BASKETBALL

South Zone ‘C’ Division Boys
Bendemeer Secondary vs Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School
Monday, 25 June 2007 at CCAB

Story and pictures by Leslie Tan. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Bendemeer Secondary school beat Kuo Chuan Presbyterian 39-26 in their first game of the season to mark the start of their ‘C’ Division campaign.

#8 Jason Tan of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian (white) looks for a clear way to the basket despite the attention of a Bendemeer player. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

The 1st quarter saw the Bendemeer boys establish a 5-0 lead before Kuo Chuan finally put some points on the board to make it 4-5. However, Bendemeer proved the sharper of the two teams in shooting with their #7 Chung Chun Hei dropping a 3-pointer to make it 10-4 before his team finished up the first quarter with the lead at 12-7. Kuo Chuan’s #9 Yusof Ashad and #8 Jason Tan were among the scorers for their team as they kept pace with their opponent.


In the 2nd quarter Kuo Chuan started brightly.  Their #8 Jason Tan drove up the court, dished a pass to his teammate Yusof for a lay-up to make the score 9-12. Bendemeer maintained their lead when Chung Chun Hei sank two free throws to make it a five-point lead at 14-9.

#12 Tey Jun Yuan, captain of the Bendemeer team, begins his drive to the basket. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

At this point, Kuo Chuan’s key player Jason Tan took a tumble, hurt his knee and had to leave the court. His departure allowed Bendemeer to impose their will on the game and they went on a 7-2 run with Chun Hei dropping another 3-pointer. Kuo Chuan finished the first half with a 10-point lead at 21-11.

Bendemeer maintained their lead in the third quarter despite the return of Kuo Chuan’s Jason Tan from the bench. Chung Chun Hei continued with his 3-point shooting with another 3-pointer to make it 24-13 and #10 Zhou Xiong Jie extended Bendemeer’s lead further with a lay-up to stretch the lead to 12 at 26-14. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter, Kuo Chuan finally broke through the Bendemeer defence when #10 Kitahara Kotaro  dropped a 3-point basket to make it 17-26. He then followed that up with a drive up the court, finishing with a pass to teammate Jason Tan for a lay-up to narrow the deficit to 7 points at 19-26.

#11 Alex Soh of Kuo Chuan (in white) dropped a 3-pointer against Bendemeer. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the 4th quarter, Bendemeer’s Chun Hei dropped another 3-pointer followed by a lay-up to make it 31-20. Kuo Chuan replied through #11 Alex Soh who hit a three to make it 23-31. The reply from Bendemeer came again from Chun Hei who put in a basket to make it a 10-point game at 33-23. Although a timeout was called at this point with 4:56 to go in the half, it made little difference and Bendemeer went on to wrap it up 39-26 to register the first win of their season.

"Our teamwork is good but our zonal defense is a problem," said Bendemeer captain Tey Jun Yuan. "In attack, we also have to work on finding the open man." Jun Yuan doesn’t think his school can make it to the next round and singles out Henderson Secondary as the team to make it. Perhaps he is just being modest.

#7 Chung Chun Hei of Bendemeer  drives past #8 Jason Tan of Kuo Chuan. Chun Hei hit four 3-pointers in his team’s winning effort. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Kuo Chuan Presbyterian team list:

#4 Fwu Lek Yuan
#5 Dalen Lim
#6 Benjamin Sim
#7 Tan Jia Liang
#8 Jason Tan
#9 Yusof Ashad
#10 Kitahara Kotaro
#11 Alex Soh
#12 Ong Jun Peng
#13 Marcus Koh
#14 Darren Koh
#15 Ho Wei Chyi

Bendemeer team list:

#4 Lee Zhong Lin
#5 Raymond Goei
#6 Tan Kah Wei
#7 Chung Chun Hei
#8 Lim Eng Kiat
#9 Ee Jun Hui
#10  Zhou Xiong Jie
#11 Cheng Shanze
#12 Tey Jun Yuan
#13 Jonathan Lim
#15 Clifford Lee

Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your teammates, or we got the names wrong, let us know in the "comments" section. Thanks. More action shots in the Picture Gallery.