By REDintern Tang Rei-En

C division South zone basketball Semi-finals (4)

Jovi Lim (RI #11) trying to strip the ball from Toh Tze Cong (Catholic High #15). Tze Cong had a game-high 30 points while Jovi had 10. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)

 

PESE Branch, Monday, July 23, 2012 — In a heated game, Catholic High beat Raffles Institution (RI) 60-43 in the semi-final of the South Zone C Division Basketball Championship.

Catholic High will face Peicai Secondary who beat Fairfield Methodist School 52-30 in the other semi-final.

Catholic High’s top-scorer, Toh Tze Cong (#15), drew first blood in the first quarter with a three-point play to give Catholic High in an early lead. Both sides played a strong defense, which resulted in many turnovers. A low-scoring first quarter saw Catholic High take a 7-4 lead after 10 minutes.

In the second quarter, both RI and Catholic High stepped up their game. They were almost matching each other basket for basket.

Catholic High kept their slim lead, with Tze Cong (#15) playing a monumental role in ensuring their position.

Whenever Tze Cong (#15) gained possession of the ball, RI’s coach and bench players were always shouting: “Don’t let him dribble!” Despite such warnings, Tze Cong (#15) was almost unstoppable, and managed to out-race most of RI’s defenders to score 12 points in the quarter.

Another notable player was Marcus Soon (#4) of RI. Despite being dwarfed by the other players, he did his best to defend against the Catholic High attackers and also contributed with assists so that his teammates could score.

However, in the third quarter, RI’s inaccuracy and inability to score under pressure caught up with them. Most of RI’s attempts just missed the basket, bouncing off the rim. This allowed Catholic High to outscore them 19-4 in the quarter. Catholic High were able to keep the game mostly in RI’s side of the court, which gave them multiple opportunities to score.

The last quarter saw RI attempting to recover from their slump in the third quarter. They outscored Catholic High 16-12 but it was not enough to close the gap.

Team captain of Catholic High, Warren Wong (#12), said that his team did alright.

“We only stepped up our game in the second half. At the start, our lead was still not that large,” he explained.

“But I’m happy with my team because we weren’t complacent today.”

The final between Catholic High and Peicai Secondary will be played at Jurong East Sports Hall, at 1.00pm, on Wednesday, July 25th.

RI will be vying with Fairfield Methodist School for third place on Tuesday, July 24th, at PESEB, 2.15pm.

Score by Quarter
Catholic High vs Raffles Institution
1st Q: 7-4
2nd Q: 22-19 (29-23)
3rd Q: 19-4 (48-27)
4th Q: 12-16
Final Score: 60-43

Top Scorers
Catholic High
Toh Tze Cong (#15) — 30 points
Darryl Soh (#9) – 10 points
Seow Li Da (#7) – 6 points

Raffles Institution
Justin Yeo (#10) – 14 points
Jovi Lim (#11) – 10 points
Yan Yin Qing (#12) – 5 points

Catholic High Roster
Teo Yew Teng (#4), Zhen Yu Hui (#5), Woo Jian Zhe (#6), Seow Li Da (#7), Hu Zhi Cang (#8), Darryl Soh (#9), Marcus Chang (#10), Ryan Lee (#11), Warren Wong (#12), Nicholas Woon (#13), Lloyd Ng (#14), Toh Tze Cong (#15)

Raffles Institution Roster
Marcus Soon (#4), Ivan Siah (#5), Chean Shao Jie (#6), Tristen Zheng (#7), Shivanand (#8), Zhang Anli (#9), Justin Yeo (#10), Jovi Lim (#11), Yan Yin Qing (#12), Huang Daran (#13), Jansen Castillo (#14), Danny Goh (#15)

South Zone C Division Basketball Championship — full fixtures and results
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