Thomians beat Royal to clinch under 15 cager title

Angu RAJENDRAN

What a match! Thirty five of the forty minutes were heart stopping moments for supporters of both sides as the Royalists and Thomians fought for every basket in the final of the South Zone Basketball Championships held at the Royal Court.

The first half saw favorites S Thomas missing a lot of shots. Royal's tallest player Julian Gunasinghe rebounded relentlessly in the first half frustrating the Thomian attack.

'My team-mates and I were quite down when Royal had the lead at half time with 31/29' said the Thomian captain Michael Alphonsus.

Soon after the basket change at half time, Royal seemed to miss a lot of shots but kept up to the Thomian pace and at the end of the third quarter, scores stood at 36 all.

Captain Michael Alphonsus of the Thomian team says 'we knew from the start that we would win as we beat St Sebastians yesterday and they are even taller than the Royal players who are all taller than us and made it very difficult for us to shoot'.

In the last five minutes when the scores stood at 56 all and it seemed as if the whistle would decide the winner of the match, Royalists gave in to exhaustion.

Their defence just fell apart as Avishka Ranasinghe of S Thomas scored continuously and easily from the top of the D.

Adrenalin flowed for the Thomians as they built up their lead and tightened their defense by crowding their D. In the last five minutes Royalists could not score more than two baskets.

The game finished with a score of 68/60 in favour of S Thomas. 'Just sheer hard practice.

And the will to win,' said S Thomas coach Panduka of his team's win. For the Thomians - Michael Alphonsus (25), Avishka Ranasinghe (22) top scored. For Royal, Ashen Menuka (25) and Julian Gunasinghe (12) top scored.

Most Valuable Player was judged as Michael Alphonsus of S Thomas. Best Offensive player was Avishka Ranasinghe of S Thomas and Best Defensive Player was Ashen Menuka of Royal.

In the consolation final, St Sebastian beat St. Joseph's, Nugegoda 81/40. For the Sebs Rajin Fernando (38), Chenud Gavisha (14) top scored while for the losers Sameera Chanaka (17) and Jude Tharindu(14) top scored.