Jurong beat Catholic High 54-42 to play RI in T-Net Final

By Lee Hwee Cheng

CCAB, Wednesday, June 13, 2007 – In a second-round game of the Under-14 Boys’ category played at the indoor courts of CCAB yesterday, Jurong Secondary School overcame jitters in the first and last quarters to beat Catholic High 54-42.

The T-Net Club U-14 Tournament has progressed into the second round, where the top six teams have been split into two groups and are currently playing round-robin games. The top teams in each group will then face off in the final to determine the winner of the tournament. The second-placed teams in each group will vie for the third placing of the tournament.

Both teams struggled to gain momentum in the first quarter game which ended 15-10 in Jurong’s favour. Jurong were the first to regain their composure and establish control of the game in the second quarter as they found their shooting touches to pull ahead in the game. Despite the slight disadvantage in height, especially apparent in the paint, Jurong had their fair share of rebounds and they made up for what they lacked with more confident offensive runs and a better defense.

Catholic High, on the other hand, did not take full advantage of their physical strengths; they refrained from attacking in the paint and stuck to mostly field goal attempts. It did not help their cause either as luck seemed to evade them and many shots just rolled along the rim and refused to sink in. Jurong executed their shots better, be it a rebound under the basket or a jump-shot from the field or a low post-up move in the paint.

Catholic High had stuck close early in the second quarter with a jumper and a three-pointer to stay six points behind at 15-21. However, with fast break points from #8 Wei Jian and #6 Randy, Jurong pulled away to a fourteen-point lead at 29-15.  As Catholic remained mostly ineffective for the rest of the second quarter, Jurong charged ahead to end the first half with a three-pointer and held the lead at 35-17.

It was a battle of small forwards in the third quarter. Jurong’s driving forces showed their shooting prowess when they were denied the lanes, while Catholic’s forwards finally found their way into the paint but still not the baskets. #4 Jabez and #10 Dominic finally put the defensive pressure on Jurong with their drives towards the basket but the lay-ups just would not sink into the basket. Jabez made a last-second jumper as the whistle blew for the third quarter, but Jurong had already widened the gap to 18 points at 47-29.

The final quarter proved to be the best part of the match as Catholic finally found their act and Jurong began to show signs of panic as the gap narrowed. Jurong had started the quarter with a basket to stretch the lead to 20 points but Catholic’s centre #15 Kong Tat started a scoring run, together with forwards Jabez and Dominic.  Making better shots in the paint and pulling away for jumpers when the drives were stopped, Catholic pulled closer to 41-51.

Jurong, as if taken aback by Catholic’s explosive attacks, started to show signs of anxiety as they committed frivolous errors in their hurried counter attacks and unnecessary fouls while trying to stop Catholic’s runs. Catholic’s morale were pumped up and the boys went on quick attacks, but their defense still remained vulnerable. They managed to pull to within ten points, but Jurong held on to their lead and emerged the victors at 54-42 in the end.

Jurong will face Raffles Institution in the Final to be held on Saturday, 16 June, at Henderson.

Editor’s note:  If you do recognize yourselves or any of your friends in these pictures, do drop us a note in the "Comments" section, and we’ll update the captions accordingly. Thanks! More action shots in the Picture Gallery.