The final third quarter-final of ThePapare Basketball Championship was played for the remaining semi-final spots with AIS and S. Thomas’ College having already secured spots in the top 4. The third quarter finals were played between Royal College and CIS Kandy.
Pre-Match Quotes
Royal College Coach, “We had a small break between the group matches and the quarter-finals which could work both in our favor or against us since the break allows us to heal any injuries and get some rest but it also slows down the momentum of the players, so we will be able to find out today how it has affected us.”
CIS Kandy Coach, “We’re the underdogs of the tournament being the only Kandy team that has made it this far in the tournament and we have a big challenge in front of us but hopefully we can overcome it.”
Match Report
CISK took first possession of the ball and after a couple attempts managed to take the first basket of the game in a one- on-one situation. CISK team had a strong defensive set up near the post although RC had an equally strong man to man defense. CISK managed to secure a few rebounds and trailed close behind RC at the end of the first quarter benefiting from a few opportunities near the line due to the high foul count of RC
First Quarter: Royal College-17 CIS Kandy-13
During the second quarter of the game, RC players got into the momentum of the game capitalizing on fast break opportunities and the post player to increase the deficit. The RC man to man defense seemed to be doing the trick as CISK had a few turnovers of which RC successfully converted into scoring opportunities. During the final few minutes of the quarter, RC players moved up to a full-court press to increase the pressure on CISK and get a comfortable lead going into half-time
Half-time: Royal College-38 CIS Kandy-15
During the third quarter of the game, CISK struggled to get past the RC defense and score baskets only managing to score 8 points while RC scored double that amount during the quarter. The national cap, Rukshan Atapattu was their key player in both offense and defense sinking in shots from downtown while rejecting any offensive attempts made by CISK. At the end of the third quarter as the deficit grew larger it began to seem like a one-sided affair for RC.
Third-Quarter: Royal College-55 CIS Kandy-23
Royal College players dominated the court on both offense and defense giving no room for CISK to make any offensive plays while backing it up with shots from beyond the perimeter to maintain the lead. During the final few minutes of the game CISK finally managed to get a few more baskets over RC during the quarter outscoring them by 8 points although the deficit created in the earlier quarters came back to haunt CISK as they ran out of time to turn the tables on RC losing the game by 24 points.
Royal College won their quarter-final match and is set to face AIS in the semi-finals of ThePapare Basketball Championship 2017.
Full-time: Royal College-66 CIS Kandy-42
Coach of Royal College, Prasanna Jayasinghe, speaking to ThePapare.com after their victory, “It was a good game for us and our players played well with few mistakes but we have a difficult semi-final ahead of us now.”
