Joes leap higher to pip Gateway

UNDER 19 ‘A’ DIVISION BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

With a place in the finals of the Under 19 ‘A’ Division Basketball Championships at stake, St. Joseph’s College’s flung themselves into the driving lane with devastating effect to peg back a fighting Gateway College and walk away 60-50 victors, at the Henry Pedris basketball court yesterday.

St. Joseph’s launched into the lead early in the first quarter and never relinquished their grip on the game, frequently striking with quick close-range baskets. Mayantha Annesley (12 points), Prasanga Wettasinghe (10 points) and Brendon Keyzer (10) did the bulk of the damage for the Joes, while Nichula Liyanage with 14 points and Melantha Jansz with 12 stood at the vanguard of Gateway’s offensive cause.

The Joes’ 17-8 advantage by the end of the first quarter was built on large reserves of grit as they took the game to Gateway with some aggressive play in the painted area, leaping for rebounds and scrambling for loose balls.

As Gateway clawed their way back into the game in the second quarter with some stout-hearted defense- at one point cutting the lead to four points- St. Joseph’s responded with some spectacular drives to the basket from Wettasinghe and Keyzer. Meanwhile, Annesley placed exclamation marks on these plays with a raft three pointers.

At one point the lead swelled to well over 10 points, but Gateway were able to gener- ate some offense and pull things back in, going into the half trailing at 21-31.

However, the floodgates burst open in the third quarter, chiefly due to some fantastic ball handling and deft finishing from Wettasinghe, and it began raining baskets for the boys from Darley Road.

Gateway seemed to be rapidly running out of ideas to stem the flow of Josephian points and, down 44-31 heading into the fourth and final quarter, they were really staring down the barrel of a possible blowout.

Liyanage though resurrected Gateway’s hopes of a finals appearance with a few exquisite drives of his own that brought his team within eight points with six minutes remaining. However, the Joes buckled down heading into the home stretch of the game, tightened their defense and embarked on a final scoring surge which propelled them to victory.

They will now meet Royal College in the final of the competition, which will be played today at 7 p.m.