Kandy enter final with close win

S M Jiffry Abdeen Kandy Sports Correspondent

Kandy District and the Combined Universities entered the finals of the level two of the Men’s Basketball Nationals organized by the Kandy District Basketball Association on behalf of the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation played at three venues in Kandy yesterday.

In the men’s first semi-final played at Trinity College courts Kandy District scored a hard fought 87-80 win over Jaffna District. At half time Kandy District led 41-36.

Kandy District owe their win to the sharp shooting of Randil Senaviratne (28) and Thushan Dharmasena (28) and Maduranga Munasinghe (18) who punched holes in the defence put up by the Jaffna cagers to bring victory to the Kandyans.

For Jaffna District, Neelamagan Thevagar played his heart out to score 30 points and he was supported by Rajadurai Prasanthan (20) and Sathilingam Thayalan (15).

Easy for Combined Universities

In the second semi-final played at Trinity College courts late in the evening yesterday Combined Universities scored a crushing 80 points to 52 win after leading 46-36 at the short break.

The undergrads who led by 10 points at the interval progressively increased their lead to win by 28 points.

For the undergrads, M Paraneetharan (23) and C Samaraweera (17) and Angelo Keil (14) scored.

For Kurunegala it was Nalaka Kumarasinghe (27), Prabutha Jayaratne (14) who did the scoring.

Earlier in the quarter-finals played at Kingswood College courts, Kandy District scored a comfortable 76 points to 55 win over Kurunegala District after leading 36-13 at the breather. Once again it was that duo Randil Seneviratne (19) and Thushan Dharmasena (18) who did the bulk of the scoring. For Kurunegala Nalaka Kumarasinghe (28) and Asanga Silva (19) did the scoring.

But the best match of the day was when Matara District after a string of defeats created a surprise by defeating the strong Combined Universities by a single point. The final scores being 62-61. At half time, Matara District led 38-30.

The undergrads who trailed by 8 points at the short break put up a better performance in the third and fourth quarters and had almost closed the gap when time ran out for them.

Top scorers for the winning Matara team were Lalana Jayasundera (18) and Dhanushka Nadeera (17). For the Combined Universities Parithura Samaraweera (22) and S Paranitharan (18) scored.

At Kingswood College courts Jaffna District trounced Badulla District by 91 points to 29 after leading 57-14 at the short blast. This score by the Jaffna team is also highest in the tournament so far and they put up an impressive display.

Top scorers for Jaffna were Neelamegan Thevagar (28) and S Jegatheesan (18). Thevagar in particular has displayed pleasing form in this championship, scoring over 120 points to guide the Jaffna team to victories. For Badulla district M Kusumdika scored 14 points.

Today the finals of the level two championship between Kandy district and Combined Universities will be played at Trinity College courts at 4 pm. The consolation finals between Kurunegala District and Jaffna District will be played at 2 pm at the same venue.

Women’s championship

In the championship for women played at St Anthony’s Girls College courts at Katugastota yesterday, Sri Lanka Schools and Mercantile Services entered the finals. This tournament will be continued on Friday along with the men’s level one championship in Kandy.

In the first quarter-final, Mercantile Services displaying both power and speed trounced Jaffna District by 65 points to 19. At the short break the Mercantile lasses had wrapped up the match lead 39-4 gaining an unassailable lead.

Top scorers for Mercantile Services were Umanga de Zoysa (20), Dilani Fernando (16) and D Dananjali (10). For Jaffna District Shoba Wimaladasa (16) scored. In the second quarter-finals, Sri Lanka Schools whipped Kandy District by 66 points to 24.

At lemons Sri Lanka Schools led 38-9.

For Sri Lanka Schools, Shahshinika Nelson (19), Ruwanthika Prabashi (12) and Natasha Perera (12) scored. For Kandy District Samanthika Abeysinghe (10) and Rashini Rajapaksa (10) did most of the scoring.