Story by Ian Chew. Photos by Lai Jun Wei.
Singapore Basketball Centre, Thursday, August 21, 2008 – Jurong came bravely determined to steal a win, but Anglican High’s better overall quality and strength in depth eventually prevailed to give them a 59-56 win their C Division Boys Basketball Championship semi-final game.
Anglican High’s centre Tan Jun Wei (#11) may have struggled with foul troubles throughout the game, but his lay up with less than a minute to go gave his team a crucial three point cushion. That proved to be the winning gap as Anglican High held on for a surprisingly hard fought 61-58 win.
Jurong Sec had started the game brightly, taking a 17-16 lead into the first quarter break. They continued to frustrate the more highly fancied Anglican High in the second quarter, restricting their opponents to just a one point 32-31 lead at the half.
The Anglican High bench were clearly not amused at some of the refereeing calls and protested vehemently at this stage. Key forward Sherwin Yen (#5) was slapped with his fourth personal foul just before the half time break while centre Jun Wei was consigned to the bench after collecting his fourth personal foul as well.
Despite playing without their two key players throughout the entire third quarter, Anglican High’s bench proved resilient and outscored Jurong Sec 12-8 in the third quarter to extend their lead to five points. The gap could easily have been greater had back-up centre Jeremy (#8) converted more of his lay up and free throw opportunities. He still finished the game as Anglican High’s top scorer though with 21 points.
The start of the fourth quarter saw Anglican High fielding their starting five players in a bid to press home their advantage. However, the complexion of the game soon changed when Sherwin was whistled for his fifth personal foul.
The game sprang into life as Jurong took full advantage of Anglican High’s setback to regain the lead at 48-46. Both teams traded baskets as the scores remained neck and neck. Anglican High’s Secondary one point guard Wei Qiang (#9) showed his great potential with weaving runs at the Jurong defense, scoring four of his nine points in the fourth quarter alone.
On the other hand, Jurong’s Lucas (#8), Jia Cheng (#9) and Danish (#10) were shouldering the entire scoring load for their team. They accounted for all of their team’s second half points, with forward Danish leading the way. He scored ten of his 21 points in the final quarter, but missed a crucial lay up in the final two minutes of the game which would have given his team a one-point lead. Anglican High’s Jeremy wasted no time in scoring a lay up to put his team 59-56 ahead.
Jurong still had one final chance to win the game with 28 seconds on the clock, trailing by a single point. But they were left to reflect on a badly executed play that resulted in Anglican High’s winning basket. An inbound pass by Jurong was easily intercepted for Jun Wei’s winning basket despite a long time-out called by Jurong’s coach Zhong Yousheng earlier.
That was not the end of the dramatic semi-final though. The entire Anglican High team was hurriedly ushered off the venue without the customary post game handshake in a highly unprecedented move.
They will turn up again though in the C Division national final against Unity Sec, who won the other semi final comfortably 76-47 against Raffles Institution. The highly anticipated match up between the two unbeaten teams will take place next Tuesday 26 August at Toa Payoh Sports Hall at 3.30pm.
More pictures in the gallery.
Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in any of the photos, feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
Yes, seriously BasketBald, maybe you ought to have got your facts right before even scolding the AHS players. It’s true there weren’t any handshake, it’s also true that the players were seen waiting outside with the supporters too, BUT, the bus driver had parked the bus outside the carpark and waiting patiently for the players and supporters okay. It’s up to you to believe or not. But, seriously, your words are really offending. I’d rather you put those words in a not so crude manner. Thank you.
ahs for championship? i guess so . unity is good also. but i guess i’ll support ahs
-.- What has this incident got to do with MOE and SPORTS COUNCIL. I think that person super exaggerated.I think he should be the one apologizing, for the super impolite tone which I believe, pissed many off.
i totally agree tat ahs shd win cos i believe tat ahs is much better then jss…………i jus saw the match yesterday and ya they r gd……no offense 2 jss………
that day, the sch bus was already there… and the bus driver kept calling them to hurry, and was in a bad mood, especially when he had to drive back so many pupils( the sport plyers went too). so that explains it. and, tats the onli way to motivate the players, by pushing dem further. when people push u, do u just keep quiet and continue being pushed around? NO! u have to fight back! and i tink YOU owe dem ur apology instead. no offense to u.
To teachers & Coach of AHS, sorry to be frank but I am ashame of you.
Yes AHS deserved to win. Yes, the referees weren’t fantastic. BUT… the basic VALUE of Sportsmanship was not shown by you in the way you lead your players out of the court.
You remind me of the Thailand Football Team who walked out of the Tiger Cup last year. In both cases, it was the leaders (Coach & Teachers) who instigated it.
You are dealing with young minds (age 13-17). If this is what you encourage your players to do, I think you have LOST, though you might have won the game.
When winning becomes everything and VALUES becomes secondary, I think our School Sports Scene in promoting character has failed.
I think you owe MOE, Sports Council, BAS Referees and the basketball fraternity a big apology, before the final.
Please give us reasons to respect you again.
ya maybe, sad to say i saw they outside the basketball center lor.. ok la let take it that way lor
Maybe the school bus is there waiting for them ,no time liao bus driver chasing them so they got no time mah!quickly go off .
This is not the first time that referee side the JSS.Most of the time when there is JSS match and the same referee(botak) again ,there were be alot of fouls given to the opponent side.Already used to it,so just say suay lo !
I totally agree that AHS should win this game.
Hey lets look at photo no 5 as AHS #11 looks like is jumping into JSS #8 who defense him. I think this should be an offensive foul.It just don’t looks like Jss #8 push him lor.
But i agree with the unsportmanlike foul looks strange. i over heard the referee chatting with another referee, that the player pull the jersey. So i think only the 3 of them knows what really happen.
Now lets look forward for the final as it will be a great game between AHS and Unity.
As for the referee i think the AHS players are not use with such calling as i saw this referee referee lots of times already. The way he call the game is just the way he call in the ANBL. ANBL is the pro league in australia.
BTW this is the first time I came down and watch the nationals. It’s really a good match.
Lastly for the handshake i think both teams should do the handshake that’s sportmanship.
the “botak” referee suck!!! what the unfair judgement at the first half, especially the first 4 minutes of the 1st quarter and the unsportmanlike foul!! We know the basketball game, how come he can did like that!! i thought they don’t shake hand because the referees, not because the players. When i laft SBC, i saw the both school coach have their meals together, this must not their problems.
No hand shake , strange??
why wouldnt they shake hand if they win?
“That was not the end of the dramatic semi-final though. The entire Anglican High team was quickly ushered off the venue without the customary post game handshake in a highly unprecedented move.”
what’s this part about ah? I don’t understand. Anyone care to explain?
AHS NO SPORTMANSHIP,REF LOUSY WHAT TO DO,JUST SMILES
This match really showed that Jurong came well-prepared. But congrats Anglican High for winning, despite the unfair judgement calls from the referees ><
the fourth quarter was not the starting 5 of that match,i rmb ahs no. 7 was with an injured ankle,thus he had to sit until ahs really needed him.
wei qiang is a shooting guard not a pg.
Jurong #8 Lucas , #9 JiaCheng , #10 Danish .
centre #11 is Tan Jun Wei, #9 guard is Wei Qiang, #8 is Jeremy