Nanyang Polytechnic finish third in IVP Basketball Championship

Story and Pictures by Koh Yizhe.

Nanyang Technological University, Thursday, January 22, 2009 – After suffering a heartbreaking defeat against Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in the semi-finals, Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) bounced straight back to claim third place with a win over the National University of Singapore (NUS) 79 – 63 in the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Basketball Championship.

This was one better as they finished fourth last season.

Both teams had a nervous start as they traded points with NUS coming out top by a single point in the first quarter. But NYP weren't going down without a fight, and they imposed their physical style of play on NUS. Despite that, NUS were able to keep up and set the stage for the third quarter with the scores level at 27 - 27.

It didn't take long for NYP to pull away in the third quarter as NUS found it hard to keep up with them. The NYP #32 was a force to be reckoned with as he made his presence felt under the basket, winning every rebound. Wong Wei Long (NYP #5) was excellent as usual and together with #32, there was no stopping them as they ended the quarter scoring 28 points and limiting NUS to just 14 points for a 55 - 41 lead.

Uncharacteristic turnovers by NYP seemed to give NUS hope as they reduced the lead to just six points. This bad spell didn't last long, however, with NYP rallying to win the match 79 - 63.