Story by REDintern Charles Lim. Photos by Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports
Hall 2 celebrates their three-peat. (Photo 1 © Low Zheng Yu/Red Sports)
Sports Recreation Centre @ The Wave, Thursday, February 28, 2019 — In a tough and intense contest, Hall 2 proved their mettle and held their composure to emerge victorious 69-62 against Hall 12. This would be their third consecutive Inter-Hall Games Basketball championship to succeed their three-peat campaign.
Hall 2 gained the possession from the tip-off and managed to find their first basket through Wen Han’s (Hall 2 #34) post moves. Wen Han (Hall 2 #34) would follow up with a block on the defensive end, but Hall 12 answered with an offensive putback by Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11).
Hall 2 continued with consecutive baskets by (Hall 2 #34) Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) and Lyon Chia (Hall 2 #14) to pull ahead 8-2 before Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11) made a shot beyond the arc to make it 8-5. Brian Wong (Hall 2 #11) replied with an easy open 3-pointer and a fastbreak by Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) put Hall 2 ahead comfortably once more at 13-5.
Brian Wong (Hall 2 #11) would pull up a shot amidst traffic just as the shot clock expired to convert and give Hall 2 the double-digit lead 15-5, but Hall 12 managed to find their offensive tempo to close the gap 15-11 through Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11), Shawn Yip (Hall 12 #8) and Cheng Wei (Hall 12 #9).
Jasper Goh found his way through the Hall 12 defence with a drive to the basket, which was followed up by Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11) converting 2 free throws and Cheng Wei’s (Hall 12 #9) 3 point shot to end the quarter 19-14.
Hall 2 would find the early baskets in the second quarter as Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) outran his opponents for another fastbreak play and Wen Han (Hall 2 #34) made an easy under basket via a Lyon Chia (Hall 2 #14) assist. Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11) went back to the line to convert 1 of 2 free throws bringing the score to 23-15. An offensive putback by (Hall 12 #8) and a high post shot by Rymond Neo (Hall 12 #5) compelled Hall 2 to call for a timeout.
The short pause did not hinder Hall 12 as they would continue their offensive pace, where Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11) got a fastbreak off his steal and Cheng Wei (Hall 12 #9) would foul-in to tie the game at 23-23. Both teams went back and off and ended the quarter at a deadlock 30-30 with 3-point shots from each side coming from Patrick Gan (Hall 2 #24) and Cheng Wei (Hall 12 #9).
Hall 12 gained the lead 32-30 at the start with Yih Pin (Hall 12 #13)’s midrange jumper. Bingwen (Hall 2 #30) replied with an alley-oop off his offensive rebound to tie 32-32. Shawn Yip (Hall 12 #8) hustled to get the offensive putback and Patrick Gan (Hall 2 #24) nailed his shot beyond the arc which gave Hall 2 the lead once more 35-34. In a Hall 12 fastbreak play, Lyon Chia (Hall 2 #14) pulled off a spectacular block in his one on three defence to protect their lead.
A midrange jumper by Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) was followed by a under basket by (Hall 12 #8) to bring the score to 37-36. Hall 2 would pull out further ahead with shots from Brian Wong (Hall 2 #11) and Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13), whilst Amos Choy (Hall 12 #11) made his 3-point shot to close the gap 41-39.
In the remaining minutes of the quarter, Hall 12 was unable to find their offensive rhythm to allow Hall 2 to go on a 9-0 run via Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) and Lyon Chia (Hall 2 #14), ending the third quarter with a comfortable 50-39 lead.
Wen Han (Hall 2 #34) made his jumper to extend the lead, but it was quickly answered by Rymond Neo (Hall 12 #5) who was fouled beyond the arc and made it a 4-point play, closing the score gap back to the single digit 52-43.
Hall 2 would continue their pace on the offensive end and make shots via Bingwen (Hall 2 #30) and Jian Fu (Hall 2 #35) to bring the score to 56-43 before Cheng Wei (Hall 12 #9) landed his 3-pointer to make it 56-46.
The scoring favoured Hall 2 as they made baskets through Bing Wen (Hall 2 #30), Brian Wong (Hall 2 #11) and Lyon Chia (Hall 2 #14) before Hall 12’s Shawn Yip (Hall 12 #8) put up the and one play to bring the score to 63-49.
With five minutes left in the quarter, Hall 2 looked to run down the clock but made multiple mistakes in their set plays and rushed shots leading to Hall 12 going on an 11-0 run through transition plays.
Soon Seng (Hall 12 #7), Tay Wee (Hall 12 #6) and Cheng Wei (Hall 12 #9) contributed to the 11-0 run with set plays penetrating through Hall 2’s defence to narrow the gap to 63-60 with 90 seconds on the clock.
Gaining their composure, Wen Han (Hall 2 #34) found the under basket via Lyon Chia’s (Hall 2 #14) assist through the pick and roll, but Hall 12 pushed on to find an under basket via Cheng Wei (Hall 12 #9), bringing the score to 65-62.
With less than 20 seconds on the clock, Hall 12 racked up a series of team fouls to bring Hall 2 to the line. Brian Wong (Hall 2 #11) drew the consecutive fouls and went to the line with 7 seconds on the clock. He secured the crucial free throws and put Hall 2 ahead 67-62, which greatly diminished the comeback from Hall 12.
In their last offence, Hall 12 committed a turnover and Lyon Chia (Hall 2 #14) capitalised with a buzzer-beater fastbreak to round up the 69-62 victory against Hall 12.
On the close game, captain Tay Wee (Hall 12 #6) commented, “We were not as composed, had slow transitions and gave multiple fastbreaks to Hall 2 in the first few quarters. We came in as the underdogs but despite that we gave out best and our 100% to fight hard and I’m proud of the team. Hall 2 trained really hard and they deserved the win.”
Having contributed significantly throughout his Hall 2 IHG career, Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) was elated with the threepeat. He shared, “We have different players and different dynamics every year, but we managed to adapt to each other. This year we have better players and a deep rotation as we trusted each other.” On his aspirations for the team, Rong Hao (Hall 2 #13) cheekily remarked for a Hall 2 “fourpeat”
With this victory, traditional powerhouse Hall 2 will celebrate their third consecutive IHG basketball championships and look forward to continuing their dominance in the future IHG seasons
Scoring by Quarter
Hall 2 vs Hall 12
1st Quarter: 19-14
2nd Quarter: 11-16
3rd Quarter: 20-9
4th Quarter: 19-23
Top Scorers
Hall 2
Cheong Rong Hao (#13) – 16 points
Wong Liang Hao Brian (#11) – 13 points
Chia Zao Liang Lyon (#14) – 12 points
Hall 12
Chua Cheng Wei (#9) – 22 points
Hall 2 Roster
Goh Jian Wei Jasper (#7), Liew Jun Kai Edward (#8), Wong Liang Hao Brian (#11), Cheong Rong Hao (#13), Chia Zao Liang Lyon (#14), Fong Yen Yu Aloysius (#18), Wil Cheng (#22), Gan Wei Kiat (#24), Ler Puay Him (#25), Lim Bing Wen (#30), Chia Wen Han (#34), Kwan Jian Fu (#35)
Hall 12 Roster
Tan Zhao Xuan (#3), Neo Rymond (#5), Tay Wee (#6), Ng Soon Seng (#7), Shawn Yip Jia Hao (#8), Chua Cheng Wei (#9), Tung Yew Yu (#10), Amos Choy Xian Hao (#11), Chong Yih Xuan (#12), Chong Yih Pin (#13), Chuang Kuo Wei (#21), Chew Rong Qiang Henry (#24)
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