The knockout stage of the all-island under-19 schools basketball tournament will get underway today at Mount Lavinia with eight teams playing the quarter-final stage of the newly introduced tournament.

Hosts S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa, Azar Central College, Kandy, St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Lyceum International School, Nugegoda and Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa are the eight teams that have qualified for the knockout stage.

Meanwhile in the matches played on Sunday, Prince of Wales College defeated Maris Stella College, Negombo 67-48 after taking a narrow first half lead with Tharidu Sankalpa and Chanaka Madushan top scoring for them with 20 and 16 points respectively.

St. Sebastian’s College, whose all age group teams have put up an excellent show so far this year, suffered a heavy loss at the hands of St. Peter’s College, after four of their players were out of the game due to injury.

The National School champions, scored 20 points in the first half, but managed just five more in the second half.

Inura Ekanayaka top scored for St. Peter’s with 18 points. Dinuk Fernando was the top scorer for the losers with nine points.

The match between hosts and St. Joseph’s College was won by the S. Thomas’ by nine points. The final score was 73-64.

Shavin Kappuwatta and Vikesh Dharmasena were outstanding as they accounted for 28 and 20 points respectively for hosts.