Story by REDintern Shaun Neo.

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Singapore Basketball Centre, Sunday, June 29, 2008 – Tong Whye Temple emerged champions of the Under-16 Youth Cup after defeating Tagawa 78-63 yesterday. It was a clash of the titans in the last match of the competition as both teams had remained undefeated en route to the final day. Tong Whye Temple’s ability to defend as a team paid and their 15-point margin victory confirmed that they thoroughly deserved the title of “Champions”.

The match began with Tagawa scoring the first point of the game while Tong Whye Temple struggled for three minutes before scoring their first basket. However after the initial struggle, Tong Whye Temple embarked on a 17-4 scoring run to lead by eight points. Thereafter, Tong Whye Temple never looked back. Dan "van Damme" Cinco (Tong Whye, #7), who scored 13 out of Tong Whye Temple’s 22 points in the first quarter, was rivaled by Lor Weng Siang (Tagawa, #9), who scored 11 out of Tagawa’s 14 points. This rivalry continued throughout the entire game.

The second quarter began with much intensity as Tagawa tried to close the gap. They managed to narrow the deficit to a mere two points. but were still unable to take over the lead. While Dan Cinco (Tong Whye, #7) faced a double team with every penetration, Weng Siang (Tagawa, #9) had a defender stuck to him wherever he went. Nevertheless, both players proved to be top-notch as they remained their team’s main contributors.

However, Tong Whye Temple’s strategy to mark Weng Siang prove to be more successful as Tagawa, despite committing just one turnover in the second quarter, were unable to close the gap and ended the quarter trailing by six points. On the other hand, with Dan Cinco (Tong Whye, #7) marked tightly too, other players from the Tong Whye Temple’s roster executed their role well to hold on to the lead. Dominic Lim (Tong Whye, #5) created easier scoring opportunities for his teammates, while Chong Ming Xuan (Tong Whye, #12) dominated the offensive board, converting three second-chance shots off his offensive rebounds.

Tagawa smelled trouble in the third quarter as they fell into a four-and-a-half-minute scoring drought. At the same time, Tong Whye Temple went on a 13-point scoring run to widen their lead to 21 points. Qi Ming’s (Tong Whye, #9) nailing of two consecutive shots from beyond the arc saw the start of a 3-point barrage as Weng Siang responded with two and Dan Cinco (Tong Whye, #7) chipped in one of his own. With momentum surging through the players, Qi Ming and Weng Siang added one more 3-pointer each. With a larger supporting cast, Tong Whye Temple were able to extend their lead by one more point, ending the third quarter 64-42 in their favour.

In the last quarter, Tong Whye’s Dan Cinco and captain Koh Jia Cheng (#14) were bogged down by injuries sustained in the course of the match and their performance dropped. Fortunately, Ming Xuan’s continuous domination in the paint helped maintain Tong Whye Temple’s lead as his eighth offensive rebound in the closing minutes restricted Tagawa opportunities to close the gap.

On the offensive end, Weng Siang continued to display his scoring ability, contributing 10 more points for his team. Tagawa had no answer as time ran out, condemning them to their first and most critical loss of the competition, 63-78.

Tong Whye’s Captain Koh Jia Cheng said that his team was very satisfied with the win today. They could fully credit their win to their defence, something which was absent in all of the games prior to today’s game. Similarly, Coach Zhu Hou Sheng praised his team for their admirable defence which ultimately earned them the victory.

Top Scorers:
Weng Siang (Tagawa #9): 41 points (six 3-pointers)
Dan "van Damme" Cinco (Tong Whye Temple, #7): 33 points (seven 3-pointers)