NUS beat Catholic High by one point in friendly

BASKETBALL

National University of Singapore vs Catholic High School
Wednesday, 7 November 07 at NUS Sports & Recreation Centre

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

The National University of Singapore (NUS) beat Catholic High School 73-72 last week in an absorbing game for basketball fans.

Catholic High, three-time winners of the B Division Championship (’05-’07), finally found their match against NUS who finished second in the recently concluded 2007 IVP Games.

NUS, having taken a break from training since the IVP Games ended in October, played without their full squad and roped in some alumni for the friendly game. Catholic High had a nervous start to the game, making quite a lot of turnovers in the first quarter and failed to score through poor decision making, allowing NUS to walk off the court with a first quarter lead of 11-8.

In the second quarter, NUS captain Bandar Tjetty erupted with four three-pointers but Catholic High had by then shed their first quarter jitters to improve their defense and execution and walked off the court at half-time actually leading by two points (37-35).

Catholic High continued to play strong defense, with Khaw Yeong Wooi standing out with blocks and rebounds. This caused NUS to commit turnovers and Catholic High managed to keep their noses in front at the end of the third quarter (37-35). But eventually, the accuracy of the NUS team from the 3-point line proved to be Catholic High’s undoing and NUS walked off with the win and their collective pride relatively intact.

Said Ian Chew, teacher-in-charge of the Catholic High team: “I think that Bandar destroyed us with 6 3-pointers! My team were truly in awe of his confident and accurate shooting! #13 Wong Kam Seng from my team kept saying, “He scored four 3-pointers in the second quarter alone!”

Catholic High’s Jonathan Cher said: “I though that we performed quite well. NUS was quite a challenge. We were having some doubts when we arrived at NUS and saw the size and skill of the NUS team. But when the match began, our only focus was on playing a good game of basketball rather than winning. I felt that the support from our bench was also crucial to our good performance.”

Chester Leow, who captained the B Division team to the 2007 national championship title, said after the match: “We played tenacious defense on the NUS team. We held them to a pretty low scoring game. Even though our offense was not as fluent as usual, but our defensive efforts saved us again. Most notable for our team were the performances of Yeong Wooi and Fang Ching. James Hong also contributed some crucial baskets.”

Greater experience on the part of the NUS team played a role but nonetheless, the seniors were still impressed.

Said Lee Rong-Tzuu of NUS: “We won the game cause we played harder and hustled for the ball, and passed the ball around more and executed better. Also, Bandar made his 3-point shots towards the end of the game. Guess it was experience that counted in the last moments that earned us a win.”

Lee also made special mention of Shawn Lim and Khaw Yeong Wooi of Catholic High.

“#9 (Shawn Lim) and #12 (Khaw Yeong Wooi) of Catholic High are standout players in the team. #9 (Lim) has good handling of the ball and finishes with the ball well around the hoop with confidence and can shoot. He possesses good strength too. #12 (Khaw) is one of the most mobile post player in the team, and with his height and agility, has a good blocking ability. He can shoot the ball too. A future prospect definitely. The strength of the Catholic High team is that they share the ball well, have good passing and catching and they have a decent defense. Quite an organized team overall.”

1st quarter: NUS 11 Catholic High 8
2nd: 35-37 (Bandar Tjetty scored four 3-pointers)
3rd: 51-53
4th: 73-72

NUS
Fabien Apheceix (#2)
Lee Rongtzuu (#3)
Choo Xing Ru (#4)
Wong Huijie (#5)
Bandar Tjetty (#9)
Chua Xian Yi Darrel (#12)
Joshua Koh (#13)
Lai Wai Kit (#15)
Huang Zhongwei (#21)
Darren Chua (#23)
Joshua Lim Hao Zheng (#31)
Cheok Liangwei (#91)