Mighty Joes win title comprehensively
The victorious Josephian cagers
St. Joseph’s College, Colombo added another feather to their hat of sports achievements by emerging champions at the All-Island Under-17 ‘A’ Division Boys’ Basketball Tournament finals worked off at the Josephian Courts last Thursday.
St. Joseph’s met Ananda College in the finals as much was expected from the Anandians for making their way to the finals on a promising note. But the Anandians never lived up to the reputation as they went down without a fight at the hand of the Joes by 79-41.
The Darley Road lads started the mission on a high note as they started to dominate the game from the start. Consistent fast play exerted pressure on the Anandians as they managed only one point while the opponents’ collected 29 in the first quarter.
Josephians continued on their attack in the second quarter too and Ananda failed to capitalize on both offensive and defensive aspects. The champs went ahead adding another 15 points to their tally and Ananda had to be satisfied with eight points. The second quarter end scores showed 44 to 9 in favour of the Josephians.
St. Joseph’s College lads capitalised on their physical advantage which helped them in their robust play. Ananda faced a tough task in penetrating inside the ‘D’ which was heavily guarded by the Joes.
Engaged in a fast and pass game, exploited the defensive gaps with effect penetrating through the lanes, Anandians ended the third quarter, adding 19 points to Joes 14 making the score 58-28.
Ananda found a little rhythm in the third and fourth quarters, but the vast deficit made them to toil hard in scoring as the Josephian defence was too strong for them to go through. Ananda closing the passing lanes and kept the Joes out of the perimeter and forced them into shots under pressure.
The fourth and final quarter came to an end with the Josephians ahead with 21 points to Ananda’s 13 making the final tally 79-41 as Joes secured the 2019 championship title.
Shanon de Silva of St. Joseph’s was adjudged the Best Offensive Player while Heshan Chamika of Ananda College won the Best Players award. Josephian Shehan Fernando was named the Most Valuable Player.
The third place was won by St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala, who defeated Lyceum International School by 61-49. Champs Joes entered in the finals defeating Lyceum, Nugegoda 56-30 and Ananda found their passage to the finals beating St. Anne’s, Kurunegala 60-40 in the semi-finals.
– Lakshman Ranasinghe