BASKETBALL

National ‘B’ Division Boys
Catholic High vs Unity Secondary
Monday, 16 April 2007 at Clementi Sports Hall

Story and video by Mr Ian Chew, a teacher from Catholic High. Thanks, Ian!

Catholic High’s centre Khaw Yeong Wooi in action during an earlier game. © Leslie Tan

A spectacular dunk by Catholic High centre Khaw Yeong Wooi was the highlight of a largely one-sided national inter-school basketball semi-final match held at Clementi Sports Hall on 16 April (Mon). Catholic High School went on to record a 60-25 over Unity Secondary School.

In a match between two zone champions (Unity is the current West Zone Champions while Catholic High won the South Zone title), Catholic High School started the brighter and led by 6-0 after 3 minutes. They applied a stifling man-to-man defence on their opponents and limited Unity to outside shooting.

Video of Khaw Yeong Wooi dunking. © Ian Chew


Yet it was from such outside shooting that Unity Sec made their comeback. Tan Jun Long (No 6) of Unity Secondary made two long range 3 pointers, standing way off the 3-point line, to drag the team back to 6-11 down. He then made a bank shot off the glass to cut the deficit to 8-11. The Catholic High coach was now very much agitated by the lack of defensive effort on their star player and made an instant substitution.

The switch seemed to work as Unity Sec was able to score only 3 more points in the quarter. Catholic High, on the other hand, piled up the points from fast breaks to lead by 30-10 at the end of the quarter. All five starters were involved in scoring and shooting guard Lim Fang Ching (No 9) added two 3 pointers to the score.

The second quarter resumed in a similar vein as the Catholic High team continued to smother their opponents with a tight man-to-man defense. The Unity Sec team only managed to score 3 more points to end the half 14-41 down.

In the third quarter, a visibly tiring Unity team failed to convert their chances and it was from one such opportunity that Yeong Wooi made his dunk. After a defensive rebound, forward No 13 Wong Kam Seng passed the ball ahead to Yeong Wooi, who streaked passed a Unity player before dunking the ball. The crowd broke in wild applause at his effort!

In the fourth quarter, with both teams fielding their younger set of players, the score was much unchanged with Catholic High eventually winning the game 60-25.

Said Chester Leow, captain of the Catholic High team,

“We started the match quite well and defended the other team very well from the start. Then of course we were all delighted with Yeong Wooi’s effort as we have seen him improving throughout the competition. Credit also to Unity for a competitive match. We hope to bring this form and effort into the finals.”

They will next face Gan Eng Seng Secondary School, who beat New Town Secondary in the other semi final 64-39. The final mouth watering match, a repeat of the South Zone finals, will be played at Toa Payoh Sports Hall on 25 April Wednesday at 2pm. It promises to be another exciting finale to the B Division basketball competition!