Contributed by reader Kelwin Koh.

Clementi Sports Hall, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 – Unity Secondary beat New Town Secondary 72-31 yesterday in a West Zone C Division Boys Basketball Championship game.

New Town Secondary have been an emerging basketball powerhouse in the South Zone for the past five years and with its transfer to the West Zone this year, it has managed to maintain its success with the B Division Boys and Girls team.

Thus the New Town boys were not at all in awe of the larger-sized Unity players and were seen confidently going through their own warmup drills prior to the match.

Unity’s coach played a different starting unit, with only their captain Remus (#9) and secondary one centre Delvin (#14) starting with three other secondary two players. This was perhaps a deliberate strategy to rest his starters after the last game. Noticeably missing were the twins Peter Soo (#5) and David Soo (#7) as well as forward Desmond (#6).

The team didn’t seem to suffer in anyway due to the change in lineup, building a strong lead from the start. Strong guard play by the New Town boys and their hustling stopped the Unity boys from going on a rampage.

The small and quick New Town players did not back down from the stronger and taller Unity lineup and if the opponent was less skilled they would have made many more shots. The 1st quarter ended with Unity captain Remus getting fouled in a layup and getting a foul-in. He failed to convert the shot and the quarter ended 20-6 in Unity’s favour.

The 2nd quarter saw more of the same story, with New Town’s coach inserting Mitchell Tan (#14) in to counter with some height inside the paint. Boosted by the accurate shooting of Bernard Chua (#6), New Town scored on back-to-back possessions. Unity’s second unit clamped down inside the paint and New Town soon found themselves facing the strong interior defense of the twins Peter and David.

With scoring provided by secondary one guard Ivan (#4) and Desmond, Unity started to pull away by the end of the second quarter. The halftime score stood at 35-12.

New Town seemed to come alive immediately after the halftime break, with Chua Cheng Wei (#7) making several skillful drives into the paint area. His body control and moves looked very familiar to B Division New Town player Weng Siang, but the key difference was his inability to convert his drives into points. Stung by his opponent’s sudden push, Peter went on an offensive barrage with five quick points. Unity also played their usual fluid fastbreak offense with point guard Gaddiel (#10) at the helm.

New Town refused to give up and continued to hoist a variety of shots up against Unity but to no avail especially against the interior defense of David and Delvin. The third quarter ended with Unity leading 53-18.

The fourth quarter started with New Town going on another run. Good team passing and off the ball running enabled them to break Unity’s full-court pressure defense several times and better finishing saw them gradually putting more points on the board. Unity also started showing signs of cooling down with their shooting. Secondary two guard Ian (#11) had a couple of good possessions and accurate shots to complement secondary one teammate and point guard Ivan who was running the show. This combination worked well for Unity and they played together throughout the final five minutes of the game.

Although the game finished 72-31 in Unity’s favour, the score did not do justice to the effort put in by New Town. Their effort is among the best I have seen so far in the West Zone competition and their never-say-die attitude on the court will see them go far in the future.