St. Joseph’s to meet S. Thomas’ at finals

St. Joseph’s College secured their place to face off against S. Thomas’ at the finals of the U-19 ThePapare Basketball Championship as they defeated Royal College last evening at the final semi-final match 45 to 38 points.

Royal College was the first to start off the game scoring first from a quick conversion from the jump ball. St. Joseph’s was quick to retaliate and took the lead for the first time in the game with 2 consecutive baskets but it wasn’t kept for long as the Royalists scored the first 3-pointer for the game allowing them to take back the lead close to the end of the quarter. The Royalists were able to maintain this lead with the help of a few good passes to Dilshan Menuka who scored 10 points in the quarter shooting from under the basket.

First Quarter: Royal College – 14 St. Joseph’s College – 10

The beginning of the second quarter witnessed the Josephians scoring first and reducing the deficit with a few shots from downtown but Royal was soon to recover and took the lead back with a mid-range jumper. The quarter saw both teams score one after the other from downtown but it was St. Joseph’s College who took the lead by one point in the final minute with a fast break although the Royalists fought hard as the point guard Tharindu Balasuriya tried to set up the offensive play to take back control of the game.

Second Quarter: Royal College – 25 St. Joseph’s College – 26

The Josephians were quick to get back into the game in the third quarter scoring first and their effective zone defense didn’t allow the Royalists to score until 3 minutes into the quarter. The Royalists weren’t prepared to yield as they once again took back the lead halfway into the quarter making it a very thrilling and exciting quarter as both teams took turns at taking the lead and it seemed impossible to predict a winner. Although an outstanding performance by Shivanga De Silva scoring 10 out of the 12 points, the Josephians scored in the quarter allowing them to take a comfortable lead for the first time in the game by the end of the quarter.

Third Quarter: Royal College – 31 St. Joseph’s College – 38

The fourth quarter began with Royal scoring first thanks to a shooting foul. The Josephians had marked the top scorer of Royal, Rukshan Athapaththu and had him heavily guarded to reduce the points scored by Royal College. The deciding factor of the game was the Royalists failing to score in their fast breaks. Although the Royalists were missing shots their defense was in great form rejecting many of the Josephian shots only allowing them to score a total of 07 points in the quarter. The Royalists didn’t give up as they fought hard up until the very end but the deficit created in the third quarter continued to haunt them as they trailed by 7 points at the end of the quarter and they lost their place in the finals against S. Thomas’ College.

Fourth Quarter: Royal College – 38 St. Joseph’s College – 45

Top Point Scorers:

ThePapare player of the match: Shenal Samuel (St. Joseph’s College)

ThePapare player of the match: Shenal Samuel (St. Joseph’s College) Speaking to the St. Joseph’s captain Panduka Gajamange after their victory he had this to say: “I think Royal College was a very tough team to beat and it wasn’t an easy task but we somehow managed to do it and I’m really happy about my player’s performance and I hope to continue playing this well as S. Thomas’ is an even tougher team to beat.”

ThePapare asked the Royal College coach to share his thoughts on why they lost and he had this to say: “I think we lost the match because we missed a few crucial fast breaks and even though our defense was good they were fast to collect the rebound and that’s probably why we lost control of the game during the second half.”