Story By Zachary Foo/Red Sports. Photos by REDintern Matthew Lau
Jacinth Figueroa (Unity #10) attempts to block Khant Htet(Boon Lay #4). (Photo 1 © REDintern Matthew Lau)
Clementi Sports Hall, Friday, February 14, 2014 — Unity Secondary (USS) progressed into the second round undefeated with a 78–28 win over Boon Lay Secondary (BLSS) in the West Zone B Division Boys Basketball Championship. Thng Yong-An (USS #5) led all scorers with 16 points, while Daniel Poh (BLSS #14) had 13 points to lead his team.
Unity now head into the second round, where they are seeded into Group Y. The other teams in the group are Tanglin Secondary, River Valley High School, Bukit Panjang Government High, Jurongville Secondary and Bukit Batok Secondary.
Boon Lay exposed Unity’s lack of size early on, as Daniel (BLSS #14) muscled his way in the paint to snag rebounds. Unity more than made up for it on the offensive end, swinging the ball around and making good use of open space. Yong-An (USS #5) made the most of his opportunities, scoring the bulk of his team’s points early on. As the quarter wore on, the Unity defence started to take its toll on Boon Lay. The hounding presence of John Christopher (USS #6) led to several Boon Lay turnovers. This allowed Unity to break away, ending the quarter up 23–4.
In the second quarter, Boon Lay’s offence stagnated. Each time they got a decent attempt at the rim, they could not pull the ball in. Unity continued their good offence, further extending the lead.
The third quarter saw Boon Lay start off well, scoring eight straight points. But that was all they could get in the quarter. Unity switched to a half-court trap defence, which baffled Boon Lay completely. Unity consistently forced the Boon Lay ball-handlers into turnovers, converting them on the other end. Kovic Lee (USS #8) paced Unity’s scoring in this quarter, helping himself to six points.
Unity’s 3-pointers started falling for them in the final quarter. Behind the hot shooting of Yong-An (USS #5) and Kovic Lee (USS #8), Unity made five 3-pointers. Boon Lay continued to struggle with shooting, failing to make it past their own halfcourt. In the end, Unity sealed their undefeated run in the group stages with a 78–28 win.
Unity captain, Foo Jun Lin (#7), said, “It feels good going into the second round. We need to improve our shooting as it was not accurate. The key to us winning our matches is making our three-point shots.”
Scoring by Quarter
Unity Secondary vs Boon Lay Secondary
1st Quarter: 23–4
2nd Quarter: 12–4 (35–8)
3rd Quarter: 20–8 (55–16)
4th Quarter: 23–12 (78–28)
Top Scorers
Unity Secondary
Thng Yong-An (#5) – 16 points (4 x 3-pointers)
Boon Lay Secondary
Daniel Poh (#14) – 13 points
Unity Secondary Roster
Maung Khant Htet (#4), Thng Yong-An (#5), Caraig John Christopher Bico (#6), Foo Jun Lin (#7), Lee Ko Vic Ariel Nestor (#8), Tan Min Hui (#9), Jacinth Figueroa Aban (#10), Caraig David Martin Bico (#11), Matthew Choo Ming-En (#12), Maverick Jercel E. Dasig (#13), Leon Chin Wei Chen (#14), Shahrul B Ramdan (#15)
Boon Lay Secondary Roster
Wong Song Yi (#4), Ong Yeow Koon Jaron (#5), Titus Tan Jing Kai (#6), Wang Tenggui (#7), Tan Kar Xian (#8), Tumbo Cris Vince (#9), Aidil Sufyan B Abdullah (#10), Tan Yi Zhi (#11), Tyrone Tan Jing Long (#12), Chong Minlon (#13), Poh Yong Xian Daniel (#14), Yoe Fang Rayner (#15)
More photos next page
Thank you! We’ve amended the story
Hi:) #10 name is Jacinth Figueroa not jacinth aban thank you
erm, i think you guys should revert back to the old format of writing the scores? like not just the top scorers but others who scored too!
That’s nice to have but no time to count everyone’s scoring. We have too many stories to write.