Chiam Hong Yao top scores with 25 points to lead Hwa Chong to A Division Boys’ basketball final

Story by reader Erwin Wong. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Singapore Basketball Centre, Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - Defending A Division Boys' Basketball champions Hwa Chong Institution gave themselves a shot at winning the title for a 4th consecutive time when they beat Raffles Institution 64-52 in the semi-finals.

Shooting threats Jonathan Cher and Chey Zheng Feng had led RI into the final 4 by scoring 21 of their team's 30 points in the quarter-final win against Temasek Junior College last Friday, but they were kept in check this time round by a robust Hwa Chong defence.

"We managed to detect their threats from the start, and negated it." Said Subhas Nair after the game. "We limited their looks and got a hand up in every of their shots. And when the shot came in, we boxed out. The most important aspect of the game is defence."

Hwa Chong echoed their reserve centre's words right from the opening tip, when Yap Ching Poh rebounded a Chester Leow miss and scored easily. Chiam Hong Yao had a steal the next trip down the floor, and his team grabbed 3 consecutive offensive boards soon after. Hwa Chong came out the more energetic of the two teams, and their opponents had to take a timeout after only 3 minutes of play, and down 4-0.

Zheng Feng fired an airball on his first 3 point attempt, but appeared to find his rhythm immediately when he made it 3-4 from a wing trey. It was not so, as he missed badly on his next 4 attempts and had a rough shooting afternoon overall. He was struggling so badly with his stroke that on his first trip to the free throw line with RI down 3-11, he airballed his first attempt.

His opposite number, Hong Yao, was meanwhile having none of such tribulations as he displayed his entire repertoire of skills at the big stage. The former Catholic High player made a baseline jumper to open accounts and then followed up a twisting lay up with a couple of deep 3s in a red-hot first period display, scoring 12 of his game-high 25 points here. Kevin Boo summed up the quarter - and the match as well - for RI when his buzzer-beating attempt didn't even draw iron.

Hong Yao's team mates shared more of the scoring load in the second period, as 6 Hwa Chong players got in the act. He proved he was flesh and blood after all when he missed an easy lay up attempt in the open court, and again in the third period as the ball seemed to slip off his fingers at the point of release. Hwa Chong opened up a 16 point lead midway through the quarter, but RI made 2 straight shots from downtown as point guard Danny Chua and Jonathan looked to keep their team in the game. Zheng Feng, though, was still cold from the floor, missing a long 3 at the half-time buzzer, as Hwa Chong led 32-20 at the break.

He missed again right from the restart, but Danny made his second shot from behind the arc. Hong Yao then added to his storied campaign with back-to-back dazzling field goals. He displayed his ´hang-time' ability as he made a lay up that is best described as ´Jordan-esque', then somehow managed to sink in an off-balance baseline jumper with a defender in close attendance, while falling wildly out of bounds. A pull-up three pointer from Hwa Chong's leading scorer extended the lead to 18, and RI entered the final quarter staring defeat squarely in the face.

Hwa Chong's point guard Zhou Kai increased the margin to 23 after a steal and lay up, and it grew to 24 when Ching Poh took a pass from Chester and got up strong inside. But they racked up 5 team fouls with 7:37 to play and landed themselves in the penalty zone. RI could not capitalize on this as they continued to shoot from deep, and when they got to the charity stripe, they were only 8 of 21 collectively.

Hwa Chong still led by 20 with little over 5 minutes to play, but Zheng Feng finally found his range to make them sweat out the game. He drained 3 treys in the closing moments to cut the final deficit to 12, but the heroics came too late for RI as they bowed out of contention with a 64-52 loss. This was their second defeat to Hwa Chong in the competition, having lost to them 63-58 in the first round.

"The team is disappointed, with both the result and how we played," said an abject Chng An Zhen, RI's captain, after the game. "We had a cold first quarter start, while Hwa Chong had their shots going for them. We felt that there were questionable calls against us, and that further lowered our morale."

"Hong Yao had his game, they hustled for rebounds, and we were not hitting our shots."

When asked how he would rally his team for the 3rd and 4th placing match against Victoria JC, the former RI player replied, "We will get back strong. In competitions there will be losses and wins, and with every loss we will come back with a win."

While it was curtains for RI, Hwa Chong will take on Innova Junior College in the championship decider. But they will look to arrest their mini 4th quarter slump before the final.

"RI is a great team and they have very good fighting spirit. Still, we could have dealt with it better. We will need to close the game out," said Subhas, a former New Town player.

Added Zhou Kai, "We did well in the first half, but were complacent in the second. We will need to talk about this. We lost to Innova earlier (43-42 in the quarter-finals), and will have to be more disciplined and show better teamwork this time round."

HCI lineup:
#4 Jonathan Lian
#5 Subhas Nair
#6 Nicholas Tan
#7 Zhou Kai (Starter)
#8 Goh Wei Leong
#9 Chiam Hong Yao (Starter)
#10 Loh Hong Sheng
#11 Chester Leow (Starter)
#12 Tan Ee Ruey
#13 Yap Ching Poh (Starter)
#14 Hong Hock Seng (Starter)
#15 Edward Ng

RI lineup:
#4 Charles Oei (Starter)
#5 Kevin Boo
#6 Jonathan Cher
#7 Danny Chua (Starter)
#8 Yeo Si Yuan
#9 Chey Zheng Feng (Starter)
#10 Glenn Wong
#11 Ong Jun Wei (Starter)
#12 Jonathan Lim (Starter)
#13 Chng An Zhen
#14 Sng Yi
#15 Dillon Tan

Scoring breakdown by quarter:
HCI v RI
1st Q: 18-6
2nd Q: 14-14
3rd Q: 15-9
4th Q: 17-23
Final score: 64-52