Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Players vie for the rebound. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
Singapore Basketball Centre, Monday, April 28, 2014 — Victoria Junior College (VJC) beat Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) 45–43 in the National A Division Boys Basketball Championship.
Danny Han (VJC #9) paced his team with 17 points, while Pan Zexu (ACJC #11) had a team-high 14 points.
In the first quarter, VJC struggled to convert as they faced bad finishing during offensive plays. However, they managed to chalk up five points from free throws alone to stay close to ACJC on the scoreline. ACJC led 10–7 going into the second quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, Wesley Woo (VJC #11) scored an easy two to make it 9–10. Zexu (ACJC #11) returned a basket to make it 9–12. Thereafter, Danny (VJC #9) scored a three on the wing to draw even with ACJC (12–12). VJC and ACJC then tried to match each other basket for basket, and as such not more than two points separated the teams for the rest of the quarter. The score was tied at 19–19 before the halftime break.
VJC poured in a 8–0 scoring run from the start of the third quarter, with Balasubramanian Ravichandran N (VJC #5) netting two 3-pointers in a row, and Vincent Oh (VJC #4) scoring on an unattended drive. Jacky Tan (ACJC #14) then broke through with a conversion in the paint to add two points onto the scoresheet. ACJC were trailing 21–27 but good team effort allowed them to fall behind only by two points (27–29) when the third quarter ended.
In the fourth quarter, Zexu (ACJC #11) stepped up on his offensive game and poured in 10 points straight with good finishing on drives and by converting well in the paint.
On the other hand, VJC chose to take shots mostly from outside the paint as they faced aggressive defending by their opponents in the key. For VJC, Danny (#9) played a pivotal role during offensive plays as he will go for loose balls to drive straight to the basket for easy twos. Towards the end of the game, VJC went on drives to draw fouls from their defenders in the paint, and capitalized on their free throws to chalk up points. VJC scored 10 points from free throws alone.
With six seconds remaining, ACJC and VJC were tied at 43–43 but Danny (VJC #9) converted a pair of free throws to seal the game 45–43, allowing VJC to take home their first win of the tournament.
VJC captain, Danny (#9) said, “It was very close, but today we were missing two of our main players due to injury. I think we fought hard towards the end. At a point of time we made a lot of mistakes, but I’m glad that we came back and eventually won the game.”
ACJC captain, Teng Kiat (#7) said, “We started off poor, as we couldn’t feel the shooting range and made a few mistakes. From second and third quarters on, we tried to hype everything up, on the bench too, as you can hear the cheers. From then onwards it’s like a turning point and we started to fight back. We were facing quite a big deficit then. Afterwards we started to gain more confidence and tried to chase back, but we still lost. It was a close game.”
Scoring by Quarter
VJC vs ACJC
1Q: 7–10
2Q: 12–9 (19–19)
3Q: 10–8 (29–27)
4Q: 16–16 (45–43)
Final score: 45–43
Top Scorers
VJC
Danny Han (#9) – 17 points (1 x 3 pointer)
ACJC
Pan Zexu (#11) – 14 points
Victoria Junior College Roster
Oh Shaw Hao Vincent (#4), Balasubramanian Ravichandran N (#5), Teng Wye Kit (#6), Lee Liang Heng Caleb (#7), Sean Goh Shao En (#8), Han Zhi Kwang Danny (#9), Wesley Woo Qi Long (#11), Nicholas Koo Kai Wen (#12), Javier Tan Yan Kai (#13), Ho Jian Qing (#15).
Anglo-Chinese Junior College Roster
Jess Teo (#4), Daryl Eng (#5), Devin Nathanael (#6), Ang Teng Kiat (#7), Harvin Iriawan (#8), Loke Yong Lum (#9), Hoo Jinh Hao (#10), Pan Zexu (#11), Jeremy Sim (#12), Mitchell Kwan (#13), Jacky Tan (#14), Jordan Wong (#15)
National A Division Boys Basketball Championship — Fixtures and Results
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