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Sri Lanka went into the South Asian Basketball Championship 2017 with high hopes as they gained a silver the last time they participated in 2015. However, they played Bangladesh on the 20th of May in Maldives with the match ending in favour of Bangladesh 90-80 points.
Sri Lanka started the game scoring first through a shooting foul although later on into the game they struggled to get through the defence to attack the rim. The Bangladesh team had the advantage of taking a slight lead at the start of the game, making good use of the opportunities awarded to them at the free shot line. Both teams employed a man to man defence and neither team let up their defence allowing the other to score.
The Bangladesh team had a variety of effective offensive plays they used to confuse the defensive players allowing them to finish strong at the rim. This coupled with the occasional shots from downtown allowed them to maintain a slight lead but the Sri Lankan team wasn’t far behind keeping the deficit low by taking good use of their opportunities at the free shot line as well. Towards the end of the first half, it was clear that both teams were equally matched, taking turns at controlling the game. Bangladesh went into lemons leading by 4.
Half-time: Bangladesh – 50 Sri Lanka- 46
The second half of the game was exhilarating and could have gone either way with the pressure adding on as neither team was able to obtain a substantial lead. Sri Lanka mainly attempted at scoring from jump shots although they had difficulty connecting their shots whilst Bangladesh continued to attack the rim. Once again both teams took turns at taking the lead although it was Bangladesh who got a slightly marginal lead towards the end of the half.
The Sri Lankan team gave Bangladesh a tough fight not giving up at any point and worked to reduce the deficit. The Sri Lankan team came close to turning the game around towards the end reducing the deficit to a mere 3 points but they failed to stop Bangladesh from scoring beyond the perimeter and Bangladesh took a lead of 07. Bangladesh sealed their victory with a buzzer beater 3 pointer ending the game with 90 points.
Full-time: Bangladesh – 90 Sri Lanka – 80
