Basketball: Colombo BC record thrilling win to annex MCA Div ‘A’ title

A 3-pointer in the last second of the game, by Praneeth Udumalalagala, took the game into extra time and subsequently it gave Colombo BC a heart stopping, 63/58 win, over HSC ‘Blues’ in the Men’s ‘A’ Division final of the 12th Super League 2015, conducted by the Colombo District Basketball Association, concluded under lights at the Depot Police Courts.   In a repeat final of 2014, HSC ‘Blues’ led 58-55, with just 10 seconds left in the game when Udumalalagala performed the unexpected.   As the scores got deadlocked 58-58 at the long whistle, the game went into overtime.   In the five minutes of extra time, the defending champions, Colombo BC played as if they were possessed, to do all the scoring and win by 5 points, 63-58.   The scores were levelled at 11-all at the end of the first quarter.   HSC ‘Blues’ led 29-27 at halftime and further consolidated to lead 45-39 in the third quarter.   In the semi-finals Colombo BC beat Avon BC 64-46 and HSC ‘Blues’ beat SL Army ‘A’ 78-46.   The match winning shooters for Colombo BC were Praneeth Udumalalagala (16), Charith Perera (15), Praveen Ganlath (13) and skipper Roshan Fernando (12).   Roshan Randima (16) and Mithila Abeysekera (17) excelled for HSC ‘Blues’.   Praneeth Udumalalagala from Colombo BC was adjudged as the Man of the Match.   Earlier on the Women’s ‘A’ Division Final, Trackmasters scored a hard fought 68-65 win over Sri Lanka Navy.   Trackmasters led 22-14 in the first quarter.   SL Navy came up with an improved performance to lead 34-32 at halftime and held the lead 52-51 in the third quarter.   Skipper Benika Thalagala (12), Prasadi Fonseka (15) and Erandi Gallage (21) were the match winning shooters for the Trackmasters.   Pramila Fernando (21), Inoka Sandaruwan (20) and Solangi Gunavijaya (17) played a die-hard game for Navy.   Erandi Rajapaksa from Trackmasters was picked as the Player of the Match.   In the Men’s ‘B’ Division final played under lights at the same venue, SL Army ‘B’ with a terrific fourth quarter, turned tables on HSC Youth as they beat them 51-44 after being led 14-23 at the breather.   Udara de Silva from SL Army ‘B’ was picked as the Best Player.   The Men’s ‘C’ Division final played between two Army Regiments, the Army ‘Commandos’ beat the Army ‘Four Wings’, 77-64, after leading 28-23 at halftime.   Sameera Sandaruwan from the Commandos was picked as the best player.   In the Women’s ‘B’ Division final Good Shepherd Convent Kotahena scored a comprehensive 55-23 win over the Josephians BC after leading 24-12 at halftime.   Nirma Sasanthi from GSC was picked as the best player.   A total of 54 teams participated in five divisions -- 46 teams in three divisions in the Men’s and nine teams in two divisions in the Women’s -- involving 650 players consisting 126 matches.