The third and the final day of the 51st senior National Basketball Championship men level II got underway at the Gateway College Kandy court today. While the first semi-final was between Puttalam and Kurunegala Kandy took on the Southern district in the second semi-final.
Kandy played their best game so far in the tournament in this game. They won the game 69 points to 54 points
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Kandy took the ball from the jump ball and from then on they never looked back again. They got some free throwers to get some easy points first up. Southern District however scored brilliant 3 pointers to get on the board. Six points weren’t a great lead to defend but that was enough to hold-off pressure.
First Quarter: Kandy District BA (18) – (12) Southern District BA
Kandy extended the lead early but the Southerner were the better side in the second quarter. The 3 pointers all went in and they penetrated the defense very easily. Southern district showed their experience in the defense and they pulled of some dummies to score. Kandy were just thrown off their game for a couple of minutes but slowly got their act together and kept their lead intact. At half time Kandy lead by 7 points which was better than the first half lead.
Half-time: Kandy District BA (34) – (27) Southern District BA
Kandy extended themselves rather comprehensively in the third quarter giving away hardly any chances for the southern team to execute their plans. Southern tried the one on one defense strategy which didn’t work because Kandy broke away and scored through intercepts and stolen balls. Southern District tried to put through 3 pointers like they did in the first half but were off target by a huge margin. Kandy extended their lead and ran away with the game at the end of the third quarter.
Third Quarter: Kandy District BA (52) – (39) Southern District BA
Kandy got into the final with ease accumulating points at will and with ease. Southern District had no clue to what had hit them in the fourth quarter. The one on one defense was penetrated rather easily by the attacking players of the Kandy team. It was too late when Southern district switched to their normal 3 on 2 defensive strategies. Kandy had already taken the game away from them and they had no way of making a comeback.
Full-time: Kandy District BA (69) – (54) Southern District BA
Speaking to the captain of Kandy District coach after their win he shared his views with representatives of ThePapare: ‘we will go down to Colombo and win the final there because we are in form right now and we have been playing as a team together for a long time so we knew each other well.’
