Khairul (Dunman #9) passes the rebound to a team mate. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Jurong East Sports Hall, Thursday, April 26, 2012 — The National B Division Boys’ Basketball final pitching the remaining two unbeaten teams in the competition proved to be vastly different in nature from the earlier girls’ final. Dunman Secondary’s boys team more than made up for the school’s disappointing loss in the girls’ final to beat Unity Secondary 69-57 to successfully defend their title.
The 12-point margin in the final scoreline though failed to reflect Dunman’s superiority from the outset.
Despite falling behind early to an under-basket by Unity’s 2m tall centre Delvin Goh (#14), who also features for the national team, the more experienced Dunman boys regrouped to go 20-12 up by the end of the first quarter on the back of short jumpers by centre Chen Yi (#6) and a long range 3-point shot by guard Thng Jun Rong (#7).
Unity also did not help their cause by committing some turnovers in the first period which resulted in easy fast break points for Dunman.
The pattern of play for both teams emerged after the first quarter where the Dunman players would double-team Delvin Goh every time the ball was in his possession. Instead of driving to the basket, Dunman would also rely on short distance jumpers to minimize the chances of being blocked by Delvin.
Unity, on the other hand, relied on their speedy guards to run their fast break offense while relying on Delvin to grab offensive rebounds off long range 3-point shots.
It was Dunman who executed their strategy better, increasing their lead to 35-26 by the end of the first half and a seemingly insurmountable 56-37 lead at the end of the third quarter. Dunman’s guard Jun Rong starred in the third quarter, downing three 3-pointers and scoring 14 of his team’s 21 points in response to any attempted Unity’s charge to close the gap.
Yet Unity did embark on 9-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to reduce the scoreline to a 10-point gap at 56-46 on the back of a full court man-to-man press to revive their hopes of upsetting the defending champions.
Dunman’s Chen Yi however put paid to Unity’s hopes with a 3-point play to maintain a 10-point lead. He did bow out of the game with leg cramps a while later, but not before amassing a game-high 23 points for his team.
The final result was never in doubt as Dunman’s guard Jun Rong dribbled the ball to run out the remaining seconds of the game. He too shared in the top scoring list for the game with 23 points.
In the 3rd/4th placing match, Jurong Secondary edged out North Vista Secondary 66-65.
Score by Quarter
Unity v Dunman
1st Q: 12-20
2nd Q: 14-15 (26-35)
3rd Q: 11-21 (37-56)
4th Q: 20-13
Final score: 57-69
Top Scorers
Unity Secondary
Delvin Goh (#14) — 17 points
Goh Koon Lin Desmond (#9) — 13 points
Alvin Yuen Kok Weng (#7) — 8 points
Shaun Ang (#15) — 8 points
Dunman Secondary
Chen Yi (#6) — 23 points
Thng Jun Rong (#7) — 23 points
Nasrullah B Suhairi (#4) — 9 points
Dunman Lineup
Nasrullah B Suhairi (#4), Kong Yiroon (#5), Chen Yi (#6), Thng Jun Rong (#7), Gibson Tay (#8), Khairul Ridzuan Bin Manaf (#9), Ng Jian Shuo Bryan (#10), Foo Chang Hao (#11), Alistier Tay (#12), Ryhan Bin Samadi (#13), Joel Chua Jun An (#14), Mohamed Yussoff (#15)
Unity Lineup
Lim Jin Kai (#4), Wismon Lum Wei Kang (#5), Foo Jun Jie (#6), Alvin Yuen Kok Weng (#7), Lim Kai Xiang (#8), Goh Koon Lin Desmond (#9), Mernard Lee Kun Ye (#10), Ong Hgiap Meng Max (#11), Jason Ong Ye Xun (#12), Lee Yee Kai Darryl (#13), Goh Kok Chiang Delvin (#14), Shaun Ang (#15)
For more photos, go to the next page.
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