The twenty forth match of the Carlton Basketball Championships 2014 was played between HSC Blues BC and Avant Garde BC today in the middle of a full house. The home team stepping into the floor as the defending champions proved their legacy when they blew out the Avant Garde BC with a victory of twenty two points.
The scoreboard read 69-47 at full time.
Both teams stepped on to the floor with recorded victories during the previous encounters. With Sri Lanka Navy BC on a winning course it was an important game for both the sides in order to secure their position in the playoff`s commencing next week.
Christoper Imotsikeme winning the jump ball passed on to Chamath Dhanawamsa to get the scoreboard ticking but he failed the shot and it was rebounded by Mithila Abeysekara for the home team. It was tight ball game witnessed during the first quarter by both the teams playing into each other’s pros and cons. Christoper Imotsikeme drew first blood later on the quarter but Roshan Randima squared the game 4-4 in the third minute of the game. There were no fast breaks to be witnessed since the start of the game as both the teams did enjoy good post players who were able to block the shots. Set pieces were given prominence and unforced errors were caused by both the sides during the first quarter. The home team concluded the quarter with one point lead when the whistle blew.
Avant Garde BC experienced a nightmare in shooting when the hoop rejected all of the twenty two three point attempts they made which was clearly an advantage for the home team. Philip Vukosarljevic played twenty nine minutes and could only maintain a 32% field goal percentage when he managed to swish six out of nineteen attempts on the floor. Rebounding was not one of the assets that the visitors held this day as the home team led the rebound aspect. Mark Latnovic etching twenty two rebounds in the game halted many set pieces for the visitors and created an equal amount of set pieces for the home team. HSC Blues BC scored seventeen points during the second quarter where the Avant Garde BC only scored eleven points in reply for that. The game was halted for lemons when the home team led the game by seven points.
(Half time – Avant Garde BC – 24 HSC Blues BC – 31)
The second phase started off with many mistakes to rectify from the visitors outfit. But the ball handling and the passing of the Avant Garde BC was not in best of the condition as they committed twenty seven turnovers and fourteen of them were bought into full value when the home team converted them into points at the other end. The extra points given way helped the home team to build up the foundation for a solid victory. Nerves pumping with confidence Mark Latonvic took his chances at the basket and scored twenty six points throughout the game and he was the highest scorer for his outfit and among the two teams. The defence of the home team was going through a rough patch when the home lads scored twenty points in the third quarter and the offence of the visitors managed to reply with only seven points.
The final ten minutes of the game commenced when the home team held control of the game with twenty points and the scoreboard read in favour of them 51-31. It was not one of the usual performances by Avant Garde BC since as a team they only managed to maintain a 25% field goal percentage when only sixteen shots out of sixty three attempts were converted into points. The rebounds coming in handy for the home team paved the way for them to score twenty seven second chance points throughout the game while Avant Garde BC only scored ten second chance points. HSC Blues BC passing the ball around created play after play when they shared eighteen assists among the team-mates. HSC Blues BC as whole etched up fifty two rebounds throughout the game while the visitors had to satisfy themselves with forty rebounds. The book reversing its pages for Avant Garde BC paved the way to the defending champions to walk away with pride over a handsome victory.
(Full time – Avant Garde BC – 47 HSC Blues BC – 69)
