The First match of the sixth day of the Carlton Cup-2014 was held at the Hendry Pedris Basketball Court between Sri Lanka Air Force and Sri Lanka Under -18 Youth Team. Air women had to undergo the spectators curse when the youth team diminished all their hopes and etched the winning mark dismantling the experience side when the clock ran out. At full time score board read in favour of Sri Lanka U18 Youth Team 64-52.
With the clock striking forty minutes past six the ball was thrown up on to the air for the traditional jump ball start. Though the youth side gained the possession off the tap of the air-women they failed at their first attempt in ticking the scoreboard. SLAF gaining their first look at the offense drew first blood just inside the first minute of the game when Handuni Munasinghe took off a mid-air jumper which swished the net for the early two points. The youth skipper Imesha Thathsarani came back with the equaliser right after with a same calibre of shot. SLAF was clearly spectated as the better side of the game with height advantage and the experience they held within themselves. Manthika Gallassage`s quick hustle to the ball earned a score-off turnover to the youth side with a fastbreak which they succeeded with a layup off the board but back to back mid-range jump shots from SLAF secured the lead and levelled the scoreboard. Though both the teams depicted signs of settling down SLAF showed poor charisma in their outfit when they failed to grab both offensive and defensive rebounds which helped the youth team step into steady start and gain confidence for the rest of the minutes. In-confident passing by the airwomen led to another score-off turnover which increased the lead in to four points over them with just a few more minutes left for the first quarter.
The youth side settled themselves in for the fundamentals of the game grabbing almost all the offensive rebounds which helped them to lead the first quarter by seven points.
(First quarter- Sri Lanka Air force – 11 Sri Lanka under-18 youth team– 18)
The airwomen having the height advantage over the youth side had to make sure that their post players were fed with the ball to reduce the lead and to gain control of the game but the sagging man to man defence by the youth side was reducing the space and the opportunities for post players. Erandi Gallage played good minutes of basketball and she started off her look at the game when she reduced the lead for the airwomen in to five points when she scored the first shot for the second quarter through a post isolation play. Yasara Siriwardhana the point guard for the youth side was right at her game creating plays after plays and assisting the rest of the on court players to make their shots. With under four minutes to run down in the clock Erandi Gallage collected the dirt ball off an offensive rebound and reduced the lead up to two points when their coach called off for a time-out. Even after the timeout SLAF never depicted signs of settling down in both defensive and offensive aspects when the youth team increased their lead up to six points with post-isolation plays and back to back fastbreaks. With pressure mounting right up the sleeve of airwomen unforced errors came into play and the basics of the game were let down by the SLAF when they failed to score two freethrows off a foul called with just thirty seconds to run down to end the first half. The energetic young lads gaining the better of it bid farewell to the first half with a lead of six points.
(First Half – Sri Lanka Air force – 25 Sri Lanka under -18 youth team – 31)
Though the doctor prescribed the cure for airwomen they continued the same sight of pity play when they yet again failed to grab rebounds which was deciding factor of the game. It was all around good ball movement by the youth team which gained Sasanthi Nirma the chance for a low post layup where she increased the lead by eight points by bagging the first points in the third quarter. The man to man defence by the youth team was not letting the nerves of the airwomen to settle down when they went on a scoring rampage which increased their lead up to elven points. Dilini Maheesha swished the nets from a jumper which was shot downtown to three points which reduced the lead to nine points for SLAF. Pressure playing its part in the minds of the experience campaigners let the young lads to govern the game when SLAF missed two under-the-basket shots which was indeed a pity sight to witness. Swarnga Fernando of the youth team with using her height as advantage started drawing fouls from the opposite team when she was always fed with the ball but she failed to capitalise on the chance given when she failed to convert them into points and convert the and-one`s. SLAF taking their chances off the unforced error by the youth team reduced the deficit in to just five points making a comeback reliving the hopes of the supporters. The strong foundation built by the young lads on the earlier minutes still helped to retain the game in their hands at the end of the third quarter.
(Third quarter – Sri Lanka Air force – 39 Sri Lanka under-18 youth team – 44)
With the lead reducing into five points it was anyone`s game to take back home when the final ten minutes commenced off the whistle. The SLAF skipper got the scoreboard ticking and reduced the lead just to two points when she shot off a set shot to start the final stretch. Defensive rebounds were piling up on the sleeves of the airwomen when compared to the rest of the quarters yet they took a considerable time in transition from offence to defence and defence to offence which helped the youth team to work on their set pieced of the game and to run down the long passes across the ends for fastbreaks to score points. Hence, back to back fastbreaks followed by the youth team helped to increase the lead up again to seven points which took the game off the hands of the airwomen. A commendable passage of offence wasn`t bought into limelight by the SLAF during the final stretch of the play. With just one minute and thirty seconds to run down Imesha Thathsarani converted her freethrows into points which increased the lead up to thirteen points. Though Hadnduni Munasinghe swished the nets from the line for one point and reduced the lead up to twelve points the clock was not in their favour. Daggering the hearts of the supporters airwomen flew back with tears of defeat suffered against a youth side which indeed deserved a round of applause for their breath taking performance.
(Full time –Sri Lanka Air Force – 52 Sri Lanka under-18 youth team – 64)
