ThePapare Basketball Championship 2018 (TPBC18), commenced its boys’ preliminary stages with the matches in Group “A” being played at the Royal College Basketball Complex. Hosts, Royal College and Lyceum International School – Nugegoda recorded wins on day one.
Royal College (RC) vs St. Michael’s College-Batticaloa (SMC)
From the tip-off it was a quite strong start for both teams as they got the scoreboard ticking. RC with a height advantage managed to make more rebounds and increased the tempo of the game going into the lead.
Photos: TPBC18 | Royal College v St. Michael’s College – Batticaloa
But SMC caught up and reduced the deficit to a point, as the misplaced passes from RC were turned into points on the Batticaloa end. RC made amends and built on the lead once again, going up by 5 points later in the quarter.
RC adjusted their game plan to be more efficient in offense during the 2nd quarter. Implementing a few isolations, pick and roll and screens RC found the net regularly and increased the lead to 14 points at halftime.
Half time: Royal College-32 St. Michael’s College – Batticaloa-18
SMC changing tactics, switched on to a full court press at the start of the second half. Pressurising the opposition and getting some steals and converting them into points, SMC cut the lead to 2 points with the scores reading 38-40.
Later into the quarter, SMC pushed back to a zonal defence. RC used it as an advantage to run some plays and score more, winning by 8 points.
Full time: Royal College- 66 St. Michael’s College – Batticaloa-58
The Head Coach of RC Prasanna Jayasinghe speaking to ThePapare.com said “St. Michael’s College – Batticaloa’s speed was tough to catch up on because they were aggressive and passed quicker, but we had the advantage of having taller players so we used that against them. We also had better ball controllers thus running some isolation plays and getting more rebounds helped us to win the game”.
Top Scorers
- Royal College – Nelaka Upasena – 14 points
- St. Michael’s College – Shethu-21 points.
Lyceum International School – Nugegoda (LISN) v Colombo International School (CIS)
LISN started the game strong with some bad passes coming from CIS. LISN took full advantage and although the CIS lads settled down into the game, LISN took a 8-11 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
CIS did cut back the lead to a point at the start of the second quarter, but LISN swung the momentum back in their favour by improving their defence, increasing the lead to 9 points at the end of the first half.
Photos: TPBC18 | Lyceum International School – Nugegoda v Colombo International School
Half time: Lyceum International School Nugegoda -27 Colombo International School – 18
LISN continued the same offensive plan while CIS opted for a full court press in the 2nd half. LISN outsmarted the opposition defence with quick passes which helped them to lead the game by 15 points going into the final quarter.
CIS continued to score with odd plays but never had the opportunity to keep up with LISN. The lead in the penultimate quarter helped LISN to ease through to a win.
Full time: Lyceum International School Nugegoda- 60 Colombo International School- 47
The Captain of LISN Dinith speaking to ThePapare.com said “They gave good fight in the beginning of the game but we made some changes in our game plan both in defence and offense which worked and helped us to come away with the victory.”
Top Scorers
- Lyceum International School- Arshad – 16 points.
- Colombo International School- Thahir Ismail – 14 points.
