Story by REDintern Ellis Yap. Photos by Lee Jian Wei and Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Kelvin Lim (#22) of Singapore goes for a layup against Brunei. He led Singapore with a team-high 13 points in the 74–26 victory over Brunei. (Photo 1 © Lee Jian Wei/Red Sports)
OCBC Arena, Tuesday, April 29, 2015 — Singapore clinched their second straight victory in the 11th Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) Championship, defeating Brunei 74–26 on home ground.
Kelvin Lim (#22) finished the game with a team-high 13 points. Md Zainul Ashyral (#14) of Brunei displayed a stellar performance, scoring the bulk of Brunei’s points while registering a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Desmond Oh (#2) made the first basket on a layup, after a short scoring drought from both sides. It was a rather cold start as players from both teams started off a little stiff on offence. The pace of the game was slow and the energy level for both teams stayed rather low throughout much of the first quarter.
Brunei had a difficult start offensively and this plagued them throughout the game. Relative to their performance, Singapore started off a little steadier, running proper plays which appeared well set-up but with a slight lack of synergy. Anyhow, Singapore limited the under-sized Brunei team to just one point for much of the first quarter.
Getting up and down the court eventually got Russel Low (#15) warmed up, as he bullied his way through his undersized Brunei counterparts for two easy layups. He got the rhythm going for the rest of the team in the second quarter; a morale boost was evident as the Singaporeans were more vocal and communicated with one another.
Brunei summed up the quarter with a pretty behind-the-back midair pass from Mohd Jamri (#12), feeding Md Zainul Ashyral (#14) for an easy layup which stunned defender Kelvin Lim (#22). The play sparked the spectators, re-energizing a tired crowd, but Singapore held the 40–11 lead to head into the second half.
The second half was held firmly within the grasp of the Singaporeans. Under the lead of Wong Wei Long (#5), Singapore identified the advantage that they had in the post, feeding Russel Low (#15) and Delvin Goh (#23) for easy baskets on multiple plays.
It was a one-sided game in favor of Singapore. Brunei could not match up in all facets of the game, be it physically or technically. Team Singapore held the upper hand on both ends of the court.
Singapore eventually closed out the game with a respectable 74–26 win over Brunei. They will take on Indonesia in their next game. The game will be held at OCBC Arena on April 29 at 8 p.m. in the evening.
Kelvin Lim (#22), who led Singapore with 13 points, said, “I feel quite good as we had a good start, winning the first two games of the tournament. However, our coaches have been mentioning that our performance is clearly not up to mark and we have to do much better than this. We need to bring up the intensity for our upcoming games against the supposedly tougher opponents (Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia) if we want to stand a chance to win.
“I believe if we play as hard as we’ve trained during our training, we will be able to win.”
In the earlier games, causeway rivals Malaysia and Philippines notched their second straight victories as well, defeating Indonesia 59–36 and Laos 124–37 respectively.
Score by Quarter
Singapore vs Brunei
1st quarter: 18–5
2nd quarter: 40–11 (22–6)
3rd quarter: 52–18 (12–7)
4th quarter: 74–26 (22–8)
Top Scorers
Singapore
Kelvin Lim Hong Da (#22) – 13 points
Russel Low Wenqiang (#15) – 12 points
Delvin Goh Kok Chiang (#23) – 12 points
Leon Kwek Wei Meng (#10) – 10 points
Brunei
Md Zainul Ashyral HJ Hussin (#14) – 17 points
Singapore Roster
Oh Wei Jie Desmond (#2), Wong Wei Long (#5), Wu Qingde (#7), Toh Qing Huang (#8), Kwek Wei Meng Leon (#10), Liew Hua Sen Larry (#11), Khaw Yeong Wooi (#13), Low Wenqiang, Russel (#15), Ng Hanbin (#17), Lim Hong Da, Kelvin (#22), Goh Kok Chiang Delvin (#23), Tan Chin Hong (#83)
Brunei Roster
Soon Kian Leong (#4), Chong Ching Poh (#5), Lim Liang Wei (#6), Ching Wei Ming (#7), Lim Cheng Haw (#9), Khoo Chin Kai (#10), Fong Chew Siong Gideon (#11), Mohd Jamri Ramlee (#12), Md Zainul Ashyral HJ Hussin (#14), Liew Chee Jean (#15), Yang Jun Rhong (#16)
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