The fifteenth game of the season was played today between Colombo Basketball Club and Old Bens Basketball Club at Hendry Pediris Basketball Complex. Old Bens BC dreaming a nightmare in their offensive aspect of the game walked away with a nine point defeat over Colombo BC. At full time the scoreboard read in favour of Colombo BC 64-55.
The ball game commenced when Zygimantes Kurupskis drew first blood off an assist from Asanga Perera to get the early lead on the Old Bens BC just inside the first minute. Roshan Fernando squared the game right back on the next possession with the assist dished by Janko Belic. Though the Old Bens had a good first phase in defence they could not carry out the same in the offensive aspect of the game. Steals and blocking of the shots came in good sight but converting them into points on the other end was on bad sight. Hence, without much effort the Colombo lads gained the advantage of it and led the game. Sudesh Ahamed did not play his usual game during the first few minutes but had a fair bit of luck when shooting the ball from the line which increased the lead up to eleven points. The buzzer beater from Roshan Fernando took the lead out of reach from Old Bens BC when the whistle concluded the first quarter while Colombo BC enjoyed a thirteen point lead.
The final ten minutes before lemons commenced with a lead to close down for the Old Bens BC. Both the teams held the ball tight which resulted a zero-zero run during the first few minutes of the second quarter. The nightmare in offense continued for the Old Bens BC as they failed to swish the nets with the ball they earned off good defensive moves. Sudesh Ahmed was substituted and he had to spend his minutes on the bench as he failed to grab the rebounds today as he used to do to the outfit. Colombo BC led the game 16-25 with four minutes to go down in the clock. Old Bens BC did give their best attempt in getting the offense right when they started to draw fouls by penetrating into the defence. But conversions of them did not favour the scoreboard as they failed many out of many attempts. Colombo BC capitalising on the early lead closed down the game for lemons with a nine point lead comfortably.
(Half time – Colombo Basketball Club – 31 Old Bens Basketball Club -22)
The six-zero run in the start of the second half of the game marked the comeback of the Old Bens into the game finally when they seemed to have found touch in the offense. Old Bens started passing the ball wide across the floor and the fast-break from Shehan Udayanga reduced the lead up to three points and the free throws shot by Clinton Thevakumar levelled the scoreboard predicting a nail biting victory. Good hustle for the ball was depicted by the Old Bens BC throughout the game which indeed helped them to survive a good attack of offense by the Colombo BC. Zygimantes Krupukis did not play his usual game of basketball which was a huge blow to the outfit. Clinton Thevakumar being the silent assassin of the game managed to keep the control of the game when their defence was leaking points on the end. Third quarter ended with Praveen Ganlath`s free shot which squared the game 41-41.
Sudesh Ahamed started off the final ten minutes of the game by getting the lead back on the Colombo BC off a un-sportsmanship foul committed by Asanga Perera. Clinton Thevakumar who always pulls rat out of the hat swished the nets with two back to back three pointers which gave the game back to the hands of the Old Bens BC. Unforced errors by Old Bens BC led them to a sloppy offense once again which resulted turnovers and they were converted into points by Colombo lads at the other end. Shots from downtown by Gayan Croos and Janko Belic increased the lead up to thirteen points which was the point where the game was fisted by the Colombo lads. Releasing the pressure off the sleeves they halted the pace of the game and ran down the clock. Though Clinton Thevakumar and Joyce Sella swished the nets after, the game time was not in favour of them. The shots from downtown decided that Colombo BC should be victorious tonight.
(Full time – Colombo Basketball Club – 64 Old Bens Basketball Club – 55)
