With one spot remaining in the finals of ThePapare Basketball Championship, it was between St. Joseph’ College and S. Thomas’ College to decide who advances ahead to meet Royal College who had already made it to the finals beating Asian International School(AIS).
The last year’s ThePapare Basketball finalists were S Thomas and St Joseph’s which put up high competition worthy of a final where S. Thomas’ College managed to triumph.
St. Joseph’s College took first possession of the ball and successfully converted it into the first basket of the game. SJC managed to get a couple quick shots during the first few minutes of the quarter by scoring near the baseline. Both teams had opted for a man to man defense closely guarding each player. Although towards the end of the quarter, the Thomians settled down into the game and turned the tables on St. Joseph’s College and took the lead.
First-Quarter: S. Thomas’ College-9 St. Joseph’s College-6
SJC didn’t trail for too long, taking back control of the game through fast breaks. Darley Road lads managed to penetrate the Thomain defense and finish strong near the rim while the Thomians, found it difficult to get through the Josephian defense. SJC players used their size to advantage on both the offense and defense maintaining a strong post defense which the S. Thomas’ players found hard to penetrate and scored only 4 points during the quarter. The Joes secured a comfortable lead during this quarter.
Half-time: S. Thomas’ College-13 St. Joseph’s College-20
The Thomians failed to convert ball possessions to successful scoring opportunities while the Josephians continued to attack the rim and draw fouls for and-one opportunities. Shehan Fernando was the key player to watch for in the SJC line up helping his team get numerous turnovers which were converted to successful fast breaks. SJC managed to retain the lead despite the Thomian effort in reducing the deficit as the latter needed to put a stop to the St. Joseph’s layups if they wanted to turn the tide of the game.
Third-Quarter: S. Thomas’ College-28 St. Joseph’s College-37
S. Thomas’ started the final quarter strong getting in a couple consecutive shots by moving the ball between all their players and spreading the Josephian defense thin to take easy shots. S. Thomas’ capitalized on fast breaks and reduced the deficit slightly and moved up to a full court press to try and gain more ball possessions during the final couple minutes of the game. St. Joseph’s College had exceeded their foul count giving the Thomian players a couple opportunities near the line although they were running out of time to turn the game around. S. Thomas’ managed to get a buzzer beater shot but the deficit created in the second quarter came back to haunt them as the deficit was still largely in play which gave St. Joseph’s victory and a spot in the finals.
Full-time: S. Thomas’ College-45 St. Joseph’s College-55
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