By Gan Yu Neng/Red Sports
Toh Tze Cong (#15) of Catholic High with a lay up for two. He finished with a pivotal game-high 36 points, more than half of his team’s 63-point total. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Jurong East Sports Hall, Thursday, August 23, 2012 — Catholic High avenged a previous Round 2 defeat by Dunman Secondary, drawing even in the fourth quarter and scoring the winning basket in the last eight seconds to win 63-61 in the boys’ final of the National C Division Basketball Championship.
The victory gave Catholic High the national C Division champions crown after they finished runner-ups last year while Dunman experienced their first defeat in 18 zonal and national championship games in the most painful way.
Toh Tze Cong (#15) of Catholic High proved the pivotal difference in the game, scoring a game-high 36 points, more than half of his entire team’s 63-point total.
Despite scoring the first points and starting the game with a quick 5-0 lead, Catholic High were quickly overtaken and spent most of the game chasing Dunman. Midway through the third quarter, Dunman Secondary had a 10-point lead at 43-33.
In the latter half of the quarter, however, Catholic High began to catch up, going for faster passing plays to score before Dunman’s defense could get into place, and running harder to intercept passes and steal dribbles. From the end of the third quarter to the start of the fourth, Catholic High managed to score eight points unanswered, bringing the score level at 48-48.
From that point on, while Dunman remained in the lead, they were unable to shake off Catholic High and mostly led by only one or two points.
In the last 20s of the game, with both teams tied at 61-61, Catholic High’s Toh Tze Cong (#15) missed a shot only for Dunman’s defense to knock the ball out of play.
On Catholic High’s next throw-in, Tze Cong once again managed to get the ball. Doing a quick run around Dunman, who were tightly clustered beneath the basket, Tze Cong opted to plunge in and take the shot instead of passing it out to an open teammate. He ended up sinking it to put the score at 63-61, giving Catholic High their largest lead over Dunman since the opening minutes of the game.
Unable to advance the ball past Catholic High’s defense in the remaining 8.5 seconds, Dunman ceded the game and experienced their first defeat this season.
Dunman’s captain, Xu Teck Chong (#11), was the team’s top scorer with 18 points. Teck Chong played a very fast and athletic game, repeatedly stealing the ball from Catholic High to keep Dunman in possession, as well as scoring again and again with his smooth and swift fast breaks.
However, the loss of Teck Chong to cramps in the final quarter proved decisive as his teammates missed his dominating presence on court. Teck Chong said he took a blow to his stomach which left him nauseous after that.
Dunman’s Choo Tin Liang (#7) was also impressive both in offense and defense, holding a steady guard against much larger players. Both Tin Liang and Teck Chong were adept at advancing the ball through Catholic High’s defense with fast, calm runs, often going for quick drives right after turnovers to score before Catholic High’s defense could catch up.
Aside from their stand-out players, Dunman as a team kept a harsh pace, applying pressure across the entire court and diving in to intercept the ball, cut passes, steal dribbles, and grab fumbles.
Dunman also showed superior depth in their squad. Unlike Catholic High, where the bulk of the points came from Tze Cong, Dunman had a clear variety of scoring options, with six players making five or more points for the team.
Catholic High had trouble getting through Dunman’s defense in the first half, with Dunman’s defence either forcing Catholic High to make wild, inaccurate shots or lose possession under the pressure of the 24-second shot clock.
Without a consistent mid-range shooter, Catholic High had to resort to making fast break attempts or muscling through Dunman’s defense. Zhen Yu Hui (#5) and Seow Li Da (#7) made repeated fast break attempts and made it all the way down the court but they missed their layups or shots due to pressure from Dunman’s chasing defenders.
Catholic High, however, had a game-changing ace in the form of Toh Tze Cong (#15). Apart from his 36 points, he contributed to many more with his long forward passes, his assists from near the basket, and his top-notch capturing of both offensive and defensive rebounds.
As with his previous games, Tze Cong was the most imposing and impressive player on court. With his speed, size, jumping power and near-basket accuracy, Tze Cong was practically unstoppable throughout the game, coming up tops against Dunman’s equally tall center, Liew Jia Ming (#14), in aerial confrontations for offensive or defensive rebounds.
