BASKETBALL

South Zone ‘C’ Division Championship Final 2007
Catholic High vs Raffles institution
Tuesday, 24 July 2007 at Delta Sports Complex

Story and video by Red Sports reader Ian Chew, a teacher of Catholic High. Thanks!

A titanic struggle between the two best teams in the South Zone resulted in an exciting and entertaining game of basketball at the Final played on 24 July at the Delta Sports Complex. Catholic High emerged 64-57 winners over their long-time rival Raffles Institution in front of a passionate crowd of supporters.

Yet it did not seem that smooth going for Catholic High at the beginning. Raffles Institution showed their intention to win from the very start by playing aggressively at both ends of the court against their taller opponents. The players in green, namely Ryan Tan (#9), Daniel Chander (#12) and Gregory Chiew (#14) fought for offensive rebounds and scored 10 points between them, leading the team to a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. Catholic High, on the other hand, relied on their height – in particular the inside skills of their 1.9m centre Goh Kong Tat (#15) who scored the first five points of the team.

The defending South Zone champions got their act together in the second quarter though, outscoring the Raffles team 21-16 to take a 34-30 half-time lead. Catholic High’s captain Jabez Su (#4) led the scoring with eight points in the quarter while point guard Dominic Lim (#10) added five points together numerous assists and steals. At this point, it still was anyone’s game and both teams took their entire break discussing their tactics for the crucial second half.

The third quarter, marked by defensive intensity from both teams, was a low-scoring one. During this quarter, Catholic High managed to extend their lead to eight points, outscoring their opponents 12-8 in the process for an overall 46-38 lead.

Just as the lead seemed comfortable in the final quarter for the team in white, it disappeared within two minutes of the start of the quarter. Wee Zi Jian (#15) and Daniel Chander of the Raffles team led the comeback, scoring four and three points respectively on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to just one point for Catholic High. Timeout was quickly called and by this time, the spirit of the Raffles camp was at an all-time high.

This was now the exciting part. The rest of the quarter was played at its highest level of intensity as both teams were determined to clinch the title. A crucial moment came when Daniel Chander of the Raffles team came down with leg cramps and had to sit out the rest of the game. Catholic High took maximum advantage of the situation by reverting to a zonal defence and putting the ball to their centres Goh Kong Tat and Benny Lam at every opportunity. They steadily built the lead back up to four points at 54-50.

With two minutes left on the clock, Raffles had to make something happen to close the gap. They did exactly that by going on a full court man-to-man defense on the Catholic High team. This seemed to pay dividends immediately when they quickly closed the gap to 53-56, albeit off a crucial turnover by Catholic High’s centre Benny Lam.

However, this pressure defence was taking its toll on the Raffles players as two more came down with leg cramps and had to be stretchered off the court by their teammates. The better fitness of Catholic High’s players showed with them running three consecutive fast-breaks and going on an 8-4 run to win the game 64-57.

Said Catholic High captain Jabez Su of the game: “We really need to improve on cutting down our turnovers and improve our free throw shooting record. However overall I’m very pleased with our fighting spirit. We never gave up though RI was closing in on us in the final stages of the game. Hopefully we can bring this growing team spirit into the national rounds.”

In Girls’ South Zone Championship Final played on the same day, Raffles Girls’ School beat Cedar Girls; School 59-58 in a thrilling game. The Raffles Girls team won the title game despite being 20 points down at one stage.

All the best to all South Zone teams in the National rounds!

Raffles Institution:

#4 Pang Wei Han
#5 Brendan Sim
#6 Justin Chua
#7 Chua Wei Xuan
#8 Jordaan Goh
#9 Ryan Tan
#10 Brandon Yap
#11 Ravins Cheung
#12 Daniel Chander
#13 Ding Jian Han
#14 Gregory Chiew
$15 Wee Zi Jian

Catholic High:

#4 Jabez Su
#5 Auston Quek
#6 Justin Lee
#7 Duncan Koh
#8 Johncelin Khoo
#9 Edmund Tan
#10 Dominic Lim
#11 Matthew Ang
#12 Benny Lam
#13 Tay Ee Shen
#14 Sathyaselan Ayanam
#15 Goh Kong Tat