BASKETBALL
National ‘A’ Division Boys & Girls Semifinal
16 May 2007, at Singapore Basketball Centre
Update by Lee Hwee Cheng. © Red Sports /soulbreath pictures
The National ‘A’ Division Boys & Girls Semifinals are over!
Posted here, for your reading convenience, are the semifinal results as well as the 3rd/4th placing and Final fixtures.
Many, many big thanks to Mr Lim Heng Boon, a teacher from Anderson Junior College, who has kindly provided us the fixtures and updates!
HCI’s Billy Lang (no.14) attempts to stop a shot from IJC’s Lee Kah Kiat (no.5) in an earlier first-round match of the tournament. HCI had gone on and trounced IJC 66-39 at the end of that match. Now the boys from both teams are meeting again on the court of Toa Payoh Sports Hall next Friday in the National ‘A’ Boys Final. Hwa Chong, still unbeaten this season. Innova, beaten all odds and proven stronger throughout the tournament thus far. Will it be another runaway victory, or will there be dark horses to pop a surprise? Be there. © Goh Shao Wei
| HCI | RJC | JJC | |
| HCI | 42-52 | 39-25 | |
| RJC | 52-42 | 52-19 | |
| JJC | 25-39 | 19-52 |
| YJC | AJC | VJC | |
| YJC | 29-68 | 28-65 | |
| AJC | 68-29 | 30-60 | |
| VJC | 65-28 | 60-30 |
| Gender | Court 1 |
Score | Court 2 |
Score |
| Girls | RJC v AJC | 75-54 | VJC v HCI | 64-45 |
| Boys | IJC v AJC | 64-58 | TJC v HCI | 57-85 |
So, there we have the finalists, and here are the upcoming schedules.
National ‘A’ Division Basketball 3rd/4th Placing Match
1400h Girls: Anderson Junior College v Hwa Chong Institution
1530h Boys: Anderson Junior College v Temasek Junior College
Monday, 21 May 2007, at the Singapore Basketball Centre
National ‘A’ Division Basketball FINAL
1400h Girls: Raffles Junior College v Victoria Junior College
1530h Boys: Innova Junior College v Hwa Chong Institution
Friday, 25 May 2007, at Toa Payoh Sports Hall
See you there at Toa Payoh, and all the best to all teams!
all hail the real underdogs, ij! WE MADE IT TO THE FINALS MAN!
omg yo, the VJ girls are “underdogs”?!? hahaha. sry i cudent help it.
RJC would be thinking that this is another performance bonus. I think VJC will have the mental willpower to win after a somewhat turbulent season…but I think that the gym in their school will be the deciding factor…
HCI and RJC. I don’t want to say anything too bad, but it’s always a nice thing if an underdog will win…I agree with yo…
i also hope that the “underdog” VJ will win. afterall quite sick of hearing RJC in final or win championship. but hope to HEAR an exciting match. sportsmanship n good display of their skills are more important den who wins and the margin.
JIAYOU VJC!! we will support you all the way! oh and ij fight hard too!! RARH!!
good, is good. but competition is so intense that it’s very hard to say who’s definitely winning. yeah TJC would have the mentality to win, and AJC better be careful of a mentally wounded team, for they are very dangerous
BUT, I have faith in my team too. so let them do their thing and let the results say for ourselves
may all blessings go to vj girls, hope they’ll win, tho i’m not frm vj, we’ve actually played with them n they were good, hope they’ll clinch the championship again…
I feel that TJC is a good team. They will win AJC, not only because of their skills, but because of their mentality to win. They will win AJC! With a large margin.
I have always thought that the VJ gals are the best this season and from the several games that i have watched them n the RJ team, i feel that they have a much better team than the RJ team who rely quite a lot on those ex-RGS gals. Given the fact that in the semi finals, AJ at a point was just 4 pts behind RJ while VJ jus cruised past HC, i believed that VJ will hav no prob getting past RJ to finally get the title that they missed out for the past 2 years.
For the guys, HC will prove way too strong for IJ. IJ played a great game against AJ by overcoming a 10+ pts deficit but i have never thought that this yr’s AJ team is strong enough to take on HC. AJ rely too much on Yan Ming (no 6). I have never watch IJ except for the great come back against IJ and although they are not as technically gifted as the AJ guys, they are very strong mentally n hustle at all balls. HC with sheng yu in the middle n calvin to spray the ball to the rest, i believe the game will be over by the middle of the second quarter.
correct. much as I’d like AJC to go to the final, it takes a lot of blood,sweat,tears, and many much more (bitterness included) for a school so young like IJC (since 2005) to go into their first ever final. most schools need at least 5 years on their founding to stand on their feet, so all the way for our northern neighbours…
I salute their mental resolve and I hope they continue their cinderella story. it would make a nice motivational movie for our younger generation of athletes
AD ASTRA NON PLUS ULTRA
hmm i thought VJ are the HOT favourites. but well, we shall see. 🙂 ive total respect for the IJ boys too! they deserve a place in the finals.
