Sampath Bank in 76-69 win over Dialog Telekom

Sanjaya Ariyaratne

BASKETBALL: Fancied Sampath Bank earned a 76 points to 69 win over Dialog Telekom after a tough battle after the scores were tied at 31 points all at half time in their `A’ division fixture of the Mercantile Basketball Tournament played at Otters courts, recently. The tournament is being organised by the Mercantile Services Basketball Association.

The reigning `A’ division champions Sampath Bank came up with some fine performance in the latter part with M.K. Shiran who top scored with 25 points. Shiran was ably helped by M. Abeysekara with ten points. D. Rajapakse with 16 points and A. Perera with 14 points did well for Dialog Telekom.

In another `A’ division match DFCC group trounced Akbar Brothers by 76 points to 55 after leading 36 points to 27 at the breather. The latter has been promoted to `A’ division this time.

G. Meedeniya with 29 points and M. Fernando with 22 points stood out for the winners while S. Jayaratne with 16 points and P. Pushpakumara with 11 points were the top scorers for Akbar Brothers.

Hatton National Bank defeated favourites Nations Trust Bank by a margin of 84 points to 75 in a `B’ division match, the latter emerged `B’ division champions last time. The half time scores read 37 points to 33 in favour of the winners. R. Ruwange with 27 points and C. Fernando with 24 points were the main scorers for Hatton National Bank while M. Jayaratne with 23 points and C. Kulawardane with 18 points were the chief scorers for Nations Trust Bank.

In another match in the same division Hatton National Bank earned a well contested 84 points to 76 victory over Srilankan Airlines (A). The half time scores stood at closely 34 points to 32 with Hatton National Bank taking the lead.

A. Suwaris with 26 points and R. Ruwange with 20 points found the basket for Hatton National Bank while for Srilankan Airlines Y. Muttetuwegama with 20 points and S. Wijesinghe with 17 points were the best shooters.

HSBC beat Dialog Telekom (B) by 42 points to 34 in a `C’ division match after grabbing a 27 points to 17 lead at the short whistle. A. Wijesuriya with 19 points and S. Ramanadan with 14 points did well for the winners while R. Hameed and M. Mohideen scored 12 points each for Dialog Telekom.

Mobitel beat Global Payment in a well contested `D’ division match by 44 points to 37 when the half time scores were dead locked at 21 points each. S. perera with 14 points and P. Fernando with 13 points were the best shooters for the winners while for Global Payment C. de Silva with 13 points and S. Palihawadane with ten points were the outstanding players. Seylan Bank beat Ceylinco in a thrilling match by 47 points 46 in the men’s `C’ division.

Ceylinco lead the half time score at 23 points to 17. Gayan Sameera (16) and Anosha Ratnayake (8) were the best scorers for Seylan while Nuwan Costa (16) and Dilan Sameera (12) did well for Ceylinco.

DFCC Bank (B) outclassed MAS Holdings (B) by 48 points to 28 after leading 25 points to nine at half time.

For DFCC Nirmal Fernando (17) and Yasantha Rajapakse (11) were the chief scorers while Madula Dissanayake (7) and Indika Jayaweera (5) were the main scorers for MAS.