Story and pictures by Leslie Tan
CCAB, Friday, February 15, 2008 – Raffles Institution (RI), on the brink of elimination from the first round, stunned Catholic High 52-51 to secure their passage into the second round of the South Zone Basketball Championship.
RI’s were facing the prospect of a first round exit after they lost 44-45 to Henderson earlier in the week. This left them having to beat the formidable Catholic High team in their final group game to qualify for the second round.
The first quarter was played at a frantic pace, with both teams playing full-court pressure defence at every opportunity. RI’s defensive intensity caused Catholic High to turn over the ball a few times and when Catholic High did break through, defensive blocks by RI’s #4 and #12 particularly on Catholic High’s Jabez Su (#4) ensured that RI stepped off the court leading 12-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The answer from Catholic High came swiftly in the second quarter when they scored seven unanswered points to 15-12 up before RI scored again. With 4:15 left in the quarter, Catholic High still led 17-16 but the defending B Division champions were not allowed to pull away by RI in a quarter that was still characterised by high-tempo, full-court defensive tactics. At half-time, Catholic High held on to a slim 21-20 lead.
It was RI’s turn at the start of the third quarter to make their statement when they scored four points in a row to lead 24-21 but Jabez Su tied it up at 24-24 for Catholic High with a 3-point play when he was fouled on a lay-up. With 3:54 left in the quarter, Catholic High edged ahead 28-26 but the strain was beginning to show on their players as some of them were bent over with their hands on their knees as they tried to catch their breath during a timeout. By the end of the third quarter, RI had pulled ahead 35-31, with Wang Jia Cheng (#15) of RI making his big physical presence felt in the defensive zone as well as scoring crucial baskets to put his team ahead.
The fourth quarter saw RI pull ahead and they led by eight points at one point at 41-33. With tiredness setting in after playing at breakneck speed earlier, both teams started to open up, giving each other space to shoot open shots. Catholic High narrowed the gap with a couple of three-pointers, and RI’s lead was cut down to two points at 43-41.
With 4:25 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, RI were leading 48-45 when a fifth personal foul was called on Jonathan Cher, causing the Catholic High coach Oh Thian Soon to erupt in frustration because he believed that it was another Catholic High player and not Jonathan who had committed the foul. The umpire steadfastly refused to change her mind and Jonathan had to come off to be replaced by Sathy (#12).
With 1:49 left, RI still led 52-47 but Catholic High clawed back three points to make it a one-point deficit. With 29s left, Wang Jia Cheng (#15) drew a foul and went to the line to shoot. He missed both shots, giving Catholic High one last chance to attack and score. But try as they might, Catholic High could not score with the ball in their possession for the last 20s and when the buzzer sounded for full-time, the RI bench erupted in a mixture of joy and relief, leaving the Catholic High players to contemplate their first loss for the first time in as long as anyone could remember.
“Our coach told us to believe we could beat Catholic High today,” said RI captain Yeo Si Yuan (#8). “We had a nervous start but we made our shots count. It’s a huge boost beating Catholic High but we will take one step at a time.”
As a result of this victory, RI top their group with Catholic High second. Both teams qualified for the second round, leaving Henderson, despite having a similar 3-wins-1-loss record as RI and Catholic High, missing out on qualification by virtue of having lost to Catholic High 42-91 in an earlier group game.
Both RI and Catholic High are expected to meet again in the final of the South Zone Championship if all goes to form, and it will be a game that both supporters and neutrals will await with great anticipation.
Match statistics:
1st quarter: Catholic High 7 RI 12
2nd quarter: Catholic High 14 RI 8
3rd quarter: Catholic High 10 RI 15
4th quarter: Catholic High 20 RI 17
Top scorers:
Catholic High:
Jabez Su (#4) – 20 pts (2x3pt)
Jason Pok (#8) – 15 pts
RI:
Wang Jia Cheng (#15) – 20 pts
Ravins Cheung (#11) – 12 pts
If you know the names of the players mentioned, please leave them in the comments section and we’ll update the captions and story. Thanks.
More pictures in the gallery.