3rd Placings: I just decided to do a bit more analysis here, but I hope that all teams try their best
Girls: AJC-HCI: having missed out on the top 4 last season, AJC are quite thrilled to get to the semis this time. though they lost to RJC, I believe they are still motivated to win, except for the fact that HCI may also want to win given their double winning dream was gone when they played against their eternal rivals. I believe it would be a tight match
Boys: AJC-TJC: the going is very tough for these two teams nowadays. with at least 6 schools focusing on their basketball programmes,to reach the final is somewhat difficult. AJC was unlucky not to win IJC, and they seek to make amends against a TJC team that isn’t the team of the yesteryears. it’s the last lap and I think AJC will salvage some pride this time
Girls:RJC also has a gang of J2 from RGS 2 years ago. AHS outsmarted RGS in B Div 66% of the time,but the ex-RGS players in RJC will put one over their old worthy rivals (AHS -> VJC) in the A Div this time-and their secret is their better gym infrastructure.
I will think this is a very tough game to call. VJC might have to defend more this time round as RJC can be deadly at point-blank range. reducing the opponent’s scoring chances to speculative 3 pointers (and long range efforts) and hoping that their free throws miss their target (though I don’t see that happening) will be the key. RJC seems slightly more likely to win
Boys: HCI and IJC are as clearly separated as a thin red line. IJC have been a surprise contender this time and in a very competitive year they have shown themselves worthy to even win AJC and get through to the Finals (not bad for a school founded 3 years ago and this is their first ever final,well done!). But if AJC is the only team who can hold the key to winning HCI,or even chasing them in the first place, then they have just mad their task even more difficult. IJC is a newly formed team with nothing to lose, so win or lose is an enriching experience for them. It is HCi who has to maintain their standard again
Having said that, HCI is super tough to deal with. They basically go on a rampage on the word GO, and they probably made mince out of TJC last time out. While IJC will offer stern resistence, HCI may edge that by 8-15 points
it is VJC vs RJC finals. HCI vs AJC 3rd/4th. RJC have the upper hand through esther but i hope VJC can cancel that through team work. dun forget they have a gp of J2 from Anglician high 2 yrs ago. chemistry is there. dun underestimate that. so final will be close but RJC is the HOT favourite.
But people pls be nice to everyone especially the players, they really put in a lot of effort training so appreciate that. dun just criticise. it is bad.
i think there will be weaker players, dirty players and even dirty coach, but lets not talk of them there are more who deserve our appreciation and respect
HCI and AJC FOR THE FINALS!
assuming that RJC,AjC and VJC all field predominantly J2 teams,it’s gonna be tough deciding who’s the finalists. I’d have prefered a VJC-AJC final, but RJC-VJC seems equally exciting
i think girls 2 will be interesting.VJC has many J2. If HCI buckle underr pressure, VJC will win. I think with the number of J1 in HCI team, VJC could just nick this one by a couple of points. no offence HCI, just some comment from an neutral observer.
I hope my teacher’s impressed. NO propaganda here,just cold hard analysis
Girls 1: RJC-AJC: Try as I might to believe that our school’s girls can defeat the defending champions, the way RJC beat their opponents en route to the semis is nothing short of a procession(20+ margins). This includes a 20+ point win against AJC.AJC will have to raise up their game,but it’s a massive gamble as RJC can exploit a height and flank advantage. RJC may have to guard against complacency and that’s when they may have to start playing AJC’s mind games as they have everything to lose from this loss. My heart is pining for a single digit AJC win by the skin of the teeth but most insiders will prefer a margin of 6-15 in RJC’s favour
Girls 2: VJC-HCI: this seems more even, but the unpredictability caused by the lack of a head-to-head record may have no bearing as VJC are pretty much formidable, although they have to be careful as HCI nearly beat RJC. I’ll tip this to go down to the wire and a medium margin for VJC
Boys 1: IJC-AJC: Given IJC have had a smooth run in, i’d forgive them for thinking AJC is easier (with losses to JJC and HCI). bad news-AJC have more bite on a good day. they can attack like nobody’s business, and they can defend well too. a very difficult match to predict,but I’d be a patriot this once to hope for a narrow win
Boys 2: HCI-TJC: TJC isn’t the strong team they were used to. HCI is the least of their worries,though. HCI is so formidable they might have difficulty keeping up