Three finalists found in Ram Ratnavel K/O Basketball
Action at Ram Ratnavel K/O Basketball tournament.
DFCC, Union Bank and HSBC advanced to the finals of the Men’s ‘A’,‘C’ and ‘E’ Divisions of the 11th Mercantile Services Basketball Association Ram Ratnavel Knock-out Tournament 2016 recommenced at the Henry Pedris Basketball Courts, Havelock Park last week. DFCC entered the finals of Men’s ‘A’ Division scoring a 67-40 win over Nations Trust Bank having led 34-17 at half time. The finals will take place on June 17.
DFCC dominated play in both halves giving a very little opportunity for the NTB in matching their style of play. Main scorers for the DFCC were T. Neydroff (14), T. Perera (12) and P. Pushpakumara (10) while D. Joseph (10) and N. Halaldeen (9) played their hearts out for the losing bankers.
HSBC ousted LB Finance in the semi-final match in the ‘C’ Division with a comfortable 63-47 victory. HSBC cagers got use of their speed and fast moving passes to stay in the LB Finance basket area from the start. The bankmen had a clear 36-19 lead at the end of the second half. HSBC slowed a bit in the second half adding just only 27 points to their tally while LB Finance changing their play style in the second half were rewarded with an addition of 28 valuable points. The final score stood in favour of HSBC 63-47. For the winners M. Ratnayake (14), skipper W. Perera (12) and P. Perera (12) were the main scorers while LB Finance skipper S. Fernando led with 16 points with D. Rosairo and C. Ashan (9) played well for the losers.
In the ‘E’ Division semi-final encounter Union Bank reserved their slot to play in the finals today by defeating UB Finance 61-30 in a game that looked a one-sided affair in the first half. Union Bank led 31-9 in the first half. UB Finance made a desperate attempt to come back to the game in the second half with a newly planed strategy attacking the opponents territory on many occasions. Improving the led gained in the first half bankers went on to the long whistle with a 61-30 win. T. Clifford (30), H. Wijeratne (10) and skipper A. Wijendra (9) had a big hand in Union Bank’s win while J. Seneviratne (11), N. Aluthwela (9) and skipper G. Fernando (8) were the main scorers for the losers.