Story by REDintern Koh Yizhe aka sCreWS

Singapore Basketball Centre, August 18, 2008 – In the clash of the two top teams of group Y, where the winners would finish top and would avoid the daunting task of playing Unity, Anglican High (AH) prevailed against Raffles Institution (RI) 58 -37.

The first quarter started tightly, perhaps with the importance of the game weighing heavily on both teams' minds. RI and AH both had their chances, but it was AH that took theirs. The quarter ended with AH scoring 12 points with RI not too far behind with 7 points.

AH started showing their dominance in the second with #5 showing his quality. First, it was a beautiful three-point play, then, he was the first person to collect the rebound as his teammate missed the free throw. For the first minutes, RI was limited to unsuccessful shots as they were unable to prevent AH from taking control of the game. The quarter was filled with plenty of easy lay ups by AH. Maybe it was AH’s superb level of play, or maybe RI was just plain unlucky; whatever it is, AH lead by 10 points at the half, 26-16.

Never to be a team to back down, RI came back fighting. They stepped up their game to a whole new level in the third, and seemed to be at their playing best once again. Despite this, the rampage of easy layups continued from AH players. RI began to resort to long passes which were easily collected by the towering figures of #8 and #11. RI were limited to just six points while AH extended their lead with 14 points in the quarter to make it 40-32.

The fourth started on a high for RI with a steal as AH tried to attack. A comeback didn't seem as impossible as RI showed plenty of intent by scoring the first six points of the quarter to trail 38-40. This forced a timeout by the AH bench. This proved effective as AH were back to their best after the break. Both teams went all out with plenty of energy towards the end and they found themselves on the floor on multiple occasions. Despite their best efforts, RI eventually went down 37-58. AH, as winners of group Y, will now face Jurong Secondary School, who beat Dunman High, in the semi-finals while RI will face Unity.

In the other group Y match, Woodlands Ring beat Yuying 39-32. Both teams already failed to qualify for the semifinals before the match and were playing for pride.