HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

As the year draws to the close in a few minutes, (and those lucky enough, go see the blue moon of this century in the sky tonight!) we all countdown to 2010, where we take the good memories and leave behind the unpleasant ones. On behalf of everyone here, i'd like to wish everyone- the old boys, teachers-in-charge, coaches, our opponent teams but most importantly, OUR PLAYERS, a very happy new year! All the best for everyone out there as we strive our best to do our best in basketball and conquer the championships!

To the sec ones: It's been fun watching you all grow, since the day you all first came and finally now becoming a team in your own right, this is where you start to push yourself and train harder, work harder and motivate each other harder in order to have a memorable C division season, which you probably all know is the best time to win. All the best and keep your eyes on the prize! Look forward to becoming seniors too. (:

To the sec twos: Hey guys, we had a great season this year, even though we fell short at nationals, the most important thing was that we enjoyed ourselves, we kept fighting and never gave up despite the odds, spilled much blood, sweat and tears to know we have to keep improving even though we were never favourites. I wish that everyone would continue improving and prepare for another great season in a year's time. :D

To the sec threes: As you know, you guys are a nationals third team in C division, so hopefully you guys would get a NATIONALS FIRST team in B division. Keep improving and beat all the teams that stand in your way. You guys can do it.

To the sec fours: Well, as you all will be leaving next year, i'd like to thank all of you for guiding the way, for teaching us the simple basics and instilling discipline in us, which i believed helped us in the long run. Thank you for all the contributions you have given to the school, and i wish you guys all the best in your jc lives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

RI 57-29 Fairfield Methodist

(By Mark, edited by Wee Xuan)

This game was a unique one, as we played without our starting point guard. We also played, for the first time, our new Sec 1s. Playing without our starting point guard, exposed our over reliance on him when we were playing our set play. Although we had used it many times, our play today was very messy and was run very badly, giving us few open shots.

In the first quarter, we failed to execute our 1-3-1 properly, with the sec ones not used to the play; it was rather messy for us. We only had a few open shots too.

In the second and third quarter, we went out with a 3-22. Although, there were problems to the press, such as fouling them for no reason or by accident, we were still able to trap the opponents and this led to many turnovers and easy fast break points for us.

Also, with a poor 1-3-1 play in the first quarter, we switched to a different strategy that allowed the post man to have 1 to 1 play. However, our inexperience caught up with us as having never used the play before, we were all confused with our positions and the post was not getting the ball, and when he did, there was help on the opponents end. We then switched to another of our usual play, with the two post getting the ball at the free throw line, with our perimeter players feeding the post well. Taking advantage of the poor interior defense, our posts manage to finish well and together with our fast break points, we pulled away with a 28 point win.

Overall, we played ok, but we have much to improve. Throughout the game, we had no help defense. Thus, the opponents could easily feed their post whenever they post up and ask for ball. Even though coach told the wings to provide help to the post and pack the defense, as the opponents was getting points only through the post, and not through the wings, they were not able to do so. For the post, coach told them to jam the opponent's post whenever they came up to the free throw line to ask for ball, this too, we failed.

To the sec 1s, do work harder, as we will definitely need you in the competition. Also, do get to know our usual plays at the back of your head. Lastly, good job for this game today. We have definitely learned more about you and your playing style.

To the sec 2s, we definitely got to rely less on our main point guard. He will definitely get injured once in a while, and if we do not learn to make do without him, then we are in trouble. We just have to work harder in training to improve our ballhandling skills, before it becomes our Achilles heel.

 

MVPs:

Mark and Chun Cheong

U14 AND1 Tournament East View 38-50 RI

This was the very last game of the tournament, and we needed a win in order to receive the silver medal. Also, this would be the last game the sec 2s in this team would be playing for a long long time, and we tried to get more play time for everybody.

But did we deserve it?

We started off brilliantly, running our play 13 extremely well and on fire, Bao Kun knocked down three three-pointers in that quarter alone. We also saw a stellar free throw performance from Mark at the free throw line, showing superb concentration everytime he did his free throw routine. On the defensive end however, we could have been a little tighter, more aggressive and well let their star player no. 10 drive us continuously, doing many drive and dishes to number 6 and 11, ending the fourth quarter with only a 4 point lead even with a marvelous shooting performance.

