St. Joseph’s College beat AIS to clinch All-Island Schools Basketball title

St. Joseph’s College from left: (seated) Asiri Perera (Physical Trainer), Roshan Randima (Coach), Rev. Fr.  Milan Bernard (Prefect of Games), Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel (Rector), Asiri Caldera (Master-in-Charge) and Shane Daniel (Asst. Coach)

(Standing): T.A.D. Sampath (Physio), Shamin Fernando, Panduka Gajamange, Deon Joshua, Nathosh Wijendran, Kisal Cooray, Kishan Ravichandran, Bhanuka Gamage, Rehan Keyzer, Shivanga de Silva, Shenal Samuel and Arjun David

St. Joseph’s College Colombo defeated Asian International School 55-51, to win the All-Island National Schools Basketball Championship, during a closely-contested final played at Darley Road.

At halftime, the Josephians led 25-24.  Kishal Cooray, who top scored for the Joes with 21 points, was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. The team was also well supported by Deon Joshua, Nathosh Wijendran, Bhanuka Gamage, Shamin Fernando, Reshan Keyzer and Kishan Ravichandran. The team showed great grit and sprit by winning the championship despite injuries to Shivanga de Silva and Shenal Samuel at the quarterfinal stage.

At the National Schools (Western Province) Tournament, the Joes beat S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia 49-31, Royal College Colombo 59-45 and lost to De La Salle College Mutwal 62-63. Having qualified for the all-island tournament the Joes beat St. Michael’s College Batticaloa 56-40 in the quarterfinals and De La Salle College Mutwal 60-42 in the semifinals.

 As the champions, the Josephian team will be awarded Sri Lankan Schools Colours.

Prior to the above tournament, St. Joseph’s participated in the All-Island Under 19 Tournament.  They beat D. S. Senanayake College Colombo 65-40, Dharmashoka College 64-40 and lost to S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia 50-52.

In a closely contested quarterfinal, they beat Gateway College 45-47 and lost to Royal College Colombo 61-53 in the semifinals. They met S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia for the third place play-off, whom they beat 51-41 to emerge as the second runner-up.

Deon Joshua captained the team for the All-Island Under 19 Tournament while Kisal Cooray captained the team for the national schools tournament. Nathosh Wijendran was the Vice Captain of the team. 

The Josephian team was coached by Roshan Randima, who was assisted by Shane Daniel. Asiri Perera was the team’s Physical Trainer with T.A.D. Sampath functioning as physio.