2nd-half rally sees HNB through
Maheel Egodawatte (22) and Amila Ratnayake (14) turned full throttle in the second half to hand over HNB an upset 71/59 win over defending champions Commercial Credit and Finance PLC in the 26th MSBA League Basketball Tournament 2016, Men’s ‘A’ Division match at the the Henry Pedris Courts. HNB held on to a one point lead (31/30) at half time.
While HNB advanced to the semi-finals, Commercial Credit’s fate in the tournament will now be decided after their last match against NTB ‘A’. Union Assurance PLC scoring a creditable 70/64 win over NTB ‘A’ too advanced to the semi-finals. Mobitel, Millennium IT, Amana Bank and WNS Global advanced to the semi-finals from Men’s ‘E’ Division.
Results from Day 23 to 27:
‘A’ Division – Men’s:
DFCC 83 Prageeth Pushpakumara 19, Roshan Fernando 19) beat Nations Trust Bank ‘A’ 58 (Manjula Jayarathna 12, Rukshan Fernando 11)
HNB 53 (Chalinda Fernando 14, Aunshka Jayalath 12) beat Sampath Bank 39 (Mithila Abeysekera 11)
NTB ‘B’ 60 (Pramod Weerasinghe 23) beat Seylan Bank 57 (Gayan Samaraweera 19)
Kanrich Finance 53 (Charith Perera 16, Mihiraj Rajapakshe 11) beat HSBC Sri Lanka 39 (Hasantha Gunawardene 10)
NTB ‘A’ 80 (Devon Rebert 19, Naveed Halaldeen 16) beat HNB 71 (Chalinda Fernando 22, Anushka Jayalath 15)
DFCC Bank 68 (Thivanka Perera 13, Terrance Neydroff 12) beat Sampath Bank 38 (Vinura Illangasinghe 11, Avishka Siriwardene 11)
HNB 71 (Maheel Egodawatte 22, Amila Ratnayake 14) beat Commercial Credit and Finance 59 (Thimothi Nithushan 14, Sanjeewa Kulamina 11)
Union Assurance 70 (Roshan Randima 20, Isuru Perera 14) beat NTB ‘A’ 64 (Christy Krishan 15, Fredrick Morais 15)
‘B’ Division – Men’s:
John Keells Holdings 53 (Tushan Dharmasena 17, Lakshan Samarasinghe 15) beat Dialog Axiata PLC 51 (Viraj Kumarasinghe 22, Sadharu Wickremasinghe 11)
‘D’ Division – Men’s:
Hirdaramani Group 66 (Niroshan Pushpakumara 33, Oshen Kannangara 12) beat LOLC 60 Chatura Hewa 24, Ifthaz Nazir 14)
‘E’ Division – Men’s:
Ceylon Tobbaco 45 (Chiranga Malwatta 26) beat Copal Amba 23 (Farhath Sulaiman 10)
Sarva Integrated 39 (Sajith Silva 23, Tony Samidon 
beat UB Finance Group 36 (Shammi Seneviratne 16, Joy Gregory 17)
Millanium IT Group 80 (Akila Wijesinghe 28, Isuru Namal 20) beat UB Finance 19 (Joy Gregory 15)
IFS R&D Intl. 48 (Nadun Withanachchi 17, Prabath Wasala 11) beat Copal Amba 41 (F. Sulaiman 12)
Mobitel 55 (Lahiru De Silva 18, Koshan Jayawickrema 16) beat Citizens Development Business 50 (Lahiru Randika 18, Dakshitha Wijesinghe 9)
Millennium IT 46 (Tahir Fazal 9, Harshana Dissanayake 9) beat IFS R&D Intl. 35 (Nadun Withanaachchi 18)
Amana Bank 72 (Giwantha Karunatilleke 20, Najath Luqman 18) beat Abans Group 55 (Stephan Segar 16, Ithaya Deroy 11)
WNS Global 65 (Chanuka Perera 23, Nipuna Samarakoon 17) beat Airport & Aviation 40 (W.D.S.E. Silva 15, K.H.N.C. De Silva 14)