CIS in runaway 81-6 win over OKI

Angu Rajendran

Amidst tears and laughter the under 13 girls and boys basketball tournament took off to a great start yesterday at the Colombo International School court. Basketball is a contact sport and for many little girls and boys it was their first contact with the game yesterday.

The first match of the day was one sided as the girls of Gateway College had an easy win over OKI International School, Wattala with a score of 20 points to 8 in Gateway’s favour. In this match Shanuli of Gateway top scored with 10 points and Nipuni of OKI scored 4 points.

The under 13 tournament has special rules - all ten players entered in the score card have to play before the first three quarters are over. The time is running time and there is no substitution till the last quarter. This is done in order to give all the players a chance on the court.

Under 13 matches are usually low scoring matches as most players are in a match situation for the first time in their lives but in the second match of the day - CIS vs OKI the score read 81/6 in favour of CIS. Scoring like in a cricket match CIS had a field day as the ball never moved out of the CIS offensive court. Dimunitive but well trained in their fundamentals, CIS players scored non-stop to pile up 81 at the end of four running quarters. About 2 points or a basket a minute. CIS captain Navin Kalugampitiya controlled the game and scored 11 points while Matheesha scored 18 and Heshan 14.

The girls match British School vs Lyceum, Wattala was the next. Though British School had the taller and steadier looking players, the Lyceum Wattala girls amidst a lot of tears kept the lead from the start. In the last quarter British School equalized and even went one point ahead with a conversion of a free throw but Lyceum, Wattala played steadily to win the game 14/9. For the winners Mariyam scored 4 points and Ravishani scored 4 while Sarini and Tripti scored 4 points each for the losers.

Stafford vs Moir was played amidst a slight drizzle and the hardier Moir players who definitely were the fitter team won the match 27/8. For Moir - Takaharu Higuchi scored 10 while Javanan scored 10. For the losers Jonathan scored 5.