When St. Peter’s beat National Schools Champions St. Sebastian’s College in the quarter-final of the All Island under-19 basketball tournament a fortnight ago, they had signaled that they were going to be strong contenders for the title.

They came up with a stunning display in the final against S. Thomas’ College with the efforts of Shenal Dias being the highlight.

Although St. Peter’s College were not the firm favourites to win the title as there were other fancied teams such as St. Benedict’s College, Lyceum International and St. Sebastian’s College, in the knockout stages of the competition, their collective efforts enabled them to come on top. Their dominance was such that from the quarter-final stage onwards, they didn’t allow any of their opponents to take the lead.

They started off the competition finishing as Group Champions in the first round and maintained their unbeaten run till the end.

Some teams had peaked too early and by the time the knockout stage arrived, they went out of steam.

St. Sebastian’s were the first casualties, and then Lyceum International knocked out another powerhouse in local schools basketball - St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road.

Lyceums were one of the most disappointing sides in the tournament. They had the luxury of the number one player in the schools circuit in Rumesh Senanayake, but after a disappointing display in the semi-final, they suffered another setback losing the consolation final to St. Benedict’s College as Senanayake failed to fire.

Earlier, Lyceum had been knocked out in the semi-final by St. Peter’s while S. Thomas’ beat St. Benedict’s.

S. Thomas’ came into the final having lost just one game in the entire competition, against Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa.