BASKETBALL

South Zone ‘B’ Division
Catholic High vs Outram Secondary
Gan Eng Seng Secondary vs New Town Secondary
Friday, 2 March 2007, at CCAB

Match Report by Lee Hwee Cheng. Pictures by Leslie Tan.
© redsports.sg/soulbreath pictures

Catholic High showed their basketball pedigree when they dominated Outram 70-31 in their semi-final game.  They will come up against Gan Eng Seng Secondary who beat New Town Secondary 61-48.

Catholic High’s no.9 Shawn Lim going for a layup against Outram

In a semi-final that was never in doubt as to who would emerge the winner, Catholic High took another stride closer to the South Zone championship as they routed Outram Secondary 70-31 in a quick forty minutes that rarely saw dramatic moments or time stoppages.

Things might have moved a little slow in the first quarter as both teams sought to pick up momentum to gain an early upper hand in the game.  The result at the end of the quarter, 14-6 in favour of Catholic High, did not give any hint of what was to come.

Catholic High no.12 Yeong Wooi defends against a layup by Outram

The characteristics of the two teams became obvious as soon as the 2nd quarter got underway.  Physically, the Catholic High boys have a slight edge in height and built.  Looking just that bit more weathered and tougher, their faster speed, their untiring defence and sharper shooting must be a result of a more regimented training.  With a superior height advantage in a few players (center no.12 Khaw Yeong Wooi, 17, is 1.95m), Catholic High dominated in the rebound department – both in the defensive zone and in the offensive box.  More than once throughout the game, the triple towers of Catholic High would snatch the rebounded ball off the hands of the defenders from behind – over the heads of the defenders – and then pop the ball back into the basket for an easy two.

Offensively, Catholic High seemed to have only one mission for the day:  fast-breaks, fast-breaks and more fast-breaks.  On the other end of the court, Catholic played a tight man-to-man defence, successfully keeping Outram’s front line –and the ball – at the top of the “T” and successfully forcing a couple of 24-second violations on the offence.  After a while, you can’t help but wonder if the Catholic boys have lungs twice as large as those of their opponents.

Catholic High’s no.7 Jonathan Cher in full flight towards the basket

After a good show of excellent teamwork in their last game against Raffles Institution, Outram were put to real test this time.  Never once showing that they were intimidated by their opponents, the Outram boys maintained good heads on their shoulders and kept up sound tactics to counter the tough D.  When the paint became practically impenetrable, the forwards took up the scoring responsibilities and the task of keeping the possession alive, running pick-and-rolls, creating space, finding space, and then making three-point attempts when opportunity allowed.

Outram struggled with the defence as well.  Unable to keep up with the fast-breaks, Outram found difficulty with regaining possession from the rebounds.  It certainly didn’t help that the attacking Catholic centres were easily almost one-head taller than most of the Outram boys.

It was under such dire circumstances that Outram managed to gain points only from one three-pointer made in the first five minutes of the quarter.  By the end of quarter 2, Outram were trailing by a score of 33-14.

Outram’s no.10 Lian An tries to shake off the attention of Catholic High’s no.12 Yeong Wooi

Outram continued to struggle with the defence and the scoring in the third quarter.  Quarter 3 ended with Catholic High leading at 60-19.

In the fourth quarter, just when some other team might have already given up at this point, Outram amazed with their never-say-die attitude.  Obviously worn out from chasing after fast-breaks and breaking down the tight defence, they kept up the pick-and-rolls and running for space which helped them put points on the board.

The game ended 70-31 in Catholic High’s favour.

Catholic High may have been the better team in most game aspects, putting up a game so effective that the team seemed mechanical to a point.  But what if, say, the Outram boys had a few more inches to share amongst the team or had placed more emphasis on fast-break trainings, just like Catholic probably did?

Time was not the key factor in this game.  Attitude, the right kind, was.

If anything, it was a good fight till the end.

Curious about Catholic’s almost-mechanical game, we asked captain no.11 Chester Leow, 16, about how he would rate the day’s game and if they had been extra passionate about trainings.

Catholic High’s no.12 Yeong Wooi (in white) battles with Outram’s no.7 for control of the ball

Catholic High’s no.9 Shawn Lim drives to the basket despite the attentions of Outram’s no.10 Lian An.

“I thought it was not a well-played game for us. There were too many bad passes.  Team spirit was low today and could’ve been better.  I’d give us 7.5 out of 10 today,” said Leow.

He continued to elaborate, “We train* 8 times a week.  (Writer’s note: at this point, the writer’s eyes widened in bewilderment.)  Every morning, Mondays to Fridays.  And then, in the afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

Now we know.  Practice, and lots of it, really does make perfect.

In the other semi-finals for the South Zone, Gan Eng Seng beat New Town Secondary 61-48 after a nail-biting game which was tied 33-33 at half-time.

New Town will meet Outram for the 3rd/4th placing.

Gan Eng Seng meets Catholic High in the powerhouse face-off for the South Zone Championship on Thursday at Toa Payoh Sports Hall.

All four teams will proceed into the Nationals.

New Town’s no.11 Kwan Wei in action against Gan Eng Seng in their South Zone semi-final game

*We found out from Catholic High that the school runs a sports programme where, for a few focused sports, the student representatives are put through a different studying scheme to accommodate more frequent and more intensive training sessions.  We think that’s an awesome life.  If only we had that kind of choices when we were kids ourselves.

Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in the pictures, please let us know the names so we can update this report.  Thanks.

Please feel free to tell us what you thought of the game either by email or writing it in the comments section.

More action shots in the Picture Gallery.