Unity take home National B Division Basketball Championship with win over North Vista

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan

Jurong East Sports Hall, Tuesday, April 27, 2010 – Unity Secondary saw off the challenge of North Vista Secondary and took home the National B Division Boys’ Basketball Championship title with a 70-52 win.

Unity played 19 games and were undefeated throughout their entire B Division campaign. They swept Yishun Secondary aside in the semi-final to set up the meeting with North Vista.

North Vista too, were unbeaten throughout the whole season with their latest victory coming at the expense of Anglican High School whom they beat convincingly in another semi-final.

Unity had the perfect start, winning the tip-off and converting their first possession into points with Peter Soo scoring a lay-up. North Vista struggled to break down Unity's defense as the West Zone champions went on an 8-0 run to start the match. It took eight minutes into the first quarter for North Vista to finally break their scoring duck with a three-pointer from key player Larry Liew (#11).

That, however, did little to stop Unity's flow and they established a double digit lead at 13-3 with Lim Fang Cie nailing a three-pointer. Unity got another two points on the score sheet before the walking off with a 15-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Unity continued where they left off in the first quarter as they easily tore North Vista's defense apart with points on the break. It was not long before they had a 20-point lead at 25-5 midway through the second.

North Vista did manage to string some points together towards the end of the quarter, going on an 18-8 run, but that was not enough to prevent Unity from maintaining their 12-point lead at the end of the half at 33-21.

Although North Vista briefly brought the deficit down to 10 at the start of the third quarter, Unity quickly regained their 20-point lead with fast-break points. North Vista seemed unable to hold off Unity as they fell behind 23-43 four minutes into the third quarter.

Not to be outdone, North Vista began reduce the lead. Larry Liew scored eight straight points for his side as they managed to trim Unity's lead to 11 points going into the final quarter. North Vista won the third quarter 21-20.

In the fourth quarter, North Vista gave supporters hope as they turned up their defense and even managed to cut the lead down to nine points. Delvin Goh suffered a knock on the head at the start of the fourth and his absence allowed North Vista to reduce the deficit. However, Unity soon pegged them back with Ng Wei Xiang and Lim Fang Cie combining to go on an 11-0 run, putting the game beyond North Vista.

It did not help that North Vista were unable to hold the ball in the attacking half, making costly turnovers that Unity capitalised on to crush any chance of a North Vista comeback.

After playing his heart out for his side, Larry Liew eventually went down with cramps and an injured finger towards the end of the match. That effectively ended the match for North Vista as Unity held on for the 70-52 victory.

"We were too nervous in the first quarter," said North Vista coach Ong Yao Kwang after the game. "By the time we got settled in the third quarter, it was already too late and that killed us. Hopefully the players will learn from this experience."

"Delvin's injury was a crucial point in the game. He is a key player for them and when we had the run when he was out, we felt we might have a chance," added coach Ong.

"I hit my head on #12 (Loh Jin Hui) on a spin move," said Delvin Goh when asked what happened. "I saw blood, then got a little frightened. But it doesn't look so bad now – I'll probably just go home and rest."

"Definitely feeling very happy after winning the title," said Unity captain Remus Low, who sprained his ankle in the first quarter and was unable to play any further part in the match. "We wanted to try and open a big lead at the start of the game and we managed to do that. Today was probably our best performance of the season and no doubt North Vista was our hardest opponent so far."

"This is the first time in 10 years that our coach [Foo Kwang Hock] has won the title," added top scorer Ng Wei Xiang. "So we wanted to win it for him."

Ng Wei Xiang was also awarded the Most Valuable Player award.

"I totally didn't expect it!" said Wei Xiang on his championship-winning performance. "I thought I would play lousy as I was very nervous at the start of the match."

Quarter by Quarter Scores
North Vista vs Unity
1st Q: 3-15
2nd Q: 18-18
3rd Q: 21-20
4th Q: 8-15

Unity Lineup
Peter Soo (#4), Lim Fangcie (#5), Desmond Chua (#6), David Soo (#7), Wong Keng Yang (#8), Remus Low (#9), Gaddiel See (#10), Fabian Chua (#11), Ng Bing Hui (#12), Delvin Goh (#13), Ng Weixiang (#14), Ivan Chua (#15)

North Vista Lineup
Marcus Lee (#4), Khoo Teck Xian (#5), Tan Kit Siong (#6), Ng Kian Hao (#7), Gabriel Tan (#8), Wei Chang (#9), Dominique Tiang (#10), Larry Liew (#11), Loh Jin Hui (#12), Yan Qiu Zhen (#13), Jeric Lim (#14), Lo Yi Chuan (#15)

Scorers

North Vista
Larry Liew (#11) – 21 pts
Ng Kian Hao (#7) – 14 pts
Gabriel Tan (#8) – 13 pts
Wei Chang (#9) – 2 pts
Qan Qiu Zhen (#13) – 2pts

Unity
Ng Wei Xiang (#14) – 25 pts
Peter Soo (#4) – 18 pts
Lim Fang Cie (#5) – 15 pts
Delvin Goh (#13) – 8 pts
David Soo (#7) – 4 pts

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