Carlton BC storm into the final

Chris Dhambarage

Carlton BC became the first team to reach the final when they powered their way to a smashing 70 points to 66 victory over the powerful Colombo BC in their Carlton Cup 2010 inter-club “A” Division basketball tournament match worked off at the Depot Police Courts in Bambalapitiya yesterday.

Even then their success was in the balance at one stage as they were trailing 30-34 at half time after Colombo BC had snatched the initiative and dominated play during most of the first half.

However, Carlton BC got their act together well in the second quarter and took the lead a few minutes before the final whistle largely due to the individual brilliance of Mithila Abeysekera (29) who had a splendid game in both attack and defence.

Carlton BC never looked back from there onwards and went on to add the finishing touches with M K Roshan (11) providing the back up support. Roshan Randima (18) and M Fernando (18) put up a fantastic performance for Colombo BC.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Police BC kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the final with a morale boosting 61-55 victory over Wennappuwa Knights BC in another “A” Division tournament match played at the same venue.

Police BC of course took a slender one point lead (29-28) at half time but produced a better display in the second half before eventually winning the match by a convincing margin.

Sujith Master (22) and Sujeewa Sampath (19) led the way with their all round brilliance while Virantha Bastians (18) and Chalinda Fernando (12) figured in a vain effort for Wennappuwa Knights BC.

In the “B” Division tournament quarter-finals Old Joes rallied around beautifully to beat Old Bens 61-58 with Prageeth Udumalagala (20) and Lakshan Perera doing the bulk of the scoring while Sanjay Gamlath and Nushan Eranda excelled for Old Bens BC.

In the “B” Division tournament second quarter-final match Moratuwa BC put up a powerful display to overcome All Greens BC by 85 points to 77. Greshan Anthony (25) and Rajika Mendis (22) were the two outstanding players for Moratuwa BC while Ifthar Nazir (25) was the only player to excel for All Greens BC.

In the Girl’s Under 15 tournament Holy Family Convent beat St Lawrence’s College 46-4, St Paul’s beat Lyceum International Nugegoda 13-2, Colombo International School beat Holy Family Convent Wennappuwa 20-6 and Sirimavo Bandaranaike BMV received a walk over from St Joseph’s BMV Nugegoda.