The second quarter saw the sec 2s come in, but just like the previous match, the wings did not support the point guard and it was difficult to pass to the wing. Pathetically, the only time they scored was when the very first time we executed our play, Wee Xuan drove through the middle to get the only two points earned by executing the play. Fortunately, Nicholas salvaged the situation by knocking down his first three pointer of his career at the shot clock buzzer. Sadly, there was just too much mishandling from the high post who received the ball at the top of the key, perhaps due to inexperience and unable to pass through the low post cutting up to the high post, resulting in turnovers that if not for our hustle could have killed us all. Defensively, we were horrible, especially the man on no. 10. The opponents were exceptionally good in running shots and still there was no help side, destroying the hard-earned lead we had from the first quarter. The sec ones came back into the game and luckily, engaged fast breaks and ran the plays properly to give us a three point lead at the end of the first half.

During the second half, we engaged them, exploiting the fact that they had limited number of players and pushed the momentum of the game quickly. They also had a lazier post player, and we sent chun cheong to try and post him up whenever possible. Also, during the quarter, we also supported one of our sec one wings, Daryl, who is unconfident about taking his shots and we got him to take a three point shot after 2 tries! Slowly, in the fourth quarter, we substituted the bench more and we managed to handle the press well, but due to over dribbling by our sec 2 point guard we failed to get the last shot off.

After the match, there was also a three point tournament contest. Initially, Mark, Yao Zhong and Ming Jun agreed to take part in it but Mark backed out last minute, saying that he was off form that night. Bao Kun took over and miraculously, knocked down 5 shots without any warm up. Yao Zhong and Ming Jun also knocked down three each but was unfortunately knocked out due to the fierce competition. In the end, Bao Kun received a third place prize for his shooting. We also got second overall for the entire tournament, first being Paya Lebar CSC.

With that, that wraps up the U14 tournament! Thanks to the effort everyone has put it, and everyone who has participated in the series of matches. I believe that by sticking together throughout the competition, everyone has matured to become a better player in his own right, such as Zong Tai's improved defense, Ming Jun's better offensive awareness, Mark's impressive free throw percentage, etc. It was a fun and memorable one, and I believe everyone has enjoyed themselves very much. A very good job to everyone, especially daryl for boosting his confidence to take a shot. For the sec ones, even though this may be the end of the tournament, it merely marks a milestone in your journey. You still have much more to learn, much more time to improve and even though we all want to win, it matters that we earn something intangible in the process, and that's the bonds, the experience, which I believe, no medal or trophy can ever give the same satisfaction. Keeping working hard towards your goals, and hope that you guys do your best for your matches to come, never giving up and clinching the national champions title.

For the sec twos, these will be the last matches we will be playing for a long time. I know that we didn't fare to well in this tournament, and I've got to say, we really fared badly in the last two matches. Well, we saw it for ourselves, the sec ones are doing much better than us and we can't say that we're not disappointed, so I guess it's time we started changing our attitude. Doesn't matter whether we make the B div team or not, matters most that we just keep improving ourselves because playing your best, giving all out on the court, ready to die for each other, and that's probably the only way for us to enjoy the game.

Good job everyone, now, let's take a break from the hectic schedule of the matches and prepare for training in the upcoming weeks. Enjoy your holidays too!

MVPs:

(RI)

Bao Kun

Mark Khoo

(East View)

No. 10

U14 AND1 TOURNAMENT RI 62-53 JURONG SEC

Despite the scoreline, today's match was a tough one, trading many baskets, losing and gaining the lead several times throughout the entire game. We knew before the game, this was going to be our toughest match apart from the Paya Lebar CSC host's team game.

The interesting thing was, our sec ones actually did a much better job than most of our sec twos today.

We started off fabulously, exhibiting rather disciplined defense as we settled into the game early, running fast breaks and surprising our opponents. However, we did leak a few times at the top of the key when their quick and fast point guard, no. 5 tay wee, burned us a couple of times after a 11-0 run. We ended the first quarter 17-7, ten points up.

The second quarter was a heartbreaker. Coach substituted a second team and they ran the plays poorly, with one particular forward not active in the play and that led to many turnovers. No. 5 and no. 4 were extremely efficient at driving the middle and finishing in traffic. Slowly, at the 7^th minute, our lead was destroyed and we were down by one. Seeing enough, coach put back the entire first team back into the game and we got back the lead, 27-29 at the buzzer due to the opponents adjusting to the pace of the game.

