Lyceum played against AIS last evening at the Gateway College basketball court in the consolation finals to decide the third place of the Sri Lanka Schools under 17 ‘A’ division Basketball Championship. After Lyceum lost to Gateway and AIS lost to St. Joseph’s earlier during the semi-finals, it was between these 2 schools to decide who the second runner up of the tournament will be.
Pre Match Quotes
Speaking to the AIS coach before the match he had this to say to ThePapare.com: “We’re all still a little sad about our loss the day before and we’re playing with 3 injured players and it’s not going to be an easy game. Lyceum has a tough defence and we have to give our A game. During the first half, we can observe their game strategy and change ours accordingly in the second half.”
The Lyceum coach shared his thoughts on the match as well and had this to say: “We’re going to play it by ear and see what our opponents bring to the court and hopefully we won’t make the same mistakes we did in the semi-finals.”
Match Report
Both teams struggled to get the first basket, faced with tough defensive sides. Both teams had opted for a zone defence. Little ways into the quarter, AIS drew first blood off a mid-range jumper. The two teams had very different offensive preferences while AIS took more jump shots, Lyceum preferred to finish near the rim. The Lyceum players were better at beating the defence and making their shots sure and thus they had a slight edge by the end of the quarter
First-Quarter : AIS – 12 : Lyceum Nugegoda – 14
As the second quarter began AIS switched their defensive strategy to a man to man defence although their inability to collect offensive rebounds meant that they missed out on many scoring opportunities, but this was partly due to the extremely tight defence Lyceum had near the post having positioned almost 3 players under the basket at all times. Although it wasn’t the case with the AIS defence as Lyceum strolled past the defenders to finish strong near the rim. Although it was a close half and AIS kept up it was Lyceum who took the lead going into lemons.
Half-time : AIS – 27 : Lyceum Nugegoda – 32
Lyceum maintained their lead capitalizing on fast break opportunities whilst playing an aggressive game and penetrating the AIS defence to make their way to the ring. However, AIS closed the gap between the two teams thanks to a few 3 point plays. Towards the latter parts of the quarter, Lyceum switched up their defensive strategy to a full court press. Neither team gave in at any point fighting hard until the very last second of the quarter.
Third-Quarter : AIS – 42 : Lyceum Nugegoda – 42
The final quarter began with the tables turned on Lyceum with AIS leading by 3 points although Lyceum took back control after a few fast breaks. AIS gave it their all keeping up with Lyceum until the very end as the match was neck to neck and the scores equal for most of the quarter but in the end, it was a free shot that made all the difference as Lyceum won the match by a mere point.
Full-time : AIS – 53 : Lyceum Nugegoda – 54
Speaking to the coach of the winning team he had this to say to ThePapare.com: “It was a very close match and we were playing with quite a few injuries which made it even harder for us but we took it slow since the players were tired after yesterday and had fewer mistakes which enabled us to win the match.”
