Story by REDintern Koh Yizhe aka sCreWS

Republic Polytechnic, July 15 and 17, 2008 – Temasek Polytechnic (TP) and Singapore Polytechnic (SP) are riding high after two consecutive wins each in the Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Basketball Championships. TP had to labor for their wins. They came back from a 20-point deficit in the first match against Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to win 54-51 and followed that up with a close 64 -63 win against combined ITE. SP had an easy 59-50 win against Republic Polytechnic (RP), but struggled against Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), winning a close game 48-47.

TP won a thrilling game against NYP on the first day of competition. NYP took charge of the game in the early stages and built up a 20-point lead by the midpoint of the second quarter. TP focused on multiple quick breaks as they tried to recover from the deficit. TP raised their game in the third and reduced the lead to just five points, setting the stage for the final quarter.

The tempo of the game increased in the fourth as both teams knew they stood a good chance of winning. An amazing comeback was completed as TP took the lead with less than two minutes remaining, and they held on for the 54-51 win.

RP registered their first win against ITE in the next match of the day. RP controlled the early goings with their #7 dictating play. However, a bad fall just after 5 minutes forced him to leave for the rest of the quarter. RP continued to dominate proceedings and eventually won 56-47.

SP won the last match of the day 48-47 against NP.

Match day 2 was just as exciting. NP took the early lead against NYP in the first match of the day, ending the half with a slim 20-17 lead. A fightback was on the cards in the third as NYP took the game to NP, setting the stage with a 29 -29 scoreline by the end of the third. With the crowd clearly behind them, NYP continued the momentum for the third and took the lead. NP just couldn't put away their chances as the game slipped away from them. The final score was 60-49 to NYP.

RP and ITE had disappointing outings as they lost to SP and TP 50-59 and 63-64 respectively.

NYP and RP have a 1-win-1-loss record after two games. ITE and NP are 0-2 while TP and SP have perfect 2-0 records.

RESULTS:
Day 1
TP 54 NYP 51
RP 56 ITE 47
SP 48 NP 47

Day 2
SP 59 RP 50
TP 64 ITE 63