Story by reader Ian Chew. Pictures by reader Eneida Tan.

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Weng Siang (#9, NTS) scored a game-high 22 points for his team. Yet he was unable to prevent Jurong (in white) from winning the final 73-71. (Photo © Eneida Tan)

Jurong East Sports Complex, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 – Jurong Secondary survived a furious fourth quarter rally by New Town Secondary to record a nail biting 73-71 victory. Most Valuable Player Johnathan Lian (#8, JSS) top scored with 22 points to lead his team to a second win over their West Zone rival this year.

New Town drew first blood when the opened with a 13-11 lead in the first quarter. But better overall team play by Jurong in the second quarter ensured that the perennial West Zone powerhouse went into the half time break 30-28 up.

With three minutes left on the clock in the fourth quarter, the game seemed lost for New Town when Jurong opened up a 13-point 67-54 lead. New Town’s inspirational point guard Lor Weng Siang (#9) also suffered a worrying knock to his head while driving in for a lay up and had to be stretchered out by his teammates.

But New Town had other ideas. Led by robust play from Subhas Nair (#13, NTS), the newest West Zone team went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to just 4 points (63-67) with 1:25 to go with the supporters from both schools cheering wildly.

Up stepped Johnathan who calmly sank two free throws to restore Jurong’s lead to 6 points (71-65). Randy Ng (#7, JSS) also scored a crucial lay up to calm Jurong’s nerves and put his team 73-71 up.

New Town had a chance to win the game with seconds to go, but their long three-point attempt fell short of its mark, to the jubilation of the Jurong team.

The New Town team was led by Weng Siang’s 22 points, Subhas’ 11 points and #11’s 12 points. Jurong, on the other hand, were paced by Wei Yan’s (#4) 12 points and Randy’s (#7) 11 points.

New Town had an unlikely supporter in Jurong’s best performing player. Said Johnathan Lian:

“New Town performed very well today and we really had a tough match against them. In fact, I thought that Subhas (New Town’s centre #13) deserved to be the MVP for his numerous rebounds and good defensive play! But we are very happy for the win!”

New Town suffered a double loss when their girls team also went down 47-69 to Unity Secondary in the girls final. Yvonne Tan (#4, USS) led her team with 10 points and also garnered the MVP award. Teammates Chia Biru (#9, USS) and Jessica Lee (#15, USS) contributed 22 points and 17 points respectively to their team’s win.

Yet New Town can take heart that both their boys and girls B division teams have made it to the West Zone finals. Said Unity’s Yvonne Tan:

“It is definitely a school to watch out for in the coming years for our zone’s basketball competitions!”

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Subhas (#13, NTS) also starred for New Town with his aggressive play on the boards. (Photo © Eneida Tan)
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Shi Hao (#8, NTS) scored two 3-pointers in the first quarter for an early lead. (Photo © Eneida Tan)
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New Town’s Sidney (#11) did creditably with 12 points for his team. Yet he could not evade Justin Nadar’s (#15, JSS) excellent defensive play on his lay up. (Photo © Eneida Tan)
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Xiao Fei from Unity Sec (#10 in yellow) kept smart possession of the ball to help her team beat New Town 69-47. She was closely watched by Kelly Yee of New Town Sec. (Photo © Eneida Tan)
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Unity’s Irene Ng (#14) managed to add 6 points for her team in the West Zone Final game, despite the best efforts of Shuman and Szelei (#4, NTS) (Photo © Eneida Tan)

N.B. If you know the names of the players, feel free to leave them in the comments section and we’ll update the pictures.

More pictures in the gallery.