Cambrians all Island Cager champions

Anuradha Abeysekera

Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa clinched the under-19 'B' Division Cager Championship 2010 when they beat Nalanda College, Colombo 60-42 at Moratuwa yesterday.

The tournament was adjourned by Sri lankan Schools' Basketball Association on a protest made by the Asian International School (AIS) over a quarter final match against Joseph Vas College, Wennappuwa last April.

The tournament proceeded and AIS qualified for the semi finals after Joseph Vas College pulled out from the tournament.

Cambrians scored the first ten points in a raw, did not allow Nalandians to open the account till Senura Illangasinghe grabbed a point with a free shot.

The home team excelled in both attack and defense and never allowed the visitors to pose a threat.

Cambrian Gihan Sarinda who was adjudged as the Best Player of the Tournament played a superb match and consolidated their score with 39 points.

Nalandians were 11 points behind at the half way mark (29-18) struggled to counter attack with the strong Cambrian defense. Yet Nalandians moved closely in the last two quarters (11-19, 13-13) but that was not sufficient to overcame the Cambrians.

Nalandians fought hard in the second quarter and scored ahead the winners (14-11) but failed to make inroads in to the game. Kanshika Liyanage added 14 points to the winners in the final match was awarded the Best Defensive player.

Nalanda captain Ruchira Ayeshantha too fought hard and pilled up 18 points against champions in the final match was picked as the Best Offensive Player of the tournament. Senura belted 10 points to the Nalanda score which helped to reduce the gap.

Azhar College, Kandy emerged as the second runner up, defeating AIS (68-43) in the consolation final. Azharians dominated the match from the beginning and kept the AIS on the back seat in all four quarters to put a comfortable 25 point lead. AIS were trailing 20 points behind at half time. (36-16). Hazam Haleemdeen and Salman Sarasudeen scored 18 points each for Azarians while Anuke Gunaratne and Bevan Samuel piled up 14 and 10 points respectively for AIS.

Results

Champions - Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa

1st Runner up - Nalanda College, Colombo

2nd Runner up- Azhar College, Kandy

Special Awards

Best Player of the Tournament - Gihan Sarinda (Prince of Wales College)

Best Defensive Player - Kanshika Liyanage (Prince of Wales College)

Best Offensive Player - Ruchira Ayeshantha (Nalanda College)