national b division basketball

Khoo Teck Xian (North Vista #14) tries to dribble past Joel Cheong (RI #7). (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

Clementi Sports Hall, Wednesday, April 6, 2011 — With both teams needing a win to qualify, it was Raffles Institution that rose to the occasion with a gutsy 40-30 victory over North Vista Secondary in the National B Division Basketball Championship.

Despite being disadvantaged in terms of height, the RI boys were not easily cowed as they jumped to an early 11-3 lead on the back of an aggressive man-to-man full court defence.

North Vista showed that their achievement of finishing runners-up in the North Zone championship was no flash in the pan when they responded with some strong inside play of their own to close the gap. Yet it was RI that ended with a 14-11 lead in the first quarter.

It was left to North Vista’s forward Lai Wei Chang (#9) to step forward and take the game to the South Zone champions. He did just that in the second quarter by creating scoring opportunities for his team, downing a baseline jumper with 4 minutes left on the clock to give his team their first lead at 17-15.

Yet, RI bounced straight back with their centre Yves Remorca (#14) converting both free throws after being fouled. Chan Chun Cheong (RI #12) then went coast to coast on a fastbreak for a successful lay-up and a 19-17 lead.

North Vista suffered from a poor shooting percentage throughout the first half, yet Kelvan Ho (North Vista #10) managed a fadeaway jumper to tie the game at 19-19 at the half.

The third quarter proved to be a low scoring one as both teams’ defences managed to snuff out the other team’s offence. The tight nature of the contest continued to the fourth quarter until RI took a 34-30 lead with less than a minute left.

North Vista then embarked on a desperate fouling of the RI players in a bid to stop the clock, but the RI players remained unflustered by their opponent’s tactics to convert all their free throws.

The eventual score of 40-30 in favour of Raffles Institution may not have accurately reflected the close nature of the contest, but the sole South Zone representative showed they deserved their place in the second round of the national championship with their battling display.

RI will be joined by New Town Secondary in the second round after New Town cruised to an easy 53-17 victory over Tampines Secondary in their final group game.

Match Statistics
RI vs North Vista
1st Q: 14-11
2nd Q: 5-8 (19-19)
3rd Q: 7-7 (26-26)
4th Q: 14-4
Full Time: 40-30

Top Scorers
RI
Mark Khoo (#9) — 11 pts (1 x 3-ptr)
Chan Chun Cheong (#12) — 8 pts

North Vista
Lai Wei Chang (#9) — 8 pts

RI lineup
Phi Yao (#4), Zhuang Baokun (#5), Alex Loh (capt #6), Joel Cheong (#7), Lim Mingjun (#8), Mark Khoo (#9), Yao Zhong (#10), Daniel Sebastian (#11), Chan Chun Cheong (#12), Benedict Ng (#13), Yves Remorca (#14), Bryan Chng (#15)

North Vista Lineup
Myron Lim (#11), # Kwan Jian Fu (#7), Lai Wei Chang (#9), Kelvan Ho (#10), Chua Yi Heng (#?), Khoo Teck Xian (#14)

If you have the full North Vista lineup, please share in the comments section and we’ll update the post. Thanks.

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