By Rachel Yip/Red Sports
Wan Min Xiong (#10) of New Town lays up for two against Unity. He finished witha game-high 23 points. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Clementi Sports Hall, Monday, July 23, 2012 – Unity Secondary were too strong for New Town Secondary and swept past them 92-50 in the semi-finals of the West Zone C Division Boys’ Basketball Championship.
With the win, Unity remains the only unbeaten team in the competition. It also earns them a spot in Thursday’s West Zone finals.
New Town drew first blood by taking the first two points through Wan Min Xiong (#10). Their early lead was short-lived, though, with Unity taking the next six points, through Kovic Lee (#8) and Shahrul Ramdul (#15).
The first five minutes of the game was a tight affair, with both teams struggling to find their rhythm. Unity were guilty of missing many shots, while New Town found it difficult to cope with Unity’s defence.
New Town had a great chance to make take an 8-7 when Cleve Low (#9) was found unguarded right below the basket, but his shot could not enter the basket. The rebound was instead grabbed by Unity and converted to make it 10-5.
New Town were down but not out. Team captain Denilson Soh (#7) sunk a three-pointer to close the gap to two at 8-10. New Town’s defence was not sloppy either, restricting Unity to plays outside the circle for long periods of the first quarter.
The tight defence, however, eventually broke, as Unity finally found their accuracy to go on an 11-point scoring streak. Unity’s Thng Yong An (#5) sunk a three-pointer in the final seconds to end the first quarter 21-8 in Unity’s favour.
New Town came out fighting at the start of the second quarter. Min Xiong put in two points and Daniel Leong (#8) converted a three-point play to reduce the deficit to eight points at 13-21. They also restricted Unity to only two points in the first five minutes of the quarter.
However, as the game wore on, New Town struggled to sink baskets. They could penetrate the defence but could not finish off the play. Unity’s Shahrul also made several key blocks to restrict New Town. The relatively taller Unity side caught the subsequent rebounds and converted them.
Once again, the quarter ended with a three-pointer, this time by New Town’s Min Xiong, with Unity leading 38-19.
Unity did not let up in the third quarter, outscoring New Town 27-18 to extend their lead over their opponents.
For a third time, the quarter was rounded off by another three-pointer, this time by Unity’s Tan Ming Hui (#9), to give Unity a 65-37 lead over New Town going into the final quarter.
Despite the huge lead, Unity were merciless in the final quarter. Unity played a tight full-court, man-on-man defence, which led to many mid-court interceptions which Unity converted.
New Town did not have the depth that Unity had on the bench and could not rotate players as often. As a result, by the final quarter, the New Town players looked really tired and depleted, having given their all for the whole game. Both Daniel and Min Xiong were taken out injured in the last few minutes.
Fatigue saw New Town committing many missed passes and giving away free throws.
The power of Unity’s play eventually saw them seal an impressive 92-50 victory.
Wan Min Xiong was on the losing team, but he was the top scorer with 23 points. Unity’s Thng Yong An and Kovic Lee were joint top scorers for Unity with 21 points each.
Unity captain Foo Jun Lin (#10) was delighted with his team’s performance.
“We played well – better than expected,” said Jun Lin.
When asked about his thoughts on the final against Jurong Secondary, whom they had beaten before in the second round, Jun Lin said, “We are confident of winning again.”
Meanwhile, New Town captain Denilson Soh was positive despite the crushing loss.
“The team played well. Even though we were losing, we did not give up and fought until the last buzzer,” said Denilson.
Of his next opponent, Bukit Panjang Government High, Denilson said: “After losing in the previous time we met, we will work even harder to beat them.”
When asked about the team’s target for the Nationals, Denilson was determined.
“We have no target at the moment, but we will try to win every match and bring down every team,” said Denilson.
Unity will aim to defend their West Zone title when they meet arch-rivals Jurong. The final will be held on Thursday, July 26th at Jurong East Sports Hall.
New Town will fight it out with Bukit Panjang for third on Wednesday, July 25th at Clementi Sports Hall.
Score by Quarter
Unity vs New Town
1st Q: 21-8
2nd Q: 17-11 (38-19)
3rd Q: 27-18 (65-37)
4th Q: 27-13
Final score: 92-50
Top scorers
Unity
Thng Yong An (#5) – 21 points
Kovic Lee (#8) – 21 points
Tan Ming Hui (#9) – 13 points
John Christopher (#7) – 10 points
Leon Chin (#14) – 6 points
New Town
Wan Min Xiong (#10) – 23 points
Denilson Soh (#7) – 17 points
Daniel Leong (#8) – 7 points
Unity Roster
Indra Dzuliman (#4), Thng Yong An (#5), Markus Lin (#6), John Christopher (#7), Lee Kovic (#8), Tan Ming Hui (#9), Foo Jun Lin (#10), David Martin (#11), Eugene Odulio (#12), Brandon Tan (#13), Leon Chin (#14), Shahrul Ramdum (#15)
New Town Roster
Harittaran (#4), Malcolm Wang Jing Xiang (#5), Justin Yue Yi Xin (#6), Denilson Soh Cai Jun (#7), Leong Daniel (#8), Cleve Low Wei Jie (#9), Wan Min Xiong (#10), Justin Tan Zhen Zhou (#11), Kwan Jong Xiang (#12), Patrick Low Wei Jie (#13), Sherman Goh Jun Ze (#14), Sai Vikash S/O Sin Kumar (#15)
West Zone C Division Basketball Championship — full fixtures and results
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[…] G Clementi Sports Hall, Monday, July 23, 2012 — Unity Secondary were too strong for New Town Secondary and swept past them 92-50 in the semi-finals of the West Zone C Division Boys’ Basketball […]