Dominic Lim of Catholic High wins 3-point shootout while Joy Wang of Queensway shows poise to make second round

Story by Les Tan and Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Pictures by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Catholic High School, Saturday, February 21, 2009 – By the time the last ball went in, point guard Dominic Lim, 16, of Catholic High was the one person left standing with the highest total of 16 points.

Dominic had to shoot 25 balls, five at a time, from five different positions on the 3-point arc within 60 seconds to become the hottest 3-point shooter aged 18 and below in Singapore.

“The shootout was great,” said Dominic. “I didn’t expect to win though because I decided to replace Aaron Wong (who was injured and pulled out) on Saturday itself. I did not train for it.”

On whether he is the best 3-pointer in his team, Dominic added: “I don’t think I am the best shooter in the team.”

Defending 3-point shootout champion Desmond Heng of Fairfield Methodist Secondary did not make it out of the first round, perhaps not helped by the fact that Red Sports editor Les Tan told everyone present he was the defending champion just before he shot!

Dominic Lim finished second highest with 10 points in Round 1 which saw 125 ballers shoot 15 balls each in 40 seconds from the 45- and 90-degree mark on the 3-point line.

Tan Wei Da, 18, formerly of Yuying Secondary, was the highest scorer from the first round. Wei Da, who won a 3-point shootout in Secondary 3 and is awaiting a place in a polytechnic, is not a current school player and so was shooting for fun only to provide competition for the rest. His accurate shooting impressed spectators as he walked off with 12 points.

The highlight of the first round was a nine-point performance by Joy Wang of Queensway Secondary, one of four girls who bravely took part in the male-dominated contest.

The trio of Pearlyn Chun, Janice Ong, and Pamela Loh from Unity Secondary, tried but didn’t make it past the first round with scores of one, two and three points respectively.

"The ball is really heavy!” said the girls. “It was really scary to be shooting against many top shooters. We joined this competition to challenge ourselves and to gain more experience. But we really feel alive after shooting!"

But Joy Wang had better luck. Despite nerve-wracking cheers from fans every time she scored, she hit nine points to make it to the second round, part of a select group of 18 players from the original 125 who registered.

"Even after shooting, I am still feeling a lot of nerves!” said Joy, 15. “All these cheering from the guys can be somewhat intimidating and it adds to the nerves."

With her teammates sitting by the side of the court to cheer her on, Joy added: "My teammates didn't dare to join, but I simply joined for the experience and didn't expect to go so far."

10 players finished with seven points in the first round and to avoid a shootout to separate the 10, the organisers decided that all 10 would shoot in Round 2, which meant 18 players would vie for five places in the final round.

All 18 shooters started on a level playing field in Round 2, and this time, it was Lee Yi Wei, 17, of Henderson Secondary who topped Round 2 with an outstanding 18 points, a points total some spectators said was worthy of the American National Basketball Association 3-point contest during the all-star weekend. In Round 2, all players had to shoot 25 balls within 60 seconds from five different points on the 3-point arc, with the fifth ball of each set of five balls worth 2 points.

Dean Seah, 18, of Pioneer Junior College, who hit 10 points in the first round, finished second to Yi Wei with 14 points.

Wee Hong Chao, 16, of Clementi Town Secondary, who scraped through the first round as one of the 10 players on seven points, this time hit 11 points to finish third.

Eventual champion Dominic Lim squeezed through to the final round with Edmund Goh, 15, of Yuying Secondary, and Dominic Lee, 16, of Henderson Secondary. All three finished with 10 points. Dominic Lee and Edmund Goh were part of the group of 10 players who finished with seven points in the first round.

The stage was now set for the final six to see who had the steadiest nerves to become the best 3-point shooter in Singapore.

Dominic, on account of having the lowest points in Round 2, shot first and dropped 16 points, setting the standard for the rest to beat.

Dominic Lee then went second and faded away with seven points. Edmond Goh then stepped up, but his nine points left him vulnerable.

True enough, Wee Hong Chao stepped up and dropped 11 points to give himself a shot in the top three. Dean Seah, who hit 14 points in the second round, also faded away in the final round, dropping only six points.

This left Lee Yi Wei, the highest scorer in the second round with 18 points, with the final chance to overtake Dominic Lim. Could he replicate his top-scoring performance? Despite dropping a credible 14 points, it was not enough to overhaul Dominic.

"This is great and exciting!” said Yi Wei after the shootout. “The highlight for me in this whole tournament is during second round when I scored 18 points to qualify for the final, the highest of all qualifiers."

When asked if he expected the second placed finish, he replied, "No no, I only joined for fun and totally didn't expect it. All the training I did was the normal training with school team and practice at CC for three or four times a week."

"I was quite nervous throughout the whole competition,” said Hong Chao who finished second with 11 points, “but I feel that this third-place finish is about my standard. So yeah, I expected it in a way. I didn't do much preparation beside normal school training."

Dominic Lim won himself three pairs of adidas shoes while Yi Wei and Hong Chao got two pairs and one pair respectively.