Jurong dominate Dunman High to advance to C Division semis

Story by REDintern Gerald Koh and Photos by REDintern Rachel Lim

Jurong #4 heads for the basket as Dunman players trail behind him. (Photo 1 © Rachel Lim/Red Sports)

Singapore Basketball Centre, Monday, August 18, 2008 – Jurong dominate Dunman to advance to C Division Basketball Championship semi-finals.

The crunch Group X game between Dunman High School (DHS) and Jurong Secondary School (JSS) to decide who takes the final semi-final slot was played yesterday afternoon. Both teams were clearly motivated and raring to go as they went through their warm-up routines.

Dunman won the opening tip-off but immediately lost possession to Jurong, who proceeded to put four points on the board within the opening 30 seconds. This seemed to be the story of Dunman’s day as they gave possession and points away cheaply with misplaced passes and defensive mistakes, and they never seemed to really settle into the game.

Jurong, on the other hand, settled quickly and capitalised on the uncertainty of the Dunman High players in both defence and offence as they took the game to Dunman and finished the 1st quarter with a 9-point lead over Dunman, with the score at 13 – 4.

Though the Dunman players had an advantage over Jurong in terms of height and physique, they found it difficult to stop the Jurong offensive as they were unable to prevent Jurong from maintaining their extended 10-point lead as the teams went into half-time with the score at 21-11.

Dunman started the 3rd quarter more aggressively than the previous two, but again they were frustrated at their failure to notch up points as they continually missed shots from both open play and from the free-throw line. By the end of the 3rd quarter, the Dunman #15 had missed his six free-throws, and would go on to miss his next four in the final quarter of the game.

In the final quarter of the game, Jurong seemed to allow complacency to creep in as they began to sit back and let Dunman come at them. The final quarter had the most number of points scored in any quarter of this game as both teams started leaking at the back. However, Jurong still held on to their lead as they comfortably won 53-40 to secure their place in the semi-final match against Group Y leaders Anglican High School.

In the other Group X game, leaders Unity Secondary beat bottom-placed Dunman Secondary 51-44. Unity will play Raffles Institution in the other championship semi-final.