Singapore’s Home United finish third in China-ASEAN basketball invitational

is the RP team that participated, the Smart Gilas Developmental team or assorted collegiate standouts trying out for the PBA? If it was The Developmental team, their game against Singapore should be considered a disappointment. (They almost lost a tight game).. They are the future and if continue to perform like so.. kiss their 2012 London dreams goodbye..

SINGAPORE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING HIGH
WHEN HOME UNITED BASKETBALL CLUB (HUBC)
FINISHED 2ND RUNNER-UP AT 1ST CHINA-ASEAN CBO
BASKETBALL INVITATION TOURNAMENT AT GUANGXI, CHINA

The 1st China ASEAN CBO Men’s Basketball Invitation Tournament was held from 15 to 23 Dec 2008 in Pingguo County, Guangxi. A total of eight teams from the region took part in this inaugural competition aimed at fostering friendship and cooperation between Guangxi and its ASEAN neighbours.

Home United Basketball Club represented Singapore at this tournament and literally flew our country’s flag high by finishing in 3rd place behind SEA powerhouse Philippines and the home team, Guangxi-China. This was one of the rare moments in international basketball where Singapore’s National Flag was raised to the rafters alongside the Philippine and Chinese National Flags during the prize presentation ceremony.

The road to 3rd place was not an easy one as Home United was placed in the tougher Group B along with Vietnam, Brunei, and tournament favourites Philippines. Group B teams would go on to win all the classification and medal matches on the last day of competition against Group A opponents. Group A consisted of Macau China, Myanmar, Johor-Malaysia, and Guangxi-China.

In the opening game against Brunei, both teams had to brave temperatures of below 10°C for the 8am tip-off. With the ball feeling like a block of ice, Home United struggled to get into any rhythm in the first half and allowed Brunei to go into half-time trailing by just 1 point. Brunei had two excellent one-on-one players who scored most of their points on acrobatic drives to the basket. In the 3rd quarter, Home United locked down on defense against Brunei and our superior team balance showed with more than 8 players scoring 5 points or more for the game. We led by 13 at the end of the 3rd quarter and kept that margin of victory at the end.

The second game versus Vietnam was held the following night at 8.30pm and the players had to re-adjust to the late start as well as the full-house crowd. Home United came well prepared this time round and opened a 10 point lead in the 1st quarter. Inside play was the key to this game as Home United outscored Vietnam 79 to 45 in the paint, cruising to our biggest win of the tournament. That set up the game against the Philippines to determine the Group Champion the very next morning.

Despite having just 8 hours of rest between the Vietnam and Philippines games, Home United showed no signs of fatigue as we played one of the best games of our tournament. The Philippines team was made up of their best collegiate players who were getting ready to become professional players in the PBA but Home United did not back down and played them point for point throughout the match. In spite of losing out in size and strength in the post, Home United capitalized on our quickness to deny the Philippines post players inside position and reduced them to a jump shooting team. Solid defensive rebounding and offensive execution kept us in the game and Philippines could not pull away. The game entered its final 5 minutes with Philippines leading by just two points. This was when Philippines #5 took over and his blazing speed and accurate pull-up jumper took the game away from Home United. With the loss, Home United finished second in Group B to set up a semi-final clash against Group A champions, Guangxi-China.

The semi-finals were held in a terrific atmosphere with the packed 3500 stadium cheering the home team on. Guangxi-China was the tallest team in the tournament and their starting point guard was almost as tall as Home United’s tallest player. Despite our tremendous success against the Philippine inside game the previous night, Guangxi-China proved too much to handle in the post, putting all three of our big men in early foul trouble. Their centre #11 scored 28 points and led Guangxi-China to a 78-63 victory. #11 proved to be one of the players of the tournament as he poured on more than 30 points in the finals against the Philippines.

Home United’s final match was against Macau China in the 3rd place playoff. Macau China made it into the semis with victories over Myanmar and Johor-Malaysia but lost to the Philippines in the other semi-finals. Macau were missing two starters for the earlier matches but brought them in for this game to face Home United. This made them a much stronger team and it showed during the game where they prevented Home United from pulling away. The scores were very close for the 1st three quarters but Home United’s experience and fighting spirit showed at the end. In the fourth quarter, we put Macau in foul trouble and pulled away with clutch baskets and key defensive stops, emerging with an 82-74 victory and claiming 3rd place in the tournament.

The players and officials from Home United stood proudly as Singapore’s flag was raised during the prize presentation ceremony. It was an inspiring sight and it certainly bodes well for the future of Home United Basketball Club.

Final Results

(a) 17 Dec 08– beat Brunei 81:68
(b) 18 Dec 08– beat Vietnam 79:45
(c) 19 Dec 08– lost to Philippines 64:75
entered semi-finals
(d) 20 Dec 08– lost to China Guangxi 63:78
entered 3rd place match
(e) 21 Dec 08– beat China Macao 82:74
won 3rd position

Final Standings

1. Philippines
2. China – Guangxi
3. Singapore – Home United
4. China – Macau
5. Brunei
6. Malaysia – Johor
7. Vietnam
8. Myanmar

dun have jerser numbers but players who went

MITCH
JIAREN
MENG KOON
SHAM
JASON GWL
En Ling
Weikang
Tan Ah Jian
Jason Tan Kee Chai
Alan Lim Shi Jie
Derek Aw Chi Tong

Players who DID NOT go

Chua Boon Heng
Koong Kum Hoong
Lim Weizhu
(work commitments)

Victor
Jacob
(injury)

Teo Chun Hoe
(Home united ONLY National team representative)
had to go HK with the Nation’s best players

I heard its the Milo Cup team…minus a few pple…so should still be the usual bunch..not too sure..

anyone have the player list of the home utd team playing in this tournament?