The twenty fourth match of the Carlton Basketball Championship 2014 was played yesterday between Sri Lanka Navy BC vs. Colombo BC. Both the teams stepping into the field with a victory each in the previous encounters were greedy for a win as they battled themselves tightly for forty minutes.
Sri Lanka Navy BC edged out Colombo BC 71-63 at full time.
The maiden ten minutes of the game commenced when Gayan Croos won the jump ball for the Colombo lads, but was immediately stolen by Nerranja Civijic. Sailors having the early lead in the game maintained a five-zero run until Harshadeva Silva shot off a mid- range jumper by the assist of Gayan Croos.
Both the teams were equally matched up with height and pace which made the forty minutes a tight ball game. The rebounding came in handy for both teams as the Sri Lanka Navy BC etched out forty eight rebounds while Colombo BC etched out forty three rebounds during the forty minutes of play. Nerranja Civijic building on the foundation for a scoring rampage made most of his shots which swished the nets at ease to give an early lead of twelve points to the sailors. The Colombo lads only gained the privilege to score eight points during the first quarter hence the scoreboard read 20-08.
The Colombo BC settled their nerves and into the game when they scored seventeen points during the second quarter of the match to close down the deficit. Seamen capitalising on the early lead they gained, managed to hold the game in their hands by scoring fifteen points in reply. Unforced errors are common in any format and as it is both the teams were equally matched in committing and rectifying them. Colombo BC committed fourteen turnovers of which eleven of them were turned into points at the other end by the sailors. Colombo BC scored points from twelve turnovers out of the thirteen turnovers that Navy made. Sri Lanka Navy BC held a low free throw percentage of 48% when twelve of their attempts were successful out of the twenty eight chances they gained. Colombo BC maintaining a high free throw percentage of 67% converted ten of them into points out of the fifteen chances they gained. The game was called off for lemons when the sailors led by ten points.
(Half time – Sri Lanka Navy BC – 35 Colombo BC – 25)
It was anyone`s game to take back home as both the teams were settled in and were playing good minutes of basketball with minimum mistakes. Nerranja Civijic doing his job to perfection scored twenty one points during the forty minutes of play which was indeed the difference. Janko Belic scored nineteen points for Colombo BC which helped them to fight back over a heavy shower of offence by the sailors. Shots from downtown were not of the best choice by both the sides as the sailors could only score five three pointers out of twenty two attempts and Colombo BC only scored five out of eighteen attempts.
The third quarter relieved the hopes of the Colombo BC supporters when they scored eighteen points and Navy BC could only score fourteen in return. Yet, capitalising on the early lead sailors closed down the quarter with a six point a lead.
Both the teams were given a final stretch of ten minutes in order to clinch the game into their hands. Both the teams living up to the task played some breath-taking minutes of basketball during the entire quarter. Sri Lanka Navy BC shot off forty points in the paint while Colombo BC could only manage to score thirty six points. Navy had nineteen second chance points while Colombo BC enjoyed twenty one. But the deficit in the points from paint and the difficulty in closing down the early lead was the factor which led the sailors to edge out the game. The Seamen scored twenty two points during the final stretch while the Colombo lads scored twenty. After a game that went right down to the wire Sri Lanka Navy BC managed to hold the shift of the game and it helped them to lead the points table.
(Full time – Sri Lanka Navy BC – 71 Colombo BC- 63)
