At the end of another day in the Mercantile Basketball League, WNS and DFCC took honours as they faced off against Aitken Spence and Dialog Axiata respectively.
Peoples Team of the MSBA League 2017 – Vote
The 27th Edition of the Mercantile Basketball League will commence during the third week of June…
Dialog vs DFCC (A Division)
DFCC drew first blood as they scored from downtown moments after securing the ball from the jump ball. Throughout the game, DFCC showed a preference to taking shots from beyond the perimeter and a majority of these attempts were quite successful. Early on in the half, DFCC employed a half court press which Dialog struggled to penetrate through. However, during the first half DFCC lost track of the foul count giving Dialog a few shots at the line. During the latter part of the half DFCC lost a crucial player due to an injury but managed to hold on to the marginal lead they had going into lemons. Dialog who are fresh into the A division gave DFCC a good fight during the first half.
Half-time: DFCC-29 Dialog-26
During the second half, DFCC stuck to what they were comfortable with which was taking shots from downtown and they managed to increase the deficit. However, Dialog wasn’t far behind, managing to trail closely behind halfway into the half. They had opted for a man to man defense as well to try and limit the long range shots being taken. Towards the latter part of the half DFCC lost yet another player to an injury however Dialog lost the plot on their shooting and DFCC took a fairly substantial lead allowing them to secure a victory.
Half-time: DFCC-70 Dialog-48
Speaking to the coach of DFCC after their victory, he had this to say to ThePapare: “It took the team some time to warm up and get into the game as we made too many mistakes and committed too many fouls in the first half but we corrected most of those mistakes going into the second half of the game. The players settled down in the second half and improved their defence and rebounds which allowed us to win the game.”
Photo Album – 27th Mercantile Basketball League
WNS vs Aitken Spence (E Division)
After a few missed attempts from both teams, WNS was the first to score a basket. WNS had an advantage with regard to speed which helped them to score through fast breaks and intercept the ball more often. Throughout the half, both teams struggled to make their shots count. The Aitken Spence defence was slow to recover after an offensive play and their players were all over the place without proper formation, allowing WNS to score more than their opponents and take a lead. Moreover, the superior rebounding skills of WNS also helped them get a significant lead as they went into lemons leading by 13 points.
Half-time: WNS-25 Aitken Spence-12
During the second half, it was apparent that the game was to be a one sided affair with WNS dominating. WNS switched to a full court press from their zone defence in the second half to make the most of the Aitken Spence mistakes and to try and increase the deficit as much as possible. Although WNS made their fair share of mistakes as well the deficit was far too large for Aitken Spence to turn the tables as WNS took an easy victory.
Full-time: WNS-55 Aitken Spence- 17
The coach of the winning team Kishan Jayathunga had this to say to ThePapare after the match: “I feel that our opponents had a well-balanced team but failed to identify our mistakes which were plentiful which is what allowed us to win today, although we are hoping to fix those mistakes by the next match and perform better.”
