BASKETBALL

Youth U-14 Championships 2007 (Boys)
Catholic High School vs Jurong Secondary School
Wednesday, 21 November 07 at the Singapore Basketball Centre

Story by Red Sports reader Bryan Koh, a player of Catholic High.

Catholic High won their third match in a row with a narrow 50-49 win against Jurong Secondary.

The match started with You Chen (#17) from Catholic High scoring the first basket. Bryan Koh (#6) of Catholic High ran into foul problem early with three fouls in the first quarter. The quarter ended with Catholic High leading 14-13.

In the second quarter, Catholic High continued to play with a 2-3 defences like in previous games to prevent the other team from scoring. Shanti (#14) of Catholic High contributed to his team both in offence and defence, scoring seven points for the quarter while rejecting shots from the opponents. The quarter finished wi th Catholic High leading 25-21.

In the third quarter, Jurong started to put on a full-court press on Catholic High. This time, Catholic point guard Auston Quek ( #5) was deployed to go past the opponent 1-on-1 while his teammates stayed at the side to receive passes and shoot. With the Catholic High defence holding firm, Jurong were only able to score six points. Auston was able to make shots, scoring eight points and made good passes to help Catholic High finish the third quarter leading 39-27.

In the final quarter, Catholic High had many bad passes which were intercepted by Jurong which continued to execute a full-court press. This time Jurong’s full-court press was very strong and effective, denying Catholic High passing opportunities. Jurong’s #10 scored eight points for his team and stood out with his interception of passes. Catholic High were tiring fast in the last quarter and Jurong capitalised to make shots and layups to narrow the gap and lead Catholic High by only one point (49-48).

With approximately 30 seconds left, Auston Quek (#6) of Catholic High was rushed past the half-court line. Hearing a shout of “Auston!” from teammate Bryan Koh (#6), Auston made a pass to Bryan who was facing the basket at a 45 degree angle. Bryan then made a pass to teammate Shanti (#14) near the base-line who made no mistake with a basket to bring Catholic High into the lead (50-49).

With time running out, Jurong started their attack but the Catholic High defence was tight and soon the ball was back in Catholic High hands. A long pass was made to Aaron Pang (#11, Catholic High) but he misses the shot and the rebound was hit out of court. With 5 seconds left, Jurong tried to score but Catholic High’s full-court press was too strong for them to make a shot and the game ended with Catholic High 50-49 winners.

Said captain Bryan Koh: “it’s not the points that matter. It is the game that matters. We never judge by points. I would
like to commend both teams for their fighting spirit and perseverance. I would like to thank our assistant coach Bao Lin for her guidiance and would like to wish her team all the best for the SEA Games.”

Ed’s note: I wasn’t at the gaem and so if I have got the sequence of events wrong at the end, please email me or leave your corrections in the comments section. Thanks.

Match statistic:

Catholic High
22 shots on field (including 1 3-pointer)
5 free throws

Jurong
22 shots from the field (including 2 3-pointers)
3 free throws

Top scorer:

Shanti (#14, Catholic High) – 17 points and 4 rejection

(#10, Jurong) – 11 points

Catholic High:
#4-Lennard Tong
#5-Auston Quek
#6-Bryan Koh
#7-Duncan Koh
#8-Yim Yi Xiang
#9-Edmund
#11-Aaron Pang
#12-Benny Lam
#13-Mathew
#14-Shanti
#16-Justin Lee
#17-Lee You Chen

Jurong:

If you have the team list, please put it in the comments section and I will update this post.