Josephians crowned champions while Paulian girls grab victory from HFC
St. Joseph’s College emerged Boys champions defeating Nalanda College at the MyCola Slam and Jam 26 Cup Championship in the Under-13 All-Island Basketball Tournament played at St. Joseph’s Basketball courts in Darley Road.
In their winning streak Nalanda came to the final winning all matches except D.S. Senanayake from the Group ‘A’ while St. Joseph’s reached the final winning all except Prince of Wales’ College, Moratuwa, a powerhouse with full of stamina and tough defensive playing. At the qualifying games, the Josephian were defeated by the Cambrians with just one point. However at the first semi-final Nalanda defeated Prince of Wales’ and in the second semi-final St. Joseph’s beat the powerful D.S. Senanayake College outfit.
Champions St. Joseph's College Under-13 basketball team
In the final game for title, St. Joseph’s took the control of the game right from the beginning and at the halftime the Joes were 15 against Nalanda’s 10. Fighting back the Nalandians’ tough defense, Josephians continued to maintain the gap widening it to an eight-shot lead with the final score being 34-26. At every interval Nalandians made it a point to fight back and score against Joes with young Mihisara Perera with his Maroon jersey Number 10 leading from the front. Mihisara was adjudged the Best Offensive Player in the Tournament. Giving an equally tough fight was Joes’ jersey Number 11 Vehan Gunawardhane, who won the Best Defensive Player.
The impactful success for the Josephians was contributed by Joel Fernando donning jersey Number 67, who was crowned as the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. Young Joel’s impressive performance with rebounding, assists, passes, steals, blocks and scoring against three Nalandians, who every time barricaded with a three-member defensive attack. Leading from the front, Joel outsmarted the defenses and could get the Josephians crowned champions.
Nalanda College emerged runners-up
In the Girls’ Championship, following a dramatic turn of events, St. Paul’s Girls’ School, Milagiriya grabbed the victory from powerful Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya. At the outset the Familians were convincingly leading the game with the scoreboard 6-3 at the half time. However energetic Paulians did not give up the game and took control with continuous baskets by Cheneli Ranasinghe, who was adjudged the Most Valuable Player.
As soon as the third quarter of the game started, the St. Paul’s, giving a tough defense lead by Ehansa Danandee, who went on to earn the Best Defensive Player from St. Paul’s and took full control of the game. The Familians’ counter attack was led by Ivana Morris, who was adjudged the Best Offensive Player but could not hinder Paulians’ victory march as the champions with 17 points in the second half with the fulltime score reaching 20 points against 14 points by HFC
Most Valuable Player Girl's -- Cheneli Ranasinghe of St. Paul's Girls' Schoo
Most Valuable Player -- Joel Fernando of St. Joseph's College
St. Paul's Girl's School won the Girls' title
Girls' runners-up Holy Family Convent, Colombo