The recently concluded zonal competitions for basketball certainly served up some surprises for players, supporters and neutrals.

In the North Zone, Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary stunned the prevailing favourites like Woodlands Ring Secondary and Seng Kang Secondary to capture both the B Division boys and girls title. In the process, powerhouse Presbyterian High School, last year’s C Division National Championship runners-up, were sensationally eliminated from the national competition. They lost out narrowly to the Ahmad Ibrahim boys and then lost the crucial decider to Seng Kang to go out early in the zone’s second round.

In the East Zone, the Anglican High boys pipped the highly fancied Chung Cheng High (Main) to the championship title with a close 73-72 score. Their female counterparts had set the tone earlier with a big win over Bedok North Secondary.

In the West Zone, all eyes were on the traditional powerhouses like Jurong Secondary, Unity Secondary and Nanyang Girls High School. However, no one could have forseen how New Town Secondary muscled their way to both the boys and girls zonal finals. The New Town girls had sensationally edged out Nanyang Girls in the semi-final 48-47 to earn a place in the final. Although the West Zone newcomers eventually lost out in both the finals, they can definitely be proud of their achievements this season.

Jurong Sec predictably won the West Zone boys’ final with a better overall team performance, albeit by a razor thin margin. Unity Sec won more comfortably 60-47 in the girls’ final.

In the South Zone, Raffles Institution had teetered on the brink of elimination when they lost to Henderson Secondary by a point in the first round. However, they managed to defeat defending champions Catholic High School by a point in their final group game to salvage their season. Buoyed by the close escape, RI then continued their run to finish third in the zone, surprisingly beating Gan Eng Seng Secondary in the third and fourth placing match. Catholic High, on the other hand, bounced back from their first round loss to win the South Zone title in devastating style against Queenstown, confirming their status as favourites for the national title.

Raffles Girls’ School also displayed their strength-in-depth when all twelve registered team players managed to get on the score sheet for the zone final match against Yuying Secondary. Though Yuying are a team with quite a few talented players, RGS affirmed their status as favourites with a comprehensive 31-point margin of victory in the final.

Now all eyes are on the national draw at Jurong Secondary on Friday, March 7. A nightmare scenario could emerge where Anglican High, New Town, Woodlands Ring and Gan Eng Seng are drawn together in the same group, since they finished first, second, third and fourth respectively in their zones. That would certainly be the “Group of Death”. We’ll have to wait till Friday to find out.

North Zone (Boys)
1st – Ahmad Ibrahim
2nd – Seng Kang
3rd – Woodlands Ring
4th – Chung Cheng High (Yishun)

North Zone (Girls)
1st – Ahmad Ibrahim
2nd – Anderson
3rd – Nan Chiau High
4th – Yishun Town Sec

East Zone (Boys)
1st – Anglican High
2nd – Chung Cheng High (Main)
3rd – Ngee Ann
4th – Dunman High

East Zone (Girls)
1st – Anglican High
2nd – Bedok North
3rd – Chung Cheng High (Main)
4th – Dunman Sec

West Zone (Boys)
1st – Jurong
2nd – New Town
3rd – Unity
4th – Assumption English

West Zone (Girls)
1st – Unity
2nd – New Town
3rd – Nanyang Girls’
4th – Hua Yi

South Zone (Boys)
1st – Catholic High
2nd – Queenstown
3rd – Raffles Institution
4th – Gan Eng Seng

South Zone (Girls)
1st – Raffles Girls’ School
2nd – Yuying
3rd – Singapore-Chinese Girls’ School
4th – Whitley

Girls (Group A)
Ahmad Ibrahim Sec
New Town Sec
Chung Cheng High (Main)
Whitley

Girls (Group B)
Raffles Girls
Anderson Sec
Nanyang Girls High
Dunman Sec

Girls (Group C)
Anglican High School
Yuying Sec
Nan Chiau High
Hua Yi Sec

Girls (Group D)
Unity Sec
Bedok North
Singapore Chinese Girls
Yishun Town

Boys (Group A)
Anglican High
Queenstown
Woodlands Ring
Assumption English

Boys (Group B)
Jurong Sec
Chung Cheng High (Main)
Raffles Institution
Ching Cheng High (Yishun)

Boys (Group C)
Ahmad Ibrahim Sec
New Town Sec
Ngee Ann Sec
Gan Eng Seng Sec

Boys (Group D)
Catholic High
Seng Kang Sec
Unity Sec
Dunman High

Will Jurong (in white) be able to reproduce their winning form in the national round?

Can Catholic High’s Jabez Su (in black) lead his team to their fourth consecutive national title?

Will Lor Weng Siang’s New Town be the surprise package of the nationals?

Will Hannah Ng’s Raffles Girls’ team (in white) be able to go one better this year and win the national title?

Will Unity’s Xiao Fei (in yellow) be able to lead her team to provide the necessary challenge to RGS?