Anglican High to face North Vista in semi-finals of boys’ B Division Basketball Championship after losing to Unity

By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports

Clementi Sports Hall, Monday, April 19, 2010 - Anglican High School were unable to overcome Unity Secondary as they lost 52-68 to the title favourites in the second round of the National B Division Boys’ Basketball Championship.

Despite the loss, Anglican High still qualified for the semi-finals as runners-up of Group X after they defeated Queensway Secondary and New Town Secondary in earlier matches. They will next face North Zone champions and Group Y winners North Vista Secondary who beat Dunman Secondary 78-65 to end their second round with a perfect 3-0 record.

The undefeated Unity will face Yishun Secondary in the semi-finals in a repeat of the first-round clash in which Unity's Wong Keng Yang (#8) was hit in the eye by Tan Yuan Bin (Yishun #9). Since then, Yuan Bin has been suspended, but Yishun have coped well without him, sweeping Raffles Institution aside 78-61 to secure a spot in the last four as runners-up of Group Y.

Unity took the game to Anglican High in their final match of Group Y, going on an 8-0 run to start the match. However, Anglican High soon got into their groove and replied with an 11-2 run of their own. Both teams were equally-matched and the first quarter ended with nothing between the teams at 13-13.

Anglican High were able to hold off Unity at the start of the second period, but they found themselves committing careless turnovers as they failed to unlock their opponent's defense. Unity took full advantage of this as they took the second quarter 21-8, extending their lead to as many as 15 points.

Ng Weixiang scored eight points for his side in the second period while captain Remus Low added another two three-pointers as Unity took a 34-21 lead into the half-time interval.

Much of the same followed in the remaining quarters as Unity maintained their lead. Although Anglican High kept the score close in the third and fourth quarter, they were unable to reduce the deficit. Unity comfortably held off the East Zone champions for a 51-37 lead after the third quarter before doing the same in the fourth to win the match 68-52.

In Group Y, North Vista had a tougher time against Dunman Secondary. The East Zone runners-up pushed the North Zone champions till the fourth quarter when they were unable to prevent North Vista from running out 78-65 winners.

North Vista's Larry Liew led his side with a massive 39 points, including an astounding nine three-pointers. His team-mate Kian Hao added another 15 points.

Last year's semi-finalists Dunman Secondary needed to win to avoid elimination, and their desire showed in the early goings as they took the game to North Vista. They managed to take a 17-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Larry turned up the style in the second, nailing back-to-back treys and scoring 13 points to give North Vista a slim two-point lead at the half at 35-33.

North Vista are not a team to let a lead slip and they managed to hold the advantage going into the fourth quarter, before they blew the game open. They outscored Dunman 25-13 as Larry continued his scoring spree with another 12 points in the quarter to help his side hold off their opponents.

With the win, North Vista progressed to the semi-finals along with Yishun Secondary from Group Y, and will face Anglican High in one semi-final. Unity will play Yishun in the other semi-final.

Both matches will be played on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 1500 hours.

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