The twenty second match of the Carlton Basketball Championships 2014 was played yesterday between Sri Lanka Navy BC and Old Bens BC. Sailors sail away smoothly with a win when Old Bens BC failed to resist the ambush. The scoreboard read in favour of Sri Lanka Navy BC as full time 90-37.
It was much needed victory for Old Bens BC to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. Stepping on to the floor with a positive mind set Zygmnates Kurupukis drew first blood of the game by converting the free shots into points off the first shooting foul of the game. After the possession the scoreboard stood 2-0 for four minutes of the game when both the teams were rejected by the hoop poor shot selection. During the fifth minute of the game, the seamen squared the 2-2 by shooting off the line. After squaring the scoreboard the sailors settled themselves right in to the game to build on the foundation of scoring rampage. Back to back three pointers from Dhanuka Dasssanyake increased the lead and the Old Bens defence was clueless on how to adopt for the game situation. Nerranja Civijic slammed down a buzzer beater and helped the sailors to lead the quarter 23-06.
Though Zygmantes Kurupukis drew first blood of the game, the usual performance was hidden away which was indeed a huge blow for the outfit. He had to spend his minutes on the bench and it witnessed a drawback of rebounds for the Old Bens BC which Navy took as an advantage during the second quarter. The second quarter was a tight quarter where both the teams scored seventeen points each for their respective teams. Nerranja Civijivc played the anchor role for the sailors while Clinton Thevakumar handled the floor for the Old Bens BC. Old Bens BC closed down the deficit on a reasonable account but Navy BC capitalising on the early lead retained the control of the game for lemons.
(Half time – Sri Lanka Navy BC – 39 Old Bens BC – 23)
The second phase was expected to be of tight game situations with Old Bens BC adopting them into the game. Yet, proving everyone`s expectations wrong sailors took the opposition by surprise when they scored twenty seven points in the quarter and Old Bens BC could only score ten points in reply. The seamen changing their strategies this quarter focused more on fast breaks than set pieces of the game with the advantage of all the pace men in their outfit. Old Bens BC failing to adapt to the situation could not intercept the long passes that ran wide across the floor. Due to bad play in defence they took a considerable time too transfer from defence to offence which then made the Navy BC to settle themselves in defence to protect the points they scored at the other end.
The final ten minutes of the match commenced with thirty-four point Navy lead which indeed made proved the fact that Old Bens BC had to pull a rabbit out of the hat to seal the game within ten minutes. Navy BC continuing in the same strategy scored twenty three points in this quarter and Old Bens BC only scored four points. Rebounds came in handy for Navy as in both offensive and defensive ends which only paved the way to more offensive plays. With Zygmantes Kurupukis out on the bench and Shehan Udyanaga and Shalin Casiechetty failing to etch rebounds, the game sailed away smoothly towards victory with a lead of fifty-three points at the end of forty minutes.
(Full time – Sri Lanka Navy BC – 90 Old Bens BC – 37)
