Story and photos by Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports
Cheng Ye Hui (NV #7) goes in for the tough basket. He tied with Dillion Yap (PH #7) for a game-high 23 points. (Photo 1 © Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports)
Jurong East Sports Hall, Friday, April 7, 2017 — North Vista Secondary rolled past Presbyterian High 78-65 in the semi-final of the National B Division Basketball Championship.
With this win, North Vista continue their unbeaten streak in the Nationals with a 7-0 win-loss record. They look to continue that streak against Unity Secondary in the final.
This loss drops Presbyterian High to a 5-2 in the Nationals. They will face Christ Church Secondary next to determine who finishes third.
North Vista made the first basket of the game with an offensive put-back by Cheng Ye Hui (NV #7). While Presbyterian High quickly answered with a transition two, North Vista continued to out-hustle Presbyterian High for offensive put-backs to gain the lead.
Both teams traded baskets but North Vista were able to push ahead after stopping Presbyterian High with good defense. North Vista led 17-11 after the first quarter.
North Vista started the second quarter with a quick back door cut basket. However, Presbyterian High went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead of North Vista down to one. Presbyterian High drove in more and were able to draw fouls to get North Vista in the penalty early. Presbyterian High made use of the free throws to get the game back to a tie.
Unaffected, North Vista went to their full-court press defense to force several turnovers off Presbyterian High and quickly scored seven to get back in front.
Presbyterian High started missing their shots. No matter how open the looks were, Presbyterian High could not knock down those shots. They also started getting sloppy with their plays. While North Vista were able to force turnovers, they could not convert and the score stayed stagnant.
Presbyterian High got into a groove again to score two quick baskets to cut the lead of North Vista to four.
North Vista scored two more with Cheng Ye Hui (NV #7) making a fast-break just before the quarter ended to put North Vista back up 36-28 at the half.
In the third, Presbyterian made the first basket and tried to lead a comeback. However, their shooting were off for the rest of the quarter and they could not capitalize on their open looks.
North Vista, on the other hand, stayed hot with their shooting, making shots from all corners of the floor to get to a 16-point lead. Their defense continued to rack up steals which were converted into fast-break points for North Vista. North Vista were up 65-48 after the third.
In the fourth, Presbyterian High started to find their groove again. They made their shots and layups and were able to play good defense to cut the lead to 11 points. Dillion Yap (PH #7) scored 12 of the 17 fourth-quarter points for Presbyterian High in an attempt to catch up.
However, Cheng Ye Hui (NV #7) decided that it was enough and made several good plays to get the lead back up. He exerted all his energy in fighting for the offensive rebounds despite being out-sized by the Presbyterian High centers. In doing so, he suffered leg cramps and had to be substituted out. Despite that, Cheng Ye Hui tied with Dillion Yap (PH #7) for game-high 23 points.
This inspired the rest of the North Vista players to play harder as they held their own against Presbyterian High who were making a comeback. North Vista eventually took the game 78-65 to advance to the final.
Captain Cheng Ye Hui (NV #7) of North Vista said, “We are undefeated and hopefully we can continue our streak. We just need to continue playing hard and playing our brand of basketball by hustling and defending. Hopefully we can keep winning till the end but it is anyone’s game.”
His teammate, Tiong Chuan Yao (NV #9), added, “Their (Presbyterian High) transition defense was good and they ran hard and knew how to break our full court press defense. We managed to contain their transition and slowed down the pace so that they have less time to make their moves against us. We also did well on our rebounding. It is true when they say offense win games but defense win championships.”
Scoring by Quarter
North Vista vs Presbyterian High
1st Q: 17-11
2nd Q: 19-17 (36-28)
3rd Q: 29-20 (65-48)
4th Q: 13-17 (78-65)
Top Scorers
North Vista
Cheng Ye Hui (#7) – 23 pts
Tiong Chuan Yao (#9) – 18 pts
Presbyterian High
Dillion Yap (#7) – 23 pts
Jaron Ng (#15) – 13 pts
North Vista Roster
Justen Chiam (#0), Chan Qi Feng (#3), Vincent Gerard (#4), Sim Yi (#5), Cheng Ye Hui (#7), Willie Tan (#8), Tiong Chuan Yao (#9), Dillion Ong (#11), Reuben David (#12), Jarren Neo (#13), Lim Joe Yang (#21), Dorian Chin (#23)
Presbyterian High Roster
Ivan Kau (#4), Kovan Toh (#5), Dillion Yap (#7), Barry Yeong (#9), Tang Kah Wai (#10), Foo Yong Ming (#12), Constantin Lim (#13), Jaron Ng (#15), Kievan Chang (#16), Andy Tan (#24), Aaron Chaw (#26), Jerel Tan (#34)
More photos next page
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