By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports
Larry Liew (white), who is in the Youth Olympic Games squad, will lead North Vista in the national round. North Vista is seen as one of the few teams this year that can give heavily-favoured Unity a strong fight in the nationals. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports archive photo)
The National B Division Basketball Championship tips off today and Unity Secondary look set to dethrone defending champions Presbyterian High.
Boasting a formidable line up that includes six national age group players, David Soo, Peter Soo, Ng Wei Xiang, Remus Low and centre Delvin Goh led their unbeaten team to the West Zone B Division title with a blow-out 97-38 victory over Jurong Secondary.
Unity are the team to beat and Anglican High captain Chee Khan Liang certainly thinks so. When asked who will most likely win the nationals, he replied without hesitation, "That would be Unity due to their height and speed! For us, we'll have to depend on our defense and speed to make it in the nationals because we are generally shorter than most teams."
The question then is, which of the other teams will mount a challenge to Unity?
Group C
Unity are in Group C and Yishun Secondary should provide the strongest challenge to them for top spot in the group. Yishun finished second in the North Zone after losing to North Vista in the final. Yuying Secondary and Dunman High School complete the rest of Group C.
Group B
One strong challenger to Unity will be North Vista Secondary with national youth squad forward Larry Liew leading the team.
"We'll just try our best when we face Unity. I think our chances (to beat each other) are rather equal. My aim for the team this year would be to make it into the final," shared Larry.
North Vista are grouped with South Zone runners-up Peirce Secondary, last year's first runners-up New Town Secondary and Ngee Ann Secondary.
"Peirce will probably be our greatest challenge as they finished second in their zone," added Larry.
Group A
Arguably the most exciting group is Group A with South Zone champions Queensway Secondary, defending champions Presbyterian High, Dunman Secondary and Hwa Chong Institution pitted against each other.
Although Queensway Secondary finished top of the South Zone, they are seen as the weakest zonal champions, with some saying they are overly reliant on Johann Yeo.
Johann disagreed, however, saying, "There's no way for one man to play basketball against five! If we were a one-man team, at most I can score 20 plus points, but the team still loses. Everyone contributes."
"But about South being the weakest champions, I agree," continued Johann. "Look at the other teams! Unity, North Vista, Anglican High and even Dunman Secondary - they are all very strong teams and they stand a high chance of making it into the top four. North Vista, for example, is made out of a lot of Secondary Fives. I'll place my team in the top eight."
He also identified Dunman as a key opponent in their group.
"Dunman will be the team to beat in our group so we have to focus on beating Hwa Chong and Presbyterian High."
With Russel Low leading them last year, Presbyterian High took the B Division national title with ease. However, after Russel’s graduation, Presbyterian High struggled to make it into the nationals this year, finishing fourth in their zone.
"We'll do our best and I think we can still make it to the top eight!" said an optimistic captain Ng Jun Jie.
On Queensway being the weakest champions, he didn't want to underestimate them, saying, "No lah! Can't say like that! They are, after all, still champions."
Group D
The final group sees Anglican High, Jurong Secondary, Raffles Institution and Christ Church Secondary fighting it out for the top two qualifying spots.
Jurong Secondary squeezed into the West Zone final after a dramatic one-point victory over Hwa Chong Institution before getting taken part by Unity in the final. They will definitely be determined erase memories of that match with a strong performance in the nationals.
Anglican High captain Chee Khan Liang had these words about the group: "It wouldn't be an easy fight. Jurong and RI finished in the top four two years ago so it wouldn't be easy. For our group, I think the greatest challenge will be Jurong after their dramatic victory over Hwa Chong."
The National B Division Boys Basketball Championship begins today with teams from Group B tipping off. Answers to many unanswered questions will be revealed in the coming weeks: Will Unity steam-roll through everyone to the title? Will North Vista stop Unity? Maybe even Anglican High or Dunman? Will defending champions Presbyterian High even make it out of the first round? How will South Zone champions Queensway fair?
Looks like the stage is set for an exciting basketball national round.
Zhou Zhen Qiang (white) and his Yishun teammates will have a battle on their hands with Unity in their first round group. (Photo 2 © Les Tan/Red Sports archive photo)
N.B. Go to the SCHOOLS FIXTURES & RESULTS page for more information.
Unity has 6 national youth players.
