Story and photos by Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports
Gregory Teo (DHS #11) drives in for the tough basket. (Photo 1 © Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Monday, May 8, 2017 — Dunman High School (DHS) came up clutch to survive a 43-41 thriller against Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) in the National A Division Basketball Championship.
With this win, DHS have a 4-2 win-loss record since their first round games. They will be up against Anderson Junior College next.
On the other hand, this is SRJC’s first loss of the season. SRJC now have a 5-1 win-loss record and will be playing against Innova Junior College next.
This was a crucial match for both teams as the winner stood a higher chance of getting into the semi-finals. With that on the line, but teams came to play. They played hard and were tied at 10 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, SRJC were able to make use of their height advantage to score against the smaller DHS match-up. They were able to capitalise on their offensive opportunities to outscore DHS 11-6 to lead 21-16 at the half.
However, DHS found an answer in the third. They were able to contain the SRJC big man and prevented them from scoring easily with good help-side defense. DHS also heated up and went on a scoring streak to get themselves the lead. DHS outscored SRJC 17-8 to lead 33-29 at the end of the third.
Despite that, SRJC were not about to give up that easily. Toh Yi Cheng (SRJC #21) got into a zone to score and cut the lead. SRJC were able to cut the lead down to one at 38-39 but Chan Ray (DHS #14) answered by drawing the foul. He made one of two and got his own miss which led to another offensive opportunity for DHS. This allowed Low Qi Xiang (DHS #7) to draw another foul where he made one of two to increase their lead to two.
With less than a minute to play, SRJC’s Tan Wei Xuan (SRJC #11) answered and tied things up with 44 seconds left. Undeterred, DHS played on with poise. Gregory Teo (DHS #11) drove in and drew the foul. He made one of two to give DHS the one point lead.
On the ensuing play, DHS were able to play good defense on SRJC to force the turnover with 14 seconds left. Max Tan (DHS #13) got fouled but missed his free throws. Despite that, DHS came up huge with the offensive rebound which led to Eldrick Goh (DHS #10) getting fouled by the SRJC players to stop the clock.
Eldrick Goh (DHS #10) made one of two free-throws to increase their lead to two at 43-41. With 2.2 seconds left, SRJC called a timeout to draw up a play. However, DHS were ready for them. DHS played good defense on SRJC and prevented them from scoring as they went on to survive the thriller against SRJC with a score of 43-41.
Captain Chan Ray (DHS #14) of DHS commented, “I think we managed to hustle and play harder down the stretch. We fought for all the rebounds during the free-throws and this was key for us down the stretch. However, we definitely got to work on our free-throws and our transition execution.”
Scoring by Quarter
DHS vs SRJC
1st Q: 10-10
2nd Q: 06-11 (16-21)
3rd Q: 17-08 (33-29)
4th Q: 10-12 (43-41)
Top Scorers
DHS
Tan Yan Zhou (#12) – 18 pts
SRJC
Pang Cheng Feng (#4) – 11 pts
Toh Yi Cheng (#21) – 10 pts
DHS Roster
Zhong Xinyu (#4), Erh Zhi Hong (#5), Irvin Seet (#6), Low Qi Xiang (#7), Nicholas Ho (#8), Johnny Lee (#9), Eldrick Goh (#10), Gregory Teo (#11), Tan Yan Zhou (#12), Max Tan (#13), Chan Ray (#14), Tan Zheng (#15)
SRJC Roster
Chew Keng Horng (#1), Martin Chan Jie Kang (#3), Pang Cheng Feng (#4), Ong Chee Shawn Titus (#6), Lim Sheng Xiang (#7), Tan Wei Xuan (#11), Cheng Zheng Ting (#12), Cheng Kai Hooi (#13), Tan Boon Fong Ernest (#14), Edwin Lim Joon An (#19), Wu Shen Chou (Fredy) (#20), Toh Yi Cheng (#21)
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