Holy Innocents’ grab 2nd round spot at expense of ACS(I) in B Division South Zone basketball

Story by reader Erwin Wong. Pictures by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

CCAB, Friday, February 13, 2009 - As the B Division Basketballers from the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Holy Innocents' High School trudged onto the court for their Group C clash, they knew that it would be a clash for the ages; a battle-royale of a confrontation; a fight to the finish. It was nothing less anyone would expect from two teams whose second-round fate lay squarely in their own hands.

After the dust finally settled, Holy Innocents' had prevailed, edging out their opponents 54-48 to join table-toppers Raffles Institution in the South Zone second round draw.

But only just.

Holy Innocents' Hiong Hao Yi (#15) started brightly, converting a 3-point play for an early 5-2 lead. Their perimeter players, Ang Kaizong (#11) and Heng Lin Jun (#10), combined crisp passing with lightning-quick drives to the basket, as the latter converted layups on consecutive possessions to put his team up 11-4. A wing trey by his teammate Derrick Ng (#5) followed soon after as the lead swelled to nine.

Clearly bent on putting the game to bed early, they then set up a full-court press, but ACS(I) managed to reduce the arrears with a 3-pointer from Ang Kai (#11). The scoreline stood 15-11 in Holy Innocents' favour at the end of the first quarter.

Holy Innocents’ Lin Jun and team captain Kaizong carried on where they left off in the second period, splitting the eight points which provided the impetus towards their largest lead of the game at 25-15, with 3:30 to play in the half. As ACS(I) called for a timeout, they seemingly had no answer to their opponents' dazzling display of speed and quickness, as they thrived greatly on the counter-attack and made ACS(I) pay for their missed shots and careless turnovers.

Lin Jun and Kaizong provided the potent 1-2 punch which looked to have knocked the wind out of the ACS(I) sails, and although their #6, Jia Yuan and #7, Hung scored inside late in the half, Holy Innocents' went into the half-time break with a healthy, but by no means insurmountable 27-19 lead.

The lead dissipated before the 10-minute quarter was up. Jia Yuan single-handedly led the ACS(I) comeback, going on a blinding scoring tear as he and Hung repeatedly found inside position and easy baskets as a result of Holy Innocents' changing to a smaller lineup. They chipped diligently away at the deficit and finally clawed their way back to ground zero on the back of a layup by Hung, tying the game at 30-all.

Hao Yi immediately responded with a lay in of his own plus the foul, but a free throw and a basket from Jia Yuan gave ACS(I) their first lead since the opening basket of the game. Following a repeatedly-mirrored pattern in the second half, Holy Innocents' Darius Tan (#13) sank a trey to hand the advantage back to his team, but Jia Yuan's last of his 10 points in the third quarter tied the game once again at 35, bringing the period to a close and setting the stage for an absolute nerve-wracking deciding final quarter.

And how it was. The period began with both teams trading baskets on the first six scoring plays, and each time, it was ACS(I) who edged ahead only for Holy Innocents' to respond accordingly. The game was finely poised at 41-all midway through the quarter when Kaizong stole an ACS(I) inbound pass at his own defensive end of the court and dished to a streaking Lin Jun for the layup, giving his team their first lead of the quarter. The latter then spun past his defender for another basket, extending the lead to four at 45-41.

After a timeout with 3:56 minutes to go, Hung sank two free throws to halve the deficit, and after two unsuccessful drives to the basket by Kaizong, ACS(I) centre Ang Kai's (#11) right hand hook tied the game again at 45. It was end-to-end stuff, and definitely not one for the faint-hearted.

Holy Innocents' then took the lead again, and this time they never relinquished it. Tan Qishen (#4), Hao Yi and Kaizong combined for five unanswered points which brought the score to 50-45 in their favour with 1:44 minutes to play.

ACS(I)’s Guang Zhen (#5) was called for a three second violation, and though Hung cut the Holy Innocents' lead to four, they turned the screw on ACS(I) on the back of a Samuel Low (#14) jumper which jacked the lead back up to six at 53-47 with just 34 seconds left.

That sealed the game for Holy Innocents' and the final whistle brought the curtain down on a disconsolate ACS(I) team, as their jubilant opponents climbed above them in the group standings into second spot level on points with them. However, they claim the tiebreaker of the head-to-head record.

Holy Innocents' will now have new group rivals in Gan Eng Seng, ACS (Barker Rd), Queensway Secondary and Peirce Secondary, whom they will meet in the opening match of the second round, on Monday 16 February.

Good luck!

Score breakdown by quarter
Holy Innocents' vs Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)
Q1: 15-11
Q2: 12-8
Q3: 8-16
Q4: 19-13
Final: 54-48

Leading Scorers
Heng Lin Jun (Holy Innocents’, #10) 17 points
Jia Yuan (ACSI, #6) 17 points
Hung (ACSI, #7) 16 points
Ang Kai (ACSI, #11) 12 points