Otters make hay over Old Bens

Carlton Cup Basketball:

Thushan JAYASURIYA

A keen tussle was witnessed in the match between Old Bens Basketball Club and Otters Sports Club where Old Bens beat Otters by 75 points to 71 after a thrilling match in the Carlton Cup 2012 Basketball Tournament worked off at Henry Pedris Courts yesterday.

Since the beginning a close fight was seen through out the match. Both teams took the maximum out of the opportunities and posed strong threats to each other. The two teams seemed to be determined and showcased some superb basketball skills in a die hard battle.

Even though Otters maintained a slight lead from the begining, Old Bens made it 20 all at the end of first quarter.The fight continued with more excitement in the latter parts as both sides changed their stratergies into a tight man-to-man defence. Even though Otters had the advantage of hight Old Bens too displayed a level play in both attack and defence. Otters SC were leading 33 – 32 at halftime.

Both teams entered the game in a much organized manner in the third quarter and continued their ding dong battle.

However, Otters SC managed to get the maximum out of given scoring opportunities and rebounds. Old Bense collected some poor passes of their opponents and counter attack firecely but thanks to some classy three pointers from Devon Rebert, Otters managed to maintain one point lead in the third quarter as well 56 – 55. Though the Old Bens SC fought hard to reduced the gap with back to back baskets they couldn't surpass the Otters team at any stage of the game and the match was sealed in favour of Otters SC (75 – 71).

Gayan Meedeniya (28 points) and Devon Rebert (19 points) were the main scorers for Otters SC while Nushan Eranda (25 points), Kanishka Perera (17 points) Clinton Stallone (15 points) and Udayanga Perera (14 points) were the best scorers for the Old Bens.

Meanwhile, Police Sports Club beat Red Line Club of Maldives, the only foreign team in the Carlton Cup by 75 points to 59 in the same location after a close fight in the first half.At Halftime it was 32 all. The Police made inroads to the game witha superb teamwork taking maximum adavntages of their opponents’ weaknesses. Indika and Sujith scored 18 points each for Police. N.Rushdi was the main contributor for the Red Line Sports Club.