Story Contributed by reader Yeechien
Clementi Sports Hall, Wednesday, April 16 2008 – Tampines Junior College (TPJC) edged out St Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC) in their opening game of the National A Division Basketball Championship last week.
The game started off with TPJC jumping into a 7-0 lead, with their captain Junyi (#11) contributing six of those points. However, leaky defense by TPJC allowed SAJC to claw back and level the game at 7-7 with two minutes left in the 1st quarter. The score remained remained unchanged till the last seconds when Terry (TPJC #7) sank a circus shot from beyond the 3-point line for a 10-7 TPJC lead.
SAJC’s half court one-on-one defence proved effective and it frustrated the TPJC attacks and in turn led to turnovers. SAJC players seemed to be everywhere, especially their #10. SAJC then took the lead with multiple fast-breaks. In response, TPJC switched from their 2-3 zone defence to a similar one-on-one defence.
SAJC took the lead in the 2nd quarter with both teams getting into foul trouble. Each time TPJC threatened to close the gap, SAJC would pull away. In the meantime, to make matters worse for TPJC, two of their key players fouled out.
With five minutes left in the game, SAJC lead by five points and the game now turned intense. TPJC soon clawed back and reduced the deficit to two, trailing SAJC 42-44. With a minute left on the clock, Weiquan (TPJC #8) coolly drove in for a successful lay up to tie the game at 44-44. He came alive in the 4th quarter with several offensive rebounds. TPJC then led by one with a free-throw attempt converted by Marcus (#13).
A timeout was called by TPJC with four seconds left with the score standing at 46-44 in TPJC’s favour. Then came the most comical period when both sides momentarily forgot which sides they were on, and SAJC left Weiquan unmarked and Yeechien (TPJC #9) picked him out with a pass. He missed the lay up but the buzzer went before further damage could be done, leaving the TPJC coach to heave a sigh of relief. TPJC’s Weiquan scored a team-high 12 points. The team other top scorers were Junyi (11 points) and Yeechien (8 points).
TPJC will next meet the defensive and more experienced RJC.
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yeah SAJC #10 is Jordan Ang.
Way to go….am so proud of you…keep it up.
SA #10 is jordan i think
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