In the third quarter, Coach set a play for two of the more experienced sec two players in the second team to try and extend our lead, which included a pick at high post and the point guard driving the lane. However, our point guard dribbled a little bit too much, reluctant to pass and we were only saved by offensive rebounds. We also let no.4 and no.11 drive to the baskets constantly, stop shuffling after screens and they just keep managing to score many shots as long as they're open, even off balance ones. Many underbaskets were unconverted, including one which one of our players got a clean steal and missed a 1-0 lay up. Fortunately, we ended the game tied 43-43.

The fourth quarter was different. We increased our tempo, and managed to get many fast breaks, with Ming Jun managing to put the ball in. We also managed to drive to the basket. This was probably because the opponents were tired and played bad defense. The opponent then changed their defense to a 2-3 zone. When we saw the change in defense, we immediately changed the offense which proved successful, and we held on to the lead till the end.

Today's game is one of the best for our secondary ones, and one of the worse for the secondary twos. As seniors, it is important to lead a good example to our juniors and to play worse than them or to show poor attitude before the game is a bad influence. Good job to Ming Jun, with his steadily improving offensive skills and Chun Cheong for his game high 15 points, scoring 9 points in the first quarter, accounting for more than half of the points in that quarter.Take this lesson, and lets prepare for our final match on Saturday, against East View.

MVPs:

(RI)

Ming Jun

Chung Cheong

(JSS)

No. 4

U14 ACSIS Tournament RI 45-43 Overseas Family School

(Report by Mark, minor edits by Wee Xuan.)

We started the game well with our forwards cutting in from the top of the key with the help of the screen set by Bao Kun followed by the basket. This play proved successful and we were up by 5 points in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the opponents placed their center in the paint to jam our cut. This change in defense caused us to make turnovers due to bad passes, and coach decided to change the play. After giving the ball to the post at the top of the key, Bao Kun cut into the paint and got a few uncontested lay ups. However, at the defensive end we played horribly allowing many backdoors and open shots. At the end, our lead was cut to 1.

In the third and fourth quarter, our defense did not improve, with our players who were smaller than the opponent not fronting them, allowing them to easily get the ball and drive to the basket. Also, they opponents kept screening for their star point guard, no. 23, allowing him to stroke the 3s and driving to the basket, drawing the fouls. This was simply due to lack of miscommunication because we did not know whether to switch or to stick to our man. This allowed no. 23 to score a total of 26 points. Furthermore, our rebounds were very bad with our posts standing behind the opponents. Naturally, we did not get the rebound. Moreover, even when we did get the offensive rebound, we failed to put the ball in. This was the same story for our fast breaks.

At the last 30 seconds of the game, we were tied 43 to 43. Coach called a timeout and told Bao Kun to hold the ball till the last few seconds before making our last shot. In the play we did as told, and Chun Cheong made the game winning shot plus the foul with 2 second on the clock. The OFS coach called for a time out. Coach told us to double team no. 23 and prevent him from shooting. At the line, Chun Cheong missed the free throw as instructed by coach, but we failed to grab the rebound and the opponent passed the ball to no. 23. However, we did not double team him putting only 1 defender on him. From the half court line, he shot the ball and it nearly banged in.

This is a good lesson for us. We should have double teamed him and gave him more pressure. Had the ball go in, we would have lost the game. Also we need to step up on DEFENSE. They say that offense entertains, defense wins games and rebounds win championships. Defense is the key to any game, and a tough-choking defense pressure is an element we should add to our game.

 

MVPs:

(RI)

Bao Kun

Chun Cheong

(OFS)

Felix Tsai(no. 23)

By: Mark

RI 34-55 T-Net Club@Bt Merah (red)

Another horrible loss. We played with only 10 players, with sim and bryan out injured, greg, yuxuan and alex overseas.

But then again there should be no excuses. we played with horribly low energy level, we didn't run our plays, we didn't play good defense. the way we played, we deserved this loss. We let the opponents run all over us, and we never managed to respond. nothing spectacular to note about this match.

But this is the wake-up call. its time to start now, we have to get better, really really fast.

RI 32-53 HCI

We were outran, outplayed, outshot by the opponents. We missed lay-ups, we missed underbaskets, we threw the ball away, we had stupid turnovers, we didn't play good team defense, we didn't run our plays.

we got thrashed. the next game will be better.

RI 48-54 Tagawa (White)

This was a match that was ours for the win, but in the end we threw the match away. we started this match strong, running hard, getting shots, although we missed a couple of lay-ups we still ended the quarter 11-10.

