Catholic High outlasts Chung Cheng High (Main) to win basketball quarter-final thriller

Story and pictures contributed by reader Ian Chew

Catholic High’s Dominic Lim had a good game, scoring 8 points in addition to dishing out many assists. (Photo © Ian Chew)

Singapore Basketball Centre, Friday, April 4, 2008 – Catholic High suffered an almighty scare before scoring five points in the last one minute of the game to pip Chung Cheng High (Main) 91-83 in a Group Y National B Division Basketball Championship quarter-final match last week.

Colin Chou (#13) was the hero for Chung Cheng High, scoring a season-high 28 points and dishing out numerous assists as he tormented the Catholic High defense. There was an air of expectancy from the CCH supporters each time he got the ball that something spectacular would happen! This was also the first time in Catholic High’s recent history that any team has amassed such a huge score against them in a competitive match.

Explained Colin Chou: “We were very prepared and fired up for the match as Catholic High is the favorite for the title. We wanted to test ourselves against them and see how well we can perform against them.”

And that was exactly what Chung Cheng High did. They came out blazing in the first quarter, outscoring Catholic High 10-4 in the first two minutes before Catholic High clawed back with some good defensive stops to lead the first quarter 21-17.

The high-scoring first quarter tempo set the stage for the rest of the game. Like boxers in a ring trading punches, Chung Cheng High replied with some accurate shooting and inside scoring each time Catholic High threatened to pull away. The scores were always close with the gap never more than ten points.

Besides Colin, Chung Cheng High’s Tan Ee Ruey (#9) and Yep Teng Chiat (#12) also stepped up for their team, scoring six 3-pointers between them. They eventually finished with 17 points and 12 points respectively. Chung Cheng High’s #8 also had an outstanding game, scoring 14 points and pulling down many rebounds for his team.

But it was not enough to overcome a balanced team scoring effort by the Catholic High starters. Except for the first 5 minutes, Catholic High maintained its lead throughout the game in an impressive display of offensive talent, although Chung Cheng High (Main) kept it close.

Admitted Catholic High’s Dominic Lim (#10), “It was a really close escape for our team!”

Notes:…This was the highest scoring game in the entire basketball inter-school season this year, and made for great entertainment for the fans, though definitely not for the teams involved!…

Scorers for the CH team:
#4 Jabez Su – 26 points
#14 Chong Ming Xuan – 23 points
#11 Wong Kam Seng – 16 points
#7 Jonathan Cher – 13 points
#10 Dominic Lim – 8 points
#12 Goh Kong Tat – 5 points

Catholic High’s 1.91m centre Goh Kong Tat (#12) using his height to shoot over the shorter Chung Cheng defenders. He scored 5 points. (Photo © Ian Chew)

Catholic High forward Wong Kam Seng flying in on a lay up. He was fouled on this play but still ended up with 16 points. (Photo © Ian Chew)

Is the score for real? Catholic High leads Chung Cheng High (Main) 75-67 with 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter in the highest scoring game yet in inter-school history. This amply proves that inter-school competitions can be quite entertaining as well! (Photo © Ian Chew)

A last-minute time-out by the Catholic High bench proved crucial as they went on to score the last 5 points of the game to win 91-83. (Photo © Ian Chew)