Story by reader Ian Chew and photos by Ng Cheng Cong
Singapore Basketball Centre, Friday, 16 May – National U18 player Lim Shengyu (#13) may have top scored for his Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) team with 23 points, but it was their collective defense that shut down fellow semi finalist Victoria Junior College’s offense. HCI simply outscored, out-rebounded and outfought the VJ boys for a 76-53 win. The win catapulted the defending champions into a repeat A Division boys final of 2006 against Anderson Junior College, who also won their semi final game against Temasek Junior College.
Hwa Chong Institution showed their intent early by jumping to a 6-0 lead, with Shengyu scoring all 6 points. VJ’s point guard Loh Wanxin (#14) also showed some good shooting touches from beyond the arc, but the first quarter belonged to HCI. They took a 17-7 lead into the break.
HCI displayed their strength in depth when their players came off the bench to lead the team to a 37-19 first-half score. Both Shengyu and Chiam Hong Yao (#5), HCI’s point guard, scored 6 points apiece during this period to lead their team.
The fast tiring VJ team could only manage 10 points in the third quarter, The aggressive HCI defense restricted the VJ players to long distance attempts from beyond the 3-point line, but unfortunately for them, most of their shots fell far short. Hwa Chong had by this time wrapped up the game with 55-29 third quarter lead.
A controversial technical foul called on Hong Yao in the fourth quarter failed to derail the team however, and Hwa Chong went on to book a place in the final on 22 May (Thu) at the Toa Payoh Sports Hall.
Hwa Chong’s point guard Chiam Hong Yao attributed his team’s win to meticulous preparation.
Said Hong Yao: “We watched videos of the VJ team before the match and focused on shutting down their point guard (Wanxin). I think we did a pretty good job and the team (VJC) missed a lot of their attempts.”
As to the final, Hong Yao was confident but wary of the threat posed by Anderson Junior College at the same time. AJC beat Temasek Junior College 72-60 in the other semi final.
“This is the first time we are playing Anderson in the competition and we have to especially watch out for Yan Ming (#6), AJ’s key player,” he continued. Yan Ming top scored with 24 points for his team in the semi final game, including four 3-pointers.
But HCI will be facing a slight complication in their preparations for the final though. Two of their key players Lim Shengyu and Calvin Chia will be flying to Shanghai for an adidas Nations Camp from 18-24 May.
But Calvin was unflustered by the disruption.
“The trip may deprive us the chance of training with the team for the final, but I am confident our preparations over the past year have been adequate. I don’t think missing a few days of training will make much of a difference. Anyway, the camp is a chance in a lifetime!” he said.
The two boys will be flying back to Singapore from Shanghai for the match on 21 May (Wed) before flying back to Shanghai on 22 May (Thu) evening after the final. Looks like the boys will be in for an eventful week!
danny,
yeah of cos we will work hard towards that common goal the team has!
looking forward in working with ya too during the game =)
[…] this article out: http://redsports.sg/2008/05/16/hci-ajc-basketball/ (it’s a bit funny to see your own brother being talked about like he’s some […]
jia you AJ!
jia you Zhi Shu!
Calvin and Sheng yu will be there, they’ll be flying back to play in the finals. Last A Div final of their lives, who wouldn’t?
Wei Xiong’s shooting is also very ownage 😉 see you weixiong and I hope we win the Youth Cup.
i would say its an exciting match to watch since hwa chong is doing without calvin and sheng yu.
hwachong will win for sure. just see.
bballers are all buddies buddies! =))
and yepp… friday match was really exciting…!!!
p.s. wanxin is good =))
Can anyone pls provide a write-up for the A girls semi-final matches? We have the photos but no match information!
hey everybody. everyone knows who will be the champ if you all know what’s basketball. i am just a neutral. not supporting any teams. just let them play their finals and see who smile in the end. Have sportsmanship everybody! and you need to know how to be a supporter and not criticising others. just jolly well support who you want to support thats all.
Much respect to Zhihao and Wei Xiong for being such great sportsmen & to TJ bball for providing such excitement and colour & needless to say such strong competition in A div bball year in & year out.
Anyway this goes out to my boy, Samuel Ch’ng. Man, I’ve practically seen u GROW UP. From Zhangde Pri to nhs to AJC, & each year, u impress me beyond words with ur progress both as a player & as a person. When i first brought u to AJ bball training in Nov ’06, this shorty came in & impressed so much, we knew we HAD to keep u. Then u joined us for training camp right away and fit right into the team. ’07 though, was a rough yr for us, esp with that unfortunate loss in the semis. Then my batch graduated & handed the reins over to yours with cca morale not being exactly sky high.
But hey, one hell of a job by u guys holding the team tgt when we experienced bad patches. This year, ur confidence and leadership helped the team pull thru a rocky early season & then with huge wins from the QFs on. & now, the “promised land” beckons. Its indescribable how proud i am of u, Sam. Well, u can’t ask for a better closure to ur bball career yeah. Its Toa Payoh Sports Hall yo, with a sea of Blue and Yellow roaring you on. Go out there, and LOVE IT, my man. With others grabbing the headlines, u are one of the more unsung heroes of AJ bball. =)
PS: (Just for fun) #14 “Kobe” Lee Zhi “The Star in a Boy” Shu for MVP! Hahaha
aj really played well that day. but #9 from tjc was great too!
go aj! go tj!
So…try and get some TJ ppl to throw their support behind us AJC ppl?
i’m glad to noe tat both aj and tj are in gd terms! i’m so proud of u guys are yup, we’ll thrash hci in e finals! AJ JIAYOU!
to zhihao: we fought hard TOGETHER and we fought hard with EACH OTHER. it was a very nice game n i enjoyed plyin wif u after so long. too bad i still cant catch up to you n yq =), but both of u were great team mates and opponents. jiayou for 3rd n 4th!
zhihao and wei xiong sibeh shuai ah…super zai….botak also super zai!!! =D
tjc put up a great fight too! they held on to the last minute and they definately deserve our applause!
VJC #4 in the 4th photo is Macus.
haha yanming u scare wad sia? your shooting so damn zai la!
mi and zhihao were reali amazed at how ‘zhun’ u and your teammates were..
and no doubt we two reali enjoy every mins and secs of that match..
so proud of you my ex-combine sch captain!
all the way bro..
rock on ~
oh anyway ajc do deserve that spot in the finals..
wadeva it is we (tjc) lost it and they are in there representing us..
i’m sure they will still give their best and put up a good fight against hci!
lets jus await the finals and may the best team win =)
and man, i looked so gay in the photo hugging weizhong. lol.