the experience of the first ten minutes the defence of the home team adjusted according to set pieces as the visitors were mainly focusing on It but after the two minute break the visitors changed their strategies and started passing wide across the court which scattered the home team defence and they showed poor signs of transition between offence to defence. Navy SC drawing fouls this quarter helped them to increase the lead when Perera converted his two free throws into two points. With five minutes passed on the clock Navy SC led the game 25-17.The rebounding percentage of the home team was considerably on a low rate considering to the first few minutes of the game. Due to the poor defensive awareness of the home team the game was led into an eight point lead over them. With two minutes to run down seamen led the game 32-24 and the mid-air jumper by Nerranja Civijic increased the lead in to ten points and also he himself swished nets in the next possession from downtown for three points to increase the lead up to thirteen points with another minute and a half to run down. HSC Blacks being the under dogs this quarter led the game slip away which was a really crucial as the Navy SC capitalised on this lead during the latter part of the game which was turning point of the game.
(Half time – Sri Lanka Navy -39 HSC Blacks – 26)
Both the teams showed high intensity in the game in both offensive and defensive aspects of the game. With already two minutes down the clock both the teams were passing and defending their halves not letting either of the sides to take a look at the basket. Nerranja Civijic broke of the zero-zero run for the two minutes and scored off from the paint to increase the lead by fifteen points. Perara scored off another two points for the sailors and they carried on the four-zero run for another four minutes which made six minutes of the clock to run down and the home team yet couldn`t score a point for the second half. Khanishaka Sulakkana finally scored off a fast break to break the momentum of the seamen. Though the home team settled down to the game during the first few minutes of the game with the momentum change of the visitors the game was slowly slipping away from their hands. But with the foundation the visitors built during the second quarter helped them to live up to the game at ease.
(Third Quarter – Sri Lanka Navy – 58 HSC Blacks – 45)
The home team was in need of a mighty comeback and Nponsus provided it right at the start of the quarter with a straight look at the basket when he reduced the lead just to eleven points. Nerranja Civijic came right back with an equaliser jump shot off the paint to increase and secure the lead by thirteen points but Nposus followed it with a baseline layup on the right side of the court to reduce the lead up to eleven points again. The HSC blacks should have used the height advantage of the two post players but the ball wasn`t moved around instead always stayed in the hands of the point guard and the forwards. On the contrary the seamen were using their height advantage to its maximum when they fed the ball into the deep. The boxing out and rebounding technique that was used by the visitors during the final stretch helped them to secure the lead and march towards a combatable victory. Though Dhammika Perera came back with three pointers to reduce the lead with just few seconds to run down he wasn`t able to close down the gap that they let open during the second quarter which clearly states that it was the turning point of the game. Nerranja Cicvjic taking his last look at the basket as the final shot sailed away the game in style leaving the home team behind when the clock ran out.
(Full time – Sri Lanka Navy – 74 HSC Blacks – 60)
