East Zone boys triumph in all-star basketball playoff and Combined Schools selection shortlist

Story by Ian Chew

Here West Zone’s Weixiang (from Unity Sec) managed to score despite South Zone Goh Kong Tat’s (from Catholic High) defense. However South Zone managed to hold on for a 30-30 draw by the end of the game.

Singapore Basketball Centre, Friday, March 13, 2008 – The East Zone all-star basketball boys team emerged the unlikely winners after they beat the South Zone all-star team 37-35 in the final. The East Zone team had qualified for the final after beating their West Zone counterparts and forcing a draw with the South Zone team in the preliminary rounds.

The South Zone team, led by Catholic High’s Jabez Su and Peirce Sec’s Darryl Tong, had a flying start when Jabez scored with a lay up right from the opening tip.

Yet Tony Wong (from Ngee Ann Sec) and Adam Goh (from Dunman) led their team in reply to South Zone’s charge. Tony, in particular, scored two 3-pointers to lead his team to 16-14 half time lead.

The second half saw the lead changes several times. Benny Ong (from Henderson Sec) impressed the South Zone team with his accurate shooting beyond the arc. Jonathan Cher (from Catholic High) also scored 6 points to keep the score close.

However, poor execution by the South Zone team in the final few seconds saw a number of crucial turnovers, resulting in the East team winning by two points.

South Zone’s captain, Ng Zhao Feng’s (from Gan Eng Seng Sec) worst fears came through.

“Although our overall team performance was good, the East cannot be underestimated as they are a hardworking team.”

The fancied North Zone team, consisting of skilful tall players like Russel and Goh Yao Ming (both from Presbyterian High) and Kun You (from Seng Kang Sec) failed to qualify for the final as they had lost their earlier games to the South and West teams.

However, they redeemed themselves with a 52-33 win over the West in the third and fourth placing match.

The point of this series was to select players for the Combined Schools team, as elaborated by Wong Liang Han, CCAB’s basketball advisor in his speech to the boys later.

“I’m very happy for all the effort put in by everyone who turned up and hoped that it had been a good exchange of basketball playing by the best players in each zone.”

Notes: The list of selected boys will be announced on a later date… The South Zone Girls team narrowly won the Girls’ All Star competition, beating the West Zone team 34-33… The best performing 12 players selected from the All Star games from the boys and girls competition will represent the Combined Schools’ team.

Results of Matches
North v South – 31-33, North v East – 47-28, North v West – 36-47, South v East – 31-31, South v West – 30-30, East v West – 37-28
3rd/4th Placing: North (52) – West (33)
Final: East (37) – South (35)

East Zone
Anglican High #6 – Kenneth
Anglican High #12 – Liang Kai
Anglican High #15 – Jia Hong
Chung Cheng High (Main) #8 – Hong Kah Qi
Chung Cheng High (Main) #12 – Teng Chiat
Dunman High #7 – Xiang Yu
Dunman Sec #7 – Chng Yong
Dunman Sec #9 – Adam Goh Zhong Jun
Junyuan Sec #7 – Jun Quan
Ngee Ann Sec #8 – David Low Chaowei
Ngee Ann Sec #9 – Tony Wong Wei Qiang
Ngee Ann Sec #14 – Scott Driscoll
Tampines Sec #8 – Marcus
Tampines Sec #15 – Hao Hong

South Zone
Catholic High #4 – Jabez Su Ming Rong
Catholic High #7 – Jonathan Cher Ze Bao
Catholic High #12 – Goh Kong Tat
Gan Eng Seng #9 – Ng Zhao Feng
Henderson Sec #8 – Benny Ong
Peirce Sec #7 – Darryl Tong
Peirce Sec #13 – Lim Qi Xiang
Queensway Sec #14 – Jia Jun
St Andrew’s Sec #10 – Yi Cong
Yuying Sec #4 – Kelvin
Yuying Sec #10 – Jensen

North Zone
Ahmad Ibrahim #7 – Edwin Tan Zhi Xiang
Ahmad Ibrahim #10 – Koh Jia Cheng
Chung Cheng High (Yishun) #13 – Wu Qing De
Hougang Sec #8 – Khoo Da Wei
Naval Base Sec #13 – Wei Hao
North Vista #11 – Larry Liew
Presbyterian High #5 – Russel Low Wen Qiang
Presbyterian High #8 – Goh Yao Ming
Punggol Sec #4 – Brandon Lim
Seng Kang Sec #6 – Gerald Toh Hongda
Seng Kang Sec #10 – Teo Kun You
Seng Kang Sec #14 – Tan Han Boon
Seng Kang Sec #15 – Gary
Yishun Sec #5 – Zhen Qiang

West Zone
Assumption English #8 – Benjamin
Hua Yi #4 – Hiew Zi Jie
Hua Yi #15 – Melvin
Jurong West #8 – Mack
Jurong West #14 – Weixiang
New Town #8 – Lee Shi Hao
New Town #13 – Subhas Nair
Swiss Cottage #11 – Damen
Unity Sec #4 – Jing Kai
Unity Sec #6 – Jin Yi
Unity Sec #14 – Weixiang

Combined Schools Team – Shortlist (Boys)
Tan Zhi Xiang Edwin – Ahmad Ibrahim Sec
Jabez Su Ming Rong- Catholic High
Jonathan Cher Ze Bao – Catholic High
Wu Qing De – Chung Cheng High (Yishun)
Adam Goh Zhong Jun – Dunman Sec
Ng Zhao Feng – Gan Eng Seng Sec
Subhas Nair – New Town Sec
Scott Driscoll – Ngee Ann Sec
Russel Low Wen Qiang – Prebyterian High
Gerald Toh Hongda – Sengkang Sec
Teo Kun You – Sengkang Sec
Tan Han Boon – Sengkang Sec

Combined Schools Team – Shortlist (Girls)
Vanessa Yam Shi Qi – Ahmad Ibrahim Sec
Vanessa Tan Xinyi – Anglican High
Clara Chua Xing Fang – Anglican High
Chen Bo Tin – Anglican High
Kum Yu Shi – Anglican High
Eva Seah Kai Chyi – Nanyang Girls’ High
Tsang Wei Yi – Nanyang Girls’ High
Lau Shu En Nicole – Nanyang Girls’ High
Huang Qiao Lin Sharlene – Nanyang Girls’ High
Hannah Ng Jia Hui – Raffles Girls
Chua Qi, Vienna – Raffles Girls
Deanna Ng Wan Jie – Rafflles Girls
Cheong Yi Wen Sarah – Singapore Chinese Girls
Choong Siying Sara – Singapore Chinese Girls
Chia Pei Sze – Yuying Sec

The North Zone team, in dark jerseys, had an easy 47-28 win over the East Zone team. But they lost the other two matches to miss out a place in the final.

Another basket by a North Zone player.