RI 11 is ravins cheung
i think its juz dumb to ban main players cuz of their hair?? what?? catholic high will pwn ri
nvrmind , jiayou cat high , win them the nxt time round 😀
if the match matters to the 2 boys so much, cant they just swallow their pride n cut their hair? afterall they shld think of the team n how their individual actions will affect the team.
i know in a particular year shuqun sec sch also benched their star volleyball spiker bcos disciplinary isse and they lost the fnal of the zonal. that actually caused the boy to ‘wake up’ n spurred the team to work hard n did well in nationals. he realised his actions had done harm to the team.
so on 1 hand, we can say cath high too strict, on the other hand i think a strong signal is sent to the students. no 1 is indispensable n no special treatmt for any ‘superstars’ . since the sch cant get them to cut the hair, they ll take away wad matters to them most.
i told my coach that i might want to bench certain players and she supported it. afterall at the end of the day, if u win but u do not hv basic values like respect, i think it matters to nothing.
ya i agree wif benny =) we cannot turn the clock back =) but the silly thing is y at 1st 3 match his teacher dun ban them for their hair????i dun get the reason??? if only their hair???then cathigh train so hard also get beaten???where is their face?????
Because a player is capable of bring glory to the school, it doesn’t mean that he has the right to be above the rules! I’m sure that the school has made it very clear what is acceptable hair length to the players. It’s the players’ choice to follow the rules of face the consequences. The defeat is squarely on the shoulders of those who did not follow the school rules. Why the rest of the team, who also trained very hard, had to suffer for the disobedience of a few?
Imagine this, suppose at the last few seconds on a big match and you team is tied in points with your opponents. You decide to be “cool” and tuck out your shirt. Strictly according to FIBA rules, the referee called a technical foul against you. Opponents scored from the freethrows and win the game. Do you blame the referee for being picky or blame yourself for being silly?
hello les. i will be at ur disposal again real soon 🙂
oh well, i think the sch will regret their doing as well. ;p
I totally agee with someone. The players train so hard but ultimately they got banned just because of the extra few nanometre of hair over the eyebrow.
I totally agree with someone. Whats the point of training so hard for the sake of the glory of Catholic high, when they ban you just because of that insignificant amount of hair below your eyebrows? Whats the point of training so hard? Whats the point of getting those crams and muscle ache after training?
When at last the teacher that did not suffer and train hard for this competition ,or
any other competition, ban you just because he feels like it.
I sympathise with the two players who got banned. After all the contribution the 2 players made to the school, the teacher who sits in his comfortable air
conditioned office decided that the few nanometre of extra hair past the eyebrows would cancel out all the past contribution they made for the school and simply ban the 2 players.
I feel that the the 2 basketballers suffered a great injustice.
den u see the picture. jon’s hair so ugly alr. its some big sacrifice!!!
http://ch.redsports.sg/2008/02/15/fans-tried-best-still-lost/
For those interested in why Catholic High did not field two players this afternoon.
yes yue heng, u can hope. have fun hoping
i feel sad for henderson players=(
and i feel sorry for cat high players too
editor’s note: this comment has been edited for hate speech.
but we cant turn the clock back! so lets be optimistic and win RI! maybe in the finals i agree with someone somehow.. train so hard to get banned.
Hi Cong, it’s ok lah. Most probably some small boy, with small brain and small everything. Small matter.
Catholic high players all kena banned because of their hair. The teachers just can’t stand some ppl with cool hair to represent their school…
yeah i totally agree man. it’s like the players train so hard and are so skilled in the sport and just because of not being able to meet the school’s requirement for ONE time they suffer a lost. and for chs this lost is one that is indescribable, cos it ends their 3 years streak. I mean, if it was their main 5 playing and still result in a lost I’d say they deserved to lose. But in this case it’s totally the opposite. Chs had a major handicap in the game and failed to bring out the best that they should due to the banning of their 2 key players. After all these athletes have done for the school, the glory and all, they definitely wouldn’t be lacking alot in discipline. You need discipline to play sports, and even more to improve and be good at it. I don’t mean for schools to lax on their discipline levels, but shouldn’t they see some sense after what all the players have contributed? In this case failing the haircheck brought upon the ban for 2 of the chs players. One was the 2006 C div boys MVP the other an exceptionally talented centre. These 2 brilliant athletes contributed to the success of chs bball and without even thinking of the past, rash decisions are put into action and the boys are banned. 饮水æ€Â溠– a chinese proverb we all know from young. It is a proverb that should be practised by all. Remember why the boys are in your school, they CHOSE you, so the least you could do is to be more tolerant with them.
feel sad for cat high =.=
everybody cut their hair like some kids but some still get banned..
you got a problem?
Guyz U Rockz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope u all can beat cat high again in the finals!!!!!!!!!!!!