No other moment demonstrates Tze Cong’s physical superiority better than the opening minute of the third quarter. While being quadruple-teamed by Dunman’s defenders, Tze Cong caught his own rebound twice in a row and eventually made the shot for two even as all four of his opponents jumped repeatedly with him. His two points cut the deficit for Catholic High to just three at 30-33.
In the previous match against Dunman, Tze Cong had fouled out of the game in the final quarter. At that point, Dunman had only been leading by five points. By the time the game finished, Dunman had managed to extend that to a 15-point lead.
In today’s match, the entire spectator stand seemed to understand that Catholic High’s game hinged on Tze Cong staying on the court. After he made his third foul at the start of the second quarter, Tze Cong was substituted out as the Catholic High supporters replaced their school cheers with cries of, “Come on Tze Cong, relax! Tze Cong, chill!”
Three-and-a-half minutes later, Tze Cong came back on court, and proceeded to finish the remaining two quarters without making a single foul, playing carefully and maintaining restraint despite being repeatedly fouled himself.
After the match ended, Catholic High’s ace, Tze Cong (#15), was pleased with how the team rose to the occasion to overcome the score gap.
“The game went out-of-par at first,” he said. “At the end we tried to be more aggressive, we tightened our defense.”
On the previous match with Dunman, Catholic High’s captain, Warren Wong (#12), explained: “We lost to them by 15 points. That game … we were not at our best … we didn’t hustle for the ball.”
Tze Cong added: “Now we’ve got back over to peak performance. We hustled for the ball, improved our defense … They (Dunman Secondary) did better than last time, but we just worked harder and outscored them.”
In the 3rd/4th placing match on Wednesday, defending national champions Unity beat Top Four newcomers Ahmad Ibrahim 73-55 to end this season in third place. It was a stark reversal of their previous meeting, where Ahmad Ibrahim upset Unity to win by a margin of 20 points.
Presbyterian High were given the C Div Boys’ Fair Play award.
In an announcement which perhaps came as no surprise to the spectators at the final, Catholic High’s Toh Tze Cong (#15) was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) accolade.
Tze Cong will be moving on to Catholic High’s B Division team next season. Asked about his targets for the season, he replied simply: “National champion. Champion is the target, but Top Four is what we MUST achieve.”
Score by Quarter
Dunman vs Catholic High
1st Q: 17-15
2nd Q: 16-13 (33-28)
3rd Q: 15-14 (48-42)
4th Q: 13-21
Final Score: 61-63
Top Scorers
Dunman
Xu Teck Chong (#11) — 18 points
Choo Tin Liang (#7) — 9 points
Mohamed Shukri bin Monof (#10) — 9 points
Liew Jia Ming (#14) — 7 points
Darren Ng (#6) — 7 points
Alex Shao (#15) — 5 points
Joshua Aias (#13) — 4 points
Chng Yaw Haur (#9) — 2 points
Catholic High
Toh Tze Cong (#15) — 36 points
Seow Li Da (#7) — 8 points
Nicholas Woon (#13) — 7 points
Hu Zhi Cang (#8) — 3 points
Warren Wong (#12) — 3 points
Ryan Lee (#11) — 2 points
Darryl Soh (#9) — 2 points
Zhen Yu Hui (#5) — 2 points
Dunman Roster
Benedict Ong (#4), Nur Hamkah (#5), Darren Ng (#6), Choo Tin Liang (#7), Nor Farhan (#8), Chng Yaw Haur (#9), Mohamed Shukri bin Monof (#10), Xu Teck Chong (#11), Tan Yi Rong (#12), Joshua Aias (#13), Liew Jia Ming (#14), Alex Shao (#15)
Catholic High Roster
Teo Yew Teng (#4), Zhen Yu Hui (#5), Woo Jian Zhe (#6), Seow Li Da (#7), Hu Zhi Cang (#8), Darryl Soh (#9), Zong Ming Shin (#10), Ryan Lee (#11), Warren Wong (#12), Nicholas Woon (#13), Lloyd Ng (#14), Toh Tze Cong (#15)
National C Division Basketball Championship — full fixtures and results
More photos next page
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