By REDintern Rachel Yip

New Town vs Hillgrove

Javier Ang (#10) of Hillgrove beats Vikash (#15) of New Town to the rebound. Javier had 13 points in the game. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)

 

Clementi Sports Hall, Friday, July 13, 2012 – New Town Secondary are on track to making the semi-finals after defeating Hillgrove Secondary 52-41 for their second win in the second round of the West Zone C Division Boys’ Basketball Championship.

The loss is Hillgrove’s first after having previously beaten Teck Whye earlier in the week.

It was a closely fought match, with New Town touting Hillgrove as one of their main competitors in the group. Hillgrove started off the stronger of the two teams as poor New Town defending allowed Hillgrove to make key passes in their attacking third and grab many rebounds. It caused New Town to trail 4-8 at one point in the first quarter, but they picked up their game to pull level at 14-14 with Hillgrove.

A determined New Town side surged ahead in the second quarter, outscoring Hillgrove 18-4 to give them a first-half lead of 32-18. New Town capitalised on fast breaks by Denilson Soh (#7), Leong Daniel (#8), and Wan Min Xiong (#10) to lead their attack while Hillgrove also gave away many free throws which New Town converted.

Hillgrove tried to come back in the second half, winning the third and fourth quarters 10-8 and 13-12 respectively, but could not make up for their poor performance in the second quarter to fall 41-52.

Hillgrove’s Gary Ng (#4) sunk a game-high 18 points, but it was not enough to prevent the defeat.

New Town’s captain Denilson Soh (#7) and Wan Min Xiong (#10) emerged as joint top scorers for their team, with 16 points each.

Denilson had positive things to say about his team’s performance.

“We played well. The team has improved a lot since round one. Teamwork was good and this team has bonded a lot,” said Denilson.

Besides Hillgrove, Denilson also picked out Bukit Panjang Government High as one of the strongest competitors. Both teams will go head-to-head on Monday, July 16th. Hillgrove will hope to regain their winning ways when they meet Westwood on the same day. Both games will be held at Clementi Sports Hall.

Score by Quarter
New Town vs Hillgrove
1st Q: 14-14
2nd Q: 18-4 (32-18)
3rd Q: 8-10 (40-28)
4th Q: 12-13
Final score: 52-41

Top scorers
New Town
Denilson Soh Cai Jun (#7) – 16 points
Wan Min Xiong (#10) – 16 points
Cleve Low Wei Jie (#9) – 14 points
Daniel Leong (#8) – 6 points

Hillgrove
Gary Ng Jing Kai (#4) – 18 points
Javier Ang Kun Teng (#10) – 13 points
Tan Zhi En (#7) – 7 points

New Town Roster
Harittaran (#4), Malcolm Wang Jing Xiang (#5), Justin Yue Yi Xin (#6), Denilson Soh Cai Jun (#7), Leong Daniel (#8), Cleve Low Wei Jie (#9), Wan Min Xiong (#10), Justin Tan Zhen Zhou (#11), Kwan Jong Xiang (#12), Patrick Low Wei Jie (#13), Sherman Goh Jun Ze (#14), Sai Vikash S/O Sin Kumar (#15)

Hillgrove Roster
Gary Ng Jing Kai (#4), Lim Junjie (#5), Tay Ban Lee (#6), Tan Zhi En (#7), Lim Chang Hui (#8), Tan Zhi Kai (#9), Javier Ang Kun Teng (#10), Lee Guan Rong (#11), Stanley Soh Koon Siang (#12), Jared Ng Wen Sheng (#14), Kelvin Oh (#15)

West Zone C Division Basketball Championship – full fixtures and results

More photos next page