Story By REDintern Zachary Foo. Photos by REDintern Sasha Christian
Brandon Teo (#15) of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian drives to the basket on a fast break. (Photo 1 © REDintern Sasha Christian)
PESEB, Evans Road, Friday, July 19, 2013 — Round 1 of the South Zone C Division Boys Basketball Championship finally concluded on July 19. We recap the final standings of each group, along with snippets of some matches that the Red Crew managed to get a peek of.
Group A
Round 2 Qualifiers — Catholic High (1st), Yuying Secondary (2nd)
Defending champions Catholic High progressed smoothly into Round 2. They were by far the best team in the group, winning each of their games by no less than 19 points and going undefeated. Yuying Secondary defeated Gan Eng Seng in a high-stakes match to punch their ticket into Round 2 as well.
Group B
Round 2 Qualifiers — Peicai Secondary (1st), St. Andrew’s Secondary (2nd)
St. Andrew’s Secondary 34 Holy Innocents’ High 22 (July 12)
St. Andrew’s Secondary took on Holy Innocents’ High in this Group B clash in a game that resembled St. Andrew’s niche sport, rugby. The game was an extremely scrappy affair, marked with lots of tussles for the balls and players diving to the floor to corral countless loose balls. Both teams also missed a lot of shots and made multiple turnovers, which kept the game close and exciting. In the end, St. Andrew’s won the match 34–22, helped by its patient ball movement on offence, helping them find open players down low for easy baskets.
St. Andrew’s co-captain, Jun Rui (#15) was visibly satisfied with the win. “I feel happy and excited by the win, I hope our team will be able to make Top 4 for Zonals. However, we have to take it one step at a time and we hope to qualify for Round 2 first. We have to improve as we progress through this current campaign.”
Holy Innocents’ captain, Myo Min Tun (#6) was happy with his team’s display, in spite of the loss. “I think we weren’t too bad today, it was a significant improvement from the previous game. We need to be more composed as I hope we make it to Round 2.”
Bishan Park Secondary 34 Bartley Secondary 11 (July 12)
In the other Group B encounter, Bishan Park faced off against Bartley Secondary in a match between two teams with similar skill level. The encounter proved to be extremely slow-paced and points came at a premium. Bishan Park eventually had their shots fall in the fourth quarter to pull away and win 34–11.
Favourites Peicai Secondary and St.Andrew’s Secondary both qualified for Round 2 in first and second place respectively. St. Andrew’s eked out a one-point win against Bishan Park Secondary in their final game to qualify for Round 2 by the skin of their teeth.
Group C
Round 2 Qualifiers — Raffles Institution (1st), Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary (2nd)
Kuo Chuan Presbyterian 66 Guangyang Secondary 24 (July 12)
In this Group C clash, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian steamrolled Guangyang Secondary 66–24 to bounce back from their first game loss to Raffles Institution. Kuo Chuan made use of a very strong full court press that Guangyang was unable to break, allowing them to control the tempo of the game and eventually sealed the win for Kuo Chuan.
Raffles Institution qualified comfortably from their group, looking eager to improve on their third-place finish in the South Zone last year. Kuo Chuan bounced back from a loss to Raffles in the first game to go undefeated and qualify in second place.
Group D
Round 2 Qualifiers — Fairfield Methodist School (1st), Mayflower Secondary (2nd)
Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) staked their case as dark horses for the South Zone championship by emerging top of their group undefeated. No team was able to score more than 15 points against them and they compiled a 74-point scoring average over four games. Mayflower won a thrilling overtime game against Bukit Merah Secondary to decide second place in the group. Mayflower head into unfamiliar territory, after missing out on Round 2 last year.
Group E
Round 2 Qualifiers — Queensway Secondary (1st), Peirce Secondary (2nd)
Queensway looked to banish the demons of last year as they head to the second round yet again. They will be looking to improve on last year’s result and qualify for the top four. Peirce Secondary also made it through to the second round, although on the back of a few shaky games as they qualified with a negative-points difference.
Standout Players of the Round
Tay Hock Soon (Serangoon Garden #8) — Hock Soon put up a thrilling display in the third quarter of his game against Henderson, scoring seven points in two minutes.
Jordan Lee (Mayflower #7) — Jordan was the hero for his team as he scored the game-winning basket against Bukit Merah while being fouled, converting the subsequent free throw.
Darren Ng Chang Le (Peicai #11) — Darren was extremely dominant down low for his school, and one of his highlights was putting up 36 points against Bishan Park.
2013 South Zone C Division Boys’ Basketball Championship — fixtures and results
More photos next page
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