North Vista and Yishun tip off Boys’ B Division basketball second round Group Y with wins

Story by Erwin Wong/Red Sports. Photos by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports

Clementi Sports Hall, Friday, April 9, 2010 - North Vista and Yishun Secondary School tipped off their Second Round Group Y campaign with respective wins in the Boys' National Schools B Division basketball championships.

North Zone champions North Vista, tipped by many to make it all the way to the final, had an easy 77-48 victory over Raffles Institution. The latter took an early 8-5 lead as captain Jordaan Goh scored eight of his team-high 12 points in the first quarter, but his team's porous defence proved to be their undoing.

The North Vista players easily slipped through RI's full-court press and got on the end of countless breakaway lay ups, and led 25-18 after the first period, with National Youth player Larry Liew scoring 12 points in the opening 10 minutes.

North Vista subsequently widened their lead and limited their opponents to only 15 points in the next two quarters. Their 41-25 half-time lead allowed North Vista to rest Larry for extended periods in the second half, which was a mere formality when the final whistle signaled a 29-point win.

On the adjacent court, Yishun survived a third-quarter comeback from Dunman Secondary to win 71-64. Zhou Zhen Qiang and Tay Wen Cheng combined to score 27 of their team's 37 first half points as Yishun led by nine at the break, but a 9-2 run to begin the second half pulled Dunman to within two points.

Oh Jun Hao's breakaway lay up, his only basket of the game, after two missed Dunman free throws with the score at 43-39 proved to be the crucial four-point swing which sealed the game in Yishun's favour. They led by as many as 16 points late in the game, and although another Dunman run reduced the final deficit, it was too late for the defending second runners-up team, which now has to win their remaining two matches to repeat their semi-final showing from a year ago.

Zhen Qiang and Wen Cheng led Yishun with 27 and 20 points respectively, but their teacher-in-charge, Mr Tan Hong Peng, was pleased with the efforts of the team as a whole.

"I think both teams played very well. Today, my players played together as a team. So they managed to share the load, and everyone played their part."

Zhen Qiang is the obvious stalwart in the team, but other players are coming into their own, according to Mr Tan.

"I'm quite happy that my team has slowly morphed from a team that depends on Zhen Qiang, to one that has confidence in oneself as a player. Our coach, Ng Jun Fang, also managed to gel and put together a team. I hope they continue to play as well."

The B Division basketball second round has a week-long break before it resumes on Monday, April 19. RI will play against Dunman Secondary, while Yishun takes on North Vista in a repeat of the North Zone final earlier this year, which the latter won. The winner of this match will most likely avoid facing odds-on favourites Unity Secondary in the semi-finals.

For photos and stats, go to the next page