Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports

BBALL-ADIV-RI-VS-ACSI-8

Phi Yao (RI #8) and Siddharth Pillai (ACSI #14) contest for the rebound. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)

Singapore Basketball Centre, Wednesday, April 30, 2014 — Raffles Institution (RI) beat Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) (ACS(I)) 64–23 in the final group game of the National A Division Boys Basketball Championship.

Chan Chun Cheong (RI #4) netted six 3-pointers to pace his team with 18 points, while Huang Shenyang (ACS #10) had a team-high 10 points.

Midway through the first quarter, RI held a slight 7–5 lead, but Shenyang (ACS #10) scored on a layup to draw even at 7–7. The game was tied for two minutes until Phi Yao (RI #8) broke through with a quick drive to the basket, leaving his defenders behind to score an easy two (9–7). From there, RI put in five unanswered points to end the quarter 14–7.

Chan Chun Cheong (RI #4) sank three 3-point jumpers in the second quarter to pace his team with nine points. Shenyang (ACS #10) led his team with strong drives, dribbling past his defenders to dish the ball out to his open teammates. However, it was not enough as RI had a clear 20–11 lead four minutes into the quarter. They went on a 7–0 scoring run to go to 27–11 when Joel Ong (RI #10) found Lim Mingjun (RI #7) in the paint, who then finished at the basket for two points. On the next transition, Shenyang (ACS #10) dribbled from one end of the court to the other, then completing his drive with a well-executed layup to end the first half 13–27.

In the third quarter, Zhuang Baokun (RI #6) paced his team’s offensive plays with good ball rotation and ran to open spaces to receive passes from his teammates. On the other hand, ACS had a few mis-passes, squandering their scoring opportunities and also caused several turnovers. Siddharth Pillai (ACS #14) then stepped up defensively to intercept RI’s passes on many occasions to try get the ball back, but it was not enough to put a stop to RI’s scoring streak. With one minute left in the quarter, RI were leading 35–17 when Baokun (RI #6) netted an elbow shot to push it to a 20-point lead. He then scored another 3-pointer on the wing to end it 40–17.

In the final quarter, RI managed to stop ACS’s offensive plays with well-executed full court press, then capitalizing on transition offenses to score easy points. RI registered a 7–0 scoring run from the start of the quarter (47–17). ACS stopped RI’s scoring streak when Shenyang (ACS #10) distributed a well-placed pass to find Siddharth Pillai (ACS #14) who was running into the paint. He converted to make it 47–19.

Towards the end of the quarter, (ACS #15) retaliated with strong defence in the paint to deny his opponents easy points. RI then chose to take shots from the perimeter instead, and Chun Cheong (RI #4) was exceptionally accurate with his threes. He scored two 3-pointers in the final minute. Felix Teo (#15) of RI finished off well in the paint to end the game 64–23 winners.

RI finished top of the group with this win. They have beaten all of their opponents in round one.

RI captain, Baokun (#6) said, “I think we played quite well. It’s good because this is the first round, and most of our players were able to go down and have a chance to play, to gain experience and be more prepared for our second round. For today’s game, I think we generally played quite well. We shot the ball really well, especially our 3-pointers. A lot of us were looking for open men, and we gave them the ball for open shots. That’s why we had a lot of open loops and the game went very smoothly.”

Scoring by Quarter
RI vs ACS(I)
1Q: 14–7
2Q: 13–6 (27–13)
3Q: 13–4 (40–17)
4Q: 24–6 (64–23)
Final score: 64–23

Top Scorers
RI
Chan Chun Cheong (#4) – 18 points (6 x 3 pointer)
Phi Yao (#8) – 13 points (1 x 3 pointer)

ACS(I)
Huang Shenyang (#10) – 10 points

Raffles Institution Roster
Chan Chun Cheong (#4), Khoo Jae En Kevin (#5), Zhuang Baokun (#6), Lim Mingjun (#7), Phi Yao (#8), Khoo Junn Wei Mark (#9), Joel Ong Wai Him (#10), Ernest Chng Yong Cheng (#11), John Zhang Jiong Yang (#12), Muhammad Zaki B Ghazali A T (#13), Deng Fang Shuo (#14), Teo Jun Yang Felix (#15)

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Roster
Vincent Chenardy (#5), Akash Lohumi (#6), Huang Shenyang (#10), Siddharth Pillai (#14)

National A Division Boys Basketball Championship — Fixtures and Results

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