By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports
Johann Yeo goes for two. He scored the vital match-winning layup against Hwa Chong Institution to send Queensway into the quarter-finals. (Photo 1 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Clementi Sports Hall, Tuesday, March 30, 2010 – Queensway Secondary and Dunman Secondary are the first teams to make it to the quarter-finals of the National B Division boys’ Basketball Championship after recording two victories each in Group A.
Queensway Secondary left it late against Hwa Chong Institution (HCI), with Johann Yeo making a game-winning shot with a second remaining to seal a 51-49 win and a quarter-final spot for his side. Dunman Secondary had an easier outing, running riot on Presbyterian High in the second quarter to send the defending champions crashing out with a 57-43 final score-line.
Both Queensway and Dunman won last week’s matches against Presbyterian High and HCI respectively and will now face each other to decide who tops the group.
It was a very close opening quarter between HCI and Queensway with the latter taking a slim lead into the second at 13-11 where they turned up the heat and applied a very solid defense on HCI, limiting them to just six points while hitting them on the break. Ian Rafio Amatril, Ng Jun Long and Johann Yeo combined in this quarter to score 12 points as they extended their lead to 25-17 at the half.
HCI were not about the back down and they came out of the half with renewed vigour as they sought to cut Queensway's lead. Thanks to Lee Lai Sheng's (HCI #7) eight points, HCI provided the perfect response to Queensway's run the second quarter and were able to reduce the deficit to just two points at 31-33, setting the stage for an exhilarating final quarter.
HCI continued where they left off as they pushed Queensway for the lead and they finally snatched it at 39-37 through Lai Sheng's layup. The lead then traded hands in the closing stages as both teams did all they could to take control of the game, but it looked like it was heading into overtime when Lai Sheng made a pair of free throws to tie it up at 49-49 with 16 seconds remaining.
However, Johann Yeo, who led his side with 20 points, made sure no additional minutes were required as he got the hoop and harm with one second remaining and although he missed the free throw, his heroics were enough to send Queensway through to the quarter-finals.
"I thought it would go in at first, but then it jumped out!" described Johann Yeo about that game-winning shot. "Wah! Scare me! Lucky it went in! My performance was quite bad as I was missing a lot of shots throughout the game and I was below my scoring average. We were also making quite a lot of turnovers."
"We have reached our goal of the national top eight and we are definitely happy and delighted about that, but hopefully the second round draw will be good so that we can go further," added Johann.
Queensway will next play Dunman to determine who finishes top of Group A.
Said Johann, "Cannot slack for that match! We'll definitely play with some peace of mind since we are already through, but we'll try our best so that we can have a better draw for the second round."
"Queensway is a good team," said Yeo Zong Han, Dunman's captain after his team’s victory over Presbyterian High. "We will definitely be going for the win in that match and we'll do our best. Johann Yeo would be the player to look out for. We have been training very hard to make it to the second round. I am very glad for my team and myself to have made it this far."
Dunman and Queensway will play each other on Monday, April 05, 2010 at 1445 hours.
@Koh Yizhe, Hey
Hmm, so how good is he then? Can you rate him out of a 1-10 scale? is he one of the best players in singapore’s B division?
@irsyad: oh what do i think of him, personally?
I think he is one of the most exciting players in the competition because of the situation/team he is in. Although Queensway is a good team, I think they are quite reliant on him. When put into a better team, I am not sure how good he will be then. Once again, I must say that the fact that Queensway have come as far as they have proved they aren’t a one-man team. If they are, then they would have crashed out long ago. Think the LA Lakers in 2006 when they barely made it to the playoffs.
One of the best players in the tournament? Probably. But with that said, there are quite a few players that are better than him.
Of course this is just my opinion and I am sure there are some here who disagree with me. I would rate him a 9/10.
@Koh Yizhe, Thanks for replying
ohh i see. Wow he’s that good? I’m impressed actually with his team. But you are definitely right, his team depends on him too much. I’m interested to see if his team will make it all the way. The reason i started all this is because i definitely want to play against him in the future. and since you gave him a 9/10 he must be a really good player, one of the best ahahha.
Thanks again for replying
Basketball is a team game irsyad, guess u should know about tht if u play basketball. XD
Lee Lai Sheng (#11) – 17 points
theres a typo error there.should be #7
How can you even play basketball alone? basketball requires everyone, even the bench players….
His team is NOT A ONE MAN TEAM STOP SAYING IT.HOW TO WIN WITH ONE MAN
how good is Johann Yeo? This article makes it sound like he’s a one man team..
@irsyad: hi there,
I am not sure where in the story was it made to seem like Johann is a one man team, although he DID score 20 points and DID make the game-winning shot, but his teammates did contribute as stated in the story. The fact that he takes the crucial shots or score plenty of points just shows that he is good (or even very good), but it doesn’t mean he is a one man team.
Anyway he has said before that “there’s no way for one man to play basketball against five! If we were a one-man team, at most I can score 20 plus points, but the team still loses. Everyone contributes.â€
Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Are Queensway over-reliant on Johann? That’s for you guys to decide.