The recently concluded All Island Schools’ U19 ‘A’ Division Basketball Tournament saw the Royal College Basketball team emerge victorious over St. Joseph’s College with a comfortable margin of 20 points. Royal bagged the majority of the awards as well, dominating the tournament from the beginning.

The Semi – Finals saw Royal go up against C.I.S. Kandy in a tight game to emerge victorious 53 – 49. The team took forward that momentum into the Final where they met St. Joseph’s College and held control of the game from the first quarter, maintaining a lead from the very first point. At the end of the first quarter Royal led 13 – 04. The form continued in the second half as well where the scores were 26 – 18 at half time. Captain Sandeepa Ratnayake, Vice Captain Ashen Menuka, Sameera Chanaka and Julian Gunsainghe were the most influential players of the game, scoring the bulk of the points and keeping the tempo moving fast.

The third quarter ended with the scores at 35 – 28 in favour of Royal, putting real day light between the two teams. St. Joseph’s saw no way to break Royal’s dominating performance and surely at the end of the game the scoreboard read Royal 52 – 32 St. Joseph’s, giving Royal an easy win.

Awards

Most Valuable Player – Finals – Julian Gunasinghe
Best Defensive Player – Ashen Menuka
Most Valuable Player of the Tournament – Sameera Chanaka