Gateway beat St. Joseph’s to win Basketball C’ship

F/R – Left to Right: Suranji Peiris (Basketball Coordinator), Areeb Fareen (Vice Captain), Ms. Vinita Shenoy (Principal), Dulain Thevaraperuma (Captain), Tharindu Fernando (Head Coach), Fawzan Thariq (Basketball Coordinator)  
B/R – Left to Right: Sashain Perera, Taresh Samarasinghe, Liam Gray, Usman Shafraz, Julan Senmitha, Samuel Tsung, Navidu Waduwavala, Riveth Methsuka, Udeshka Suriyaarachchi, Ashain Thevaraperuma, Jazeel Aakil, Damiru Suriyapperuma, Dhanuka Wijegunarathna.    

Gateway College with victories over D.S. Senanayake College, Wesley College, Colombo International School Colombo (CISC), Ananda College and Carey College in the group stages, defeated St. Joseph’s College at the final of the Under 14 Boys Colombo North Basketball tournament organized by the Sri Lanka Schools Basketball Association. The final was played at the St. Joseph’s College court.  

In their first game against D.S. Senanayake College, Gateway College emerged triumphant with a score of 67-47. This was followed by comfortable wins over Wesley College (86-26) and CIS Colombo (68-43). Gateway cruised to the semifinal with ease with a score of 54-22 beating Ananda College. The semi-final was with Carey College, where Gateway recorded another comfortable win (76-48).   

The highly anticipated final between Gateway and Joes, as expected, turned out to be a thriller. The fiercely fought game saw St. Joseph’s taking the upper hand during the first half, but Gateway College refused to give up. Gateway’s captain Dulain Theweraperuma was clearly the game-changer with some brilliant moves during the third quarter for Gateway to take a slender lead of 57-52. Gateway College continued their relentless pursuit of victory during the final quarter, maintaining a commanding 16-point lead with a score of 77-61 making way to Gateway’s Under 14 team to emerge as unbeaten champions.  

The tournament concluded with a grand closing ceremony. Ashain Theweraperuma was named the Best Defensive Player, while Arron Gerald, the captain of St. Joseph’s, earned the title of the Best Offensive Player. Dulain Thevarapperuma, the Captain of Gateway College, was the obvious choice to be recognized as the Most Valuable Player.