Royal College sealed their semi-final spot bid today defeating Ananda College 54-49 at the final quarter-final match of the U-19 ThePapare Basketball Championship held at the Hendry Pedris basketball court.
The game started off with Ananda getting first possession of the ball from the jump ball and converting it successfully into a shot. A few good passes between the Ananda players allowed them to disrupt the Royal zone defense and score 3 more consecutive baskets giving the Anandians an early lead of 8 points. The Royalists failed to penetrate the Ananda defense and took their chances around the perimeter. Reid Avenue finally scored their first shot from a mid-range jumper 7 minutes into the game and the first quarter came to an end with the Royalists trailing by 09.
First Quarter: Royal– 07 Ananda – 16
The second quarter also began with Ananda being the first to score and they continued to dominate the first few minutes of the match creating opportunities for a pick and roll. The point guard Yeshan Sahasra reading the opponents well and switching up their offensive strategy to maintain the lead, worked the ball around the players attempting to score by feeding the ball to the post player. Royal College finally settled into the game halfway into the quarter getting their first basket and dominating the latter part of the quarter by outscoring the Anandians 14 to 13 points.
Second Quarter: Royal – 21 Ananda – 29
The third quarter began with the Anandians having an opportunity to score through a shooting foul, yet they missed it and ended up scoring first through a fast break. The Royalists seemed to have come in with a new defensive strategy to counter the Ananda offense by switching to a man to man defense which in turn became a half-court press half way into the quarter. What seemed like a victory for Ananda in the first quarter, was foiled by the Royalists as they dominated the quarter scoring 19 points and reducing the deficit.
Third Quarter: Royal– 38 Ananda – 41
Royal came on strong during the fourth quarter, finally driving in and drawing in the fouls and scoring first through a shooting foul. It was a thrilling quarter as both teams took turns at taking the lead and it was impossible to predict the outcome as of this well-contested battle. Royal finally took a comfortable lead of a few baskets close to the end and sealed their victory in the final minute of the game scoring through a fast break and obtaining a comfortable lead of 6 points with 13 seconds to spare leaving Ananda with no hopes of a comeback.
Fourth Quarter: Royal – 54 Ananda – 49
Top Point Scorers:
Rukshan Athapathu – 28 points (Royal College)
Yeshan Sahasra – 23 points (Ananda College)
ThePapare Player of the match: Rukshan Athapathu (Royal College)
The Royal coach had this to say speaking to ThePapare after their victory. “They were both equally matched teams and the Ananda offense was quite good reading our players well and adapting accordingly but we came into the second quarter with a new defensive strategy which seemed to have worked as we won the match.”
The Ananda coach shared his views on their loss with ThePapare as well “It wasn’t a match that was too difficult for us but I think we lost because we missed a few easy passes in the third quarter and our defense wasn’t as good as it should have been.”
