S. Thomas’ and Good Shepherd take boys' and girls' Papare Cager titles
S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia and Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena bagged the Boy’s and Girls’ titles respectively at ‘the Papare Basketball Championship’ held at the Henry Pedris Courts in Colombo.
In the Boy’s final the Thomians recorded a thrilling 53-49 win against St. Joseph’s College Colombo after trailing 14-20 at halftime while the Girls’ final was also a nail-biter with the scored locked and Good Shepherd Convent nailing the win 57-48 over St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda during extra time.
The Third Place Playoffs were played prior to the big games with Royal College Colombo beating Maris Stella College Negombo 51-47 in another keenly contested battle. At halftime Royal led 27-23. In the Girls’ consolation final Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya defeated Presbyterian Girls’ School Dehiwela 49-34 after trailing 17-20 at halftime.
In the Boy’s final, both S. Thomas’ and St. Joseph’s entered with an unbeaten record, making the final battle an interestingly keen one. Both teams played neck-to-neck but it was the Joes who took the upperhand after the first quarter, leading by 11-4. Despite constant attack from the Thomians, the Josephians went on to maintain the lead as they took the halftime break at 20-14.
It was after the halftime that the Thomians started to dismantle the Josephian stronghold by taking the lead at one point. But the St. Joseph’s cagers were no easy customers to handle, they regained the grip to end the third quarter 37-35 in their favour. All eyes were on the Josephians, who were virtually dominating the Thomians in all aspects, until the game to a deadlock of 37-37 as the final quarter set off.
The game turned intensely vigorous as both teams played their hearts out but it was the Thomians who walked out with their heads held high after the final whistle with an overwhelming 54-49 win. Adrian Gunawardene, Devankha Gunawardene, Yasiru Bimantha, Chenutha Kasthuriarachchi starred for the Thomians while Shivanga de Silva who scored 17 points, Shenal Samuel and Shehan Fernando were the heroes for the Joes. Thomian Adrian Gunawardene, scored 23 points and was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
The Third Place Playoff between Royal College Colombo and Maris Stella College Negombo was as exciting as the grand finale. Royal managed to take the lead upfront and ended the first quarter 17-8 and despite the retaliation of Maris Stella cagers the Reid Avenue boys held on to the lead at halftime by 27-23.
Royalists were forced to make errors by Maris Stella in the third quarter, but still that did not make much of a difference as the session ended 45-29 in favour of the eventual winners. The final quarter was far more thrilling than the other three, the moment Maris Stella started to retaliate with full force. The game went to the last wire, though Royal led merely by three points. However they managed to hold their nerves to walk out worthy winners by 51-47. Rukshan Atapattu scored 20 points for Royal while Tharindu Balasuriya and Dilshan Menuka contributed well. Praveen Alwis scored 12 points for Maris Stella while Ronal Perera and Shenuka de Alwis helped keep the momentum going.
The Girls’ final between Good Shepherd Convent and St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda was a clash that was beyond expectations. Both teams played gallantly and splendidly as the game had to be extended for extra time after being deadlocked at 40-40 at fulltime. Eventually the Shepherdians tamed the Josephian lasses to run amok and secure a fitting win by 50-48 and the championship.
The first quarter belonged to Good Shepherd cagers who led by 13-5 and they continued the momentum to extend the lead by 22-12 at halftime. However the beginning of the third quarter was not so healthy as it looked for Good Shepherd as St. Joseph’s began to tighten their grip and score more than the previous two quarters. Despite all the troubles and less scoring chances Good Shepherd managed to remain in the lead by 27-23 at the end of the third quarter.
The occurred the unexpected after both teams played with intentions to topple the other. The end result was the game going deadlocked twice -- once at 38-38 and then 40-40 where the final whistle was blown. The game was pushed for extra time as both teams played their hearts out, and St. Joseph’s despite failing to secure easy scoring chances, took a slender 48-47 lead with less than a minute remaining. But the Good Shepherd girls made an astonishing move at an unexpected point to claim a thrilling 50-47 win and walk out worthy winners.
For Good Shepherd Convent Nirma Sasanthi and Hansani Maleesha outstanding while Nihari Perera and Chalani Perera played gallantly for St. Joseph’s. Nirma Sasanthi was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
In the Third Place Playoff Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya clashed against Presbyterian Girls’ School Dehiwela to emerge winners by 49-34. The game however belonged to Presbyterian girls during the first two halves as they led the respective quarters by 13-9 and 20-17. But a superb fightback coupled up with solid defence by the Familians enabled them to take the lead by 34-22 by the time the third quarter was done.
This was when the Presbyterian girls desperately started to claim dominance by making sudden change to their game plan. However the Familians were not ready to give in at any cost and were more keen on maintaining their lead with great defence and by the end of the fourth quarter, they were the winners of the game by 49-34. For the winners Dilumi Gunawardene top scored with 27 points while Dilakshi Nawodya scored 11 points for the losers.
A total of 22 teams competed in the Boy’s Championship. They were S. Thomas’, St. Joseph’s, Asian International School, Maris Stella, D.S. Senanayake, De La Salle, St. Peter’s, Gateway Kandy, St. Sylvester’s Kandy, Ananda, Royal Colombo, Colombo International in Kandy, Kingswood, Lyceum International Wattala, Azar College, St. Benedict’s, Gateway Colombo and Colombo International. In the Girls’ Championship Good Shepherd Convent, St. Joseph’s GS, Holy Family Convent, Presbyterian GS, Ave Maria Negombo, Lyceum International Nugegoda, Visakha Vidyalaya, St. Lawrence Wellawatte and Lyceum International Wattala participated. The Schools Under-19 Division ‘A’ Tournament was is one of the main competitions run by the Sri Lanka Schools Basketball Association and this year thePapare.com came forward to join in as title sponsors.