Story contributed by reader Kelwin Koh

Clementi Sports Hall, Friday, July 31, 2009 – Unity Secondary beat Raffles Institution 63-54 to cement their place in the semi-finals of the C Division Basketball Championship.

The RI boys seemed to have grown taller since the South Zone Championship. Their passing and drills also seemed slicker than before, showing the result of their continuous growth.

The game started with a tweaked Unity starting lineup, with #10 guard partnering the other starters, a recognition by Unity coach of his amazing contributions during the national rounds.

RI employed a strange defensive tactic on Unity's centre Delvin (#14), by giving him a personal bodyguard throughout most of the game. The first player RI used to try to wear Delvin down was their tiny #10 Alex. It was a really strange sight with him putting both hands on Delvin deep into the Unity backcourt.

Shoving with all his might, he proved to be a relatively effective distraction to the movement of the Unity centre. Protests were constantly heard coming from the Unity bench with regards to his shoves. Personally I guess the larger leeway given to him is due to the huge disparity in size between him and Delvin.

RI's tactic however failed to stop Unity from leading as the rest of the team showed that they are much more than a one-man team. With quick points by Ivan (#4), Kelson (#8) and Jacky (#12) pushed Unity into a 6-0 lead. The RI #15 Bryan opened their scoring with a nifty spin move after their first 3 attempts were swatted away by Delvin.

RI stayed close and continued to try to lure Delvin into foul trouble by focusing their attack inside which led to Delvin logging 7 blocked shots in the first half alone. With a RI player attached to him physically, Delvin could be seen performing a strange waltz down the court every time they were on offense.

The second quarter saw a change in offensive tact by RI as they brought in designated shooter #4 Joel who has shown poise in the earlier rounds by nailing threes in the crunch. USS retaliates by using Delvin as a decoy instead, going to their power forward #9 as a focus of their attack combined with the deft outside shooting of Ivan. Unity held a comfortable 35-19 lead at half-time.

The third quarter saw more of the same from Unity as they continued to pound RI once Delvin moved his attached defender back into the key and with his stellar free throw shooting, Delvin punished RI's attempts to stop him.

A sign of nerves started to show as the RI #10 Alex started jacking wild 3-pointers from the wing. Exhaustion was starting to show among the RI players.

With the lead widening to 23pts, Unity coach made a call to bleed his young reserves. Substituting 3 of his young guards, it marked the start of garbage time. However it proved only to hurt the immense RI pride and they launched a barrage on the Unity reserves. The lead was reduced to merely 10 points and Unity coach calls a time out to reinsert his starters.

Unity's starters calmed their nerves and wrapped up the game 63-54. With the win Unity proceed to the semi-finals and Raffles were sent packing home.

The Unity juggernaut although on paper looked to be a weaker squad than last year's C Division squad has made an amazing run this year, demolishing several powerhouses in their way.

Standing ahead now lies Anglican High, a bogey team that has thwarted Unity's attempts to regain the boys’ national championship in recent years.

It remains to be seen if they can make it past Anglican High.