Story contributed by reader Tsang Wing Han

Clementi Sports Hall, Monday, April 28, 2008 – The National Junior College (NJC) boys cruised past Catholic Junior College (CJC) 73-35 to top their group in the A Division National Basketball Championship earlier this week.

NJC applied a full-court defence right from the start and CJC were unable to cope with the pressure, falling 0-9 behind before scoring their first points. The quarter ended with NJ taking an 11-point lead at 15-4.

The second quarter was pretty much the same story, with the NJ boys applying pressure and good defence on CJC. NJC were also shooting very well, connecting with several jump shots and a couple of 3-pointers. The half ended 34-12 in favour of NJC.

Despite their big lead, NJC continued to play all out during the game while exhibiting great basketball. Their persistence in their hustling and pressure created many easy opportunities and they led by 34 points (56-22) at the end of the third quarter.

The NJ coach made it a point to allow all 12 players from the squad to have almost equal playing time and that was reflected in their stamina while the CJ team was running out of steam after three physical quarters and eventually went down 35-75.

NJC are underdogs for a semi-final place and will need to overcome the other teams in their second round grouping which includes Hwa Chong Institution, Innova Junior College and Temasek Junior College, the top three from last year’s championship.