5 from B division:
Delvin, Remus, Peter, David and Wei Xiang
1 from C division
Mernard
To Spector- yeap ur right..unity did win north vista in a competition b4 but do u know tt it was a close game?? I was at the game tt time n unity won north vista by 8 points I guess? There’s a period where by north vista is leading them by oso 8-10 points but till the last few mins of the 4th quater they made mistake n lose out..see my point isn’t saying tt north vista is damn good n will win it for sure but rather want to tell u guys tt the basketball is round n anything can happen on court..there’s no 100 percent win in a game..all in all let’s jus enjoy the game alright? Cheers:)
From the way all you guys are talking, it seems like Singapore Basketball is really Overrated, No Offence to anybody. I would really like to play against the best players of Singapore, man i cant wait to go back to Sg hahaah. I’m Not bragging or boasting or anything but I don’t think i’ve ever seen an Sg Secondary Basketball player that has met my expectations. Oh well, i guess the standards are different in Jkt and in Sg. Im looking forward to finding out who will win the top spot in sg ahahaha 🙂
lol.nerds..how could you guys say that..Unity will be no match againist 2008 catholic..stop dreaming.National youth means nothing.It’s funny seeing this comment here.People say what they say.But i believe only my own eyes.No school now is a match for Catholic 2008.
During my time in 2002, chai chee sec led by Guorong steamrolled all the way from east zone till national finals.. No one ever came close to them. During the national finals, they walloped swiss cottage secondary led by Desmond oh from the current slingers squad over 40pts. And The same group from chai chee also represented combine school and trash everyone out of their way in the milo youth cup. That is by far the highest standard of play i’ve seen in secondary level competition..
Still, its just my point of view. everybody see things differently.. Peace =)
dots they never meet you won’t know, are you sure gong tat= delvin? russel maybe.Don’t forget they still got fangcie & keng yang
on paper the matchups of 2008 B div team and 2010 unity will be
delvin=gong tat
ming xuan>peter/david soo
kam seng>peter/david soo
jabez>remus
dominic=wei xiang
while bench wise oh well,theres jonathan cher and johcelyn from cat high whose really energetic and agressive.pretty fast too.
how can unity stop them?
I’m a Singaporean but currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia. I go to school at Singapore International School Bona Vista. Hahahah. are Unity that good? damn i wish i could play against them haahah. What do you guys mean by National Squad? are they part of the Singapore Youth Basketball Team? They must be Pretty good then.
@irsyad: Welcome to the site : )
Yes they are part of the youth national team and they are good.
With the Catholic B team 2008 and even with Russel in Presby i don’t think they can win Unity cos as you mention they have 5 National player but don’t forget they have a power center Delvin in their team.I heard they ever beat North Vista in certain competition
I believe any team has the chance to win it.I kind of disagree with what dots say. FYI larry from NV didnt say tat they can stop unity. HE just say it a equal chance for both team.
So that means the B Boys team only has 5 national players, correct?
Another one player from unity,National U15 is Mernard Lee from ‘C’boy
Another 1 player is from C boy U15
Where you from Irsyad? : )
TBH, after going to CSH to watch the National Games today, North Vista has no chance.
They won New Town by 28? I think, while Unity, even when fielding their bench players, thrashed them by over 50.
There is no way ANY team can stop Unity, unless.. (Injuries) touch wood*
Really? Remus told me 6. Maybe I misheard him.
Only 5 players of the Unity boys in the national age group.
I envy Sg basketball… you guys get to play in real interhigh competionss… hahaha, no matterr, i hope to see who takes the title this year, im rooting for Yishun, with their number 13. I’m looking forward to seeing which team is the best, and who will be the MVP of the tournament
a question about the unity team, it’s mentioned that there are 6 national age-group players, but only 5 names are mentioned, who’s the missing 1?
@realcool – you are very sharp! haha.
I know, that’s my fault. I only remembered five of them.
Hey Unity boys – who is the sixth national age group player?
Hopefully, they will fill in the blanks. : )
How can north vista possibly stop unity?larry is dreaming!If the singapore pools sell B div basketball bets Unity secondary will b overwhelming favourites.Even tho larry played in AYG,he is not as dominant a player as russel is.Even if russel is still in presby,it would b very hard for them to topple unity cos theres peter and david soo.weixiang and also remus.The only team that can topple this unity team will be the catholic high B div team of 2008.That team is to me,still the strongest.They can shoot 3s(dominic,jonathan cher and jocelyn),fast break with ease(jabez and jonathan),threaten from middle range(kam seng,ming xuan and jabez) and also they have gong tat to intimidate the other teams with his height.Their defense at full flow is definitely the best I’ve seen for B div bball standard.Back to the point,Unity to stay unbeaten and get the championship.they will probably breeze thru.