By REDintern Tang Rei-En
Toh Tze Cong (CH #15) grabs possession of the ball. He finished with a game-high 32 points, half of his team’s total output. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
Jurong East Sports Hall, Wednesday, July 25, 2012 — Catholic High outplayed Peicai Secondary 64-40 to clinch the South Zone C Division Basketball Championship title.
Once again, the top scorer of the game was Catholic High’s Toh Tze Cong (#15), who, despite carrying an injury, still managed 32 points, half of his team’s output. Darren Ng (#13) was Peicai’s top scorer with 12 points.
Tze Cong (#15) got the scoring going with a two-pointer within 10 seconds of the start. Both teams played a strong defense, and this led to a lot of turnovers. Despite this, Catholic High were able to outscore Peicai 25-6 in the first quarter with Tze Cong (#15) leading the way.
One notable moment of the quarter was when Tze Cong (#15) blocked a pass by a Peicai player with one hand, plucking the ball out of mid-air. Before the Peicai players could react, he had dribbled down the court to lay up for another two points.
The second quarter started off slowly, with neither team able to score in the first two minutes because of inaccurate shooting. Peicai’s Teh Zhong How (#9) then stepped up for this team, as he started to elude the Catholic High defenders to score multiple times. He ended the second quarter with a three-pointer but Catholic High still led 38-17 at the half-time break.
In the third quarter, Peicai tightened their defense to make it difficult for Catholic High, forcing them to pass the ball around while trying to find an opening. This resulted in several wild shots, which Peicai capitalized on by stealing their defensive rebounds. However, the players were overwhelmed by Catholic High’s defense, and could not covert fast breaks into points.
Twice in the third quarter, Peicai prevented Catholic High from scoring with a lay up, as their players were fast enough to stop their opponents when they broke away with the ball. Despite so, Catholic High still managed to maintain a 27-point, 56-29 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Peicai fought back in the fourth quarter and actually outscored Catholic High 11-8. They were able to catch most of the defensive rebounds and, unlike the previous quarter, went on to score on most of their attempts. One notable player was Peicai’s Darren Ng (#13) who played an instrumental role in grabbing rebounds.
Catholic High’s accuracy seemed to suffer in the fourth quarter, as they kept flubbing their shots, but the huge 27-point lead they had built up going into the fourth was good enough to see them through to the end.
Peicai’s vice-captain, Melson De Galicia (#7), said: “We didn’t have a good start, and could have played better at the start of the game. We didn’t get enough rebounds, and there were a lot of turnovers. We also took chances that weren’t worth it.”
“We did well for our defense and our attacking,” added Melson.
Warren Wong (#12), captain of Catholic High, said that he was pleased with how his team had played in this game.
“We played better than previous games. We got back our form and didn’t give up,” said Warren.
“Our greatest rivals for Nationals are Unity Secondary, Dunman High School, North Vista Secondary and Anglican High School,” added Warren, about the National Championship.
The top four South Zone teams make their way into the National C Division Basketball Championship starting on Monday, July 30th. Peicai and Catholic High will be joined by Fairfield Methodist School and Raffles Institution.
Raffles finished third in the zone after beating Fairfield 52-44.
Score by Quarter
Catholic High vs Peicai
1st Q: 25-6
2nd Q: 13-11 (38-17)
3rd Q: 18-12 (56-29)
4th Q: 8-11
Final Score: 64-40
Top Scorers
Catholic High
Toh Tze Cong (#15) – 32 points
Seow Li Da (#7) – 6 points
Ryan Lee (#11) – 5 points
Nicholas Woon (#13) – 5 points
Peicai
Darren Ng (#13) – 12 points
Teh Zhong How (#9) – 10 points
Alden Toh (#8) – 8 points
Catholic High Roster
Teo Yew Teng (#4), Zhen Yu Hui (#5), Woo Jian Zhe (#6), Seow Li Da (#7), Hu Zhi Cang (#8), Darryl Soh (#9), Marcus Chang (#10), Ryan Lee (#11), Warren Wong (#12), Nicholas Woon (#13), Lloyd Ng (#14), Toh Tze Cong (#15)
Peicai Roster
Bryann Ong (#4), William Sebastian (#5), Lim Gui Ann (#6), Melson De Galicia (#7), Alden Toh (#8), Teh Zhong How (#9), Tey Shou Hong (#10), Chua Yih Fei (#11), Ng Say Hong (#12), Darren Ng (#13), Thanaboon Chan (#14), Deon Lye (#15)
South Zone C Division Basketball Championship — full fixtures and results
More photos next page
[…] With this result, Peicai Secondary finishes at the bottom of their group with three losses. Peicai were the South Zone runners-up during the zonal championship. […]
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