Anglican High’s team effort trumps Unity talent for C Division Boys Basketball Championship title

Story by Ian Chew. Photos by Les Tan.

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 – Anglican High School used a pivotal 21-2 run in the third quarter to effectively seal the national inter-school basketball final match against Unity Secondary. The gap proved too big for a demoralised Unity as Anglican High subsequently cruised to a 76-61 win to end a 13-year wait for a National C Division Boys Basketball Championship title.

Anglican High forward Sherwin Yen was instrumental for his team during this period, driving strongly to the basket for 15 of his 31 points as well as racking up assists for his teammates. He was later named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his efforts.

Both teams had qualified for the final with unbeaten records, ensuring a much-anticipated encounter. Anglican High though had the brighter start of the two, jumping to an early 7-2 lead. The key players for the team in white were already apparent by this stage, with centres Jeremy Quah (#5) and Tan Jun Wei (#11) contributing to the team score together with Sherwin. Their greater team desire was rewarded with a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Unity came roaring back in the second quarter, with their own big three leading the way. Peter Soo (#5), Remus Low (#9) and centre Delvin Goh (#14) made full use of their height advantage to pour in 16 points for their team during this period. The Anglican High players also found no way through the tall Unity defense and ended up staring at a 28-32 deficit by the end of the first half.

It seemed at this stage that Unity had settled on their offensive rhythm after their opening jitters and looked set to repeat their T-Net Cup win over Anglican High earlier in the year. However, Unity’s point guard Desmond Chua (#6) picked up an unnecessary fourth personal foul towards the end of the second quarter which would come back later to haunt the team.

Sure enough, he could only watch from the bench in a strange third quarter that saw Unity completely unravel.

Heavily pressured by a gutsy Anglican High defense, the Unity players committed numerous turnovers which resulted in fast break points for their opponents. None of the Unity players could step up to carry the team’s offense at this stage, and the lack of attacking ideas saw the Unity players attempting hopeful 3-point shots which proved largely unsuccessful.

It did not help that Sherwin was hitting his peak form at this stage, being involved in virtually every offensive basket for his Anglican High team. Anglican High ended with a huge 59-40 advantage after the third quarter.

Any hopes of a Unity comeback were snuffed early in the fourth quarter when Desmond picked up his fifth foul. His teammates were also guilty of fluffing their free throw opportunities to ensure that Anglican High enjoyed at least a 15-point cushion lead throughout the last quarter.

Both Sherwin and point guard Chee Khan Liang (#7) from Anglican High suffered leg cramps and had to be carried out of the game, but it hardly affected the result. In the end, a more disciplined and effective team play by Anglican High triumphed over a talented Unity squad.

MVP award winner Sherwin Yen though played down his contributions to his team’s win after the game.

“Our team defense was the number one priority. That was the key to our win,” he explained.

He also paid tribute to his opponents.

“It was a very hard fought game which could have gone either way. I think that the game would have been even more competitive if Unity Sec had all their players available for the game,” he said, referring to the injured Unity forward David Soo (#7) on the bench. Unity’s top scorer in the group stages had unfortunately fractured his leg in an earlier semi final match with Raffles Institution.

But that was to take nothing away from a well deserved win by Anglican High.

Unity had at least the satisfaction of winning one of the two championships at stake when they clinched the C Division girls basketball title with a convincing 62-46 win over Dunman Secondary in an earlier final.