In the second quarter, tagawa's star point guard, number 7 came in and dominated the match. he shot fade away jump shots after jump shots, drove hard to the basket, and finished with 2 3-pointers in that quarter. in the 2nd quarter alone, he scored 12 points. at that point, we only started in the game because of alex, who somehow managed to match no.7 play for play, finishing with 12 points in that quarter as well. In this half we had the lead several times, even pulling away as far as 7 points, but each time allowing tagawa to claw their way back into the game.

In the third quarter, we were unable to stop no.7, who was everywhere. he pressured our point guards, forcing several turnovers, and getting easy fast break lay-ups. We didn't move the ball well enough, and missed underbasket after underbasket. We were down 2 at the end of this quarter, kept in the game by joel's shooting, and also because no.7 was pulled out mid-way through the quarter.

In the last quarter, our inability to stop no.7 and our misses came back to haunt us, as no.7 once again dominated the game. We sank another tough three-pointer, as well as driving to the basket. we failed to help each other on defense, allowing the opponents to drive all the way without contest. and even then we failed to box out and secure the defensive rebound. In this tense quarter, we also missed a couple of underbaskets, made crucial turnovers, missed free-throws which would have otherwise turned the match around.

U14 AND1 Tournament RI 63-32 Springfield

Coach said, if we won today's game by 20 points, it will be considered a loss for us. We won by 31, and all of us agreed that today's game was horrible.

And no, i'm not being sarcastic.

We started the game horribly, with our starting 5 barely managing any scoring. Our wings were rushing a few shots which were bad, some even bouncing of the backboard without touching the rim at all. We ran our play only twice throughout the entire quarter properly, and those times were missed shots. Fortunately, we managed to pull ahead with some fast break points from Ming Jun and mark.

The second quarter was phenomenal. We played extremely well, with Seah Nguan knocking down a tough baseline shot, and Wee Xuan pushed the momentum with a few fast break points. The second unit had made the extra effort into going in after every shot and getting the offensive rebounds over and over again that quarter. We were so good, we pulled our lead from 4 points to almost 20 points! However, the game was momentarily stopped when our point guard was called for a charge and no. 4 had to substituted out due to injuries.

The third quarter was heartbreaking and terrible. Perhaps it was because of a new play coach set, or because of inexperience and faitgue, we just had continuous turnovers. The player who was supposed to take a shot was always not on timing, and the point guard and other wing were ineffective in handling the ball, leading to many turnovers which almost could have killed us all. A timeout was called after a 12-0 run, and the starters went back in. Fortunately, we managed to pull off the play and knock down a few shots to stop the run. On the other hand, one of our wings failed in all his three shots at the charity stripe after a three point foul.

The final quarter was much better, with many fast breaks that led to easy lay ups, though not all were converted, and the play ran very smoothly. We were able defensively, and that led to many turnovers which explained for the large deficit.

Today's game, there is much room for improvement. One thing to note is that we were all too eager to steal the spotlight, trying to fire three pointers at will. That's not the way to play basketball. With that kind of mentality, the team would just fall apart from this constant internal desire to outshine everyone else. At the end of the day, it is not the scores or statistics that matter, they are just numbers that which doesn't last forever. What lasts forever is the experience, the bonding between your batch, the will to keep improving yourselves together, working towards a common goal. That's the most important thing of all. Good job by Mingjun today for his good defense and his improving offensive skills, and Seah nguan for his good defense and rebounding too. Good job everyone, eat more to carbo load for the two matches in a row next week, and lets keep improving there.

MVPs:

RI: Ming Jun, Seah Nguan

Springfield: no. 12

U14 ACSIS Tournament Schedule

8th Dec 2009 (Tue): RI vs OFS 4pm @ OFS (Overseas Family School)
19th Jan 2010 (Tue): RI vs SAS 5:15pm @ SAS (Singapore American School)

21st Jan 2010 (Thu): RI vs UWC 4:45pm @ UWC (United World College)

New Schedule for U14 AND1 Tournament

Here is the new schedule for the postponed matches.

Wed 2/12 1630hrs - Springfield vs RI

Wed 9/12 1630hrs - Jurong Sec vs RI

Sat 12/12 1600hrs - Eastview vs RI

Note: Unity Sec has withdrawn from the tournament hence the match is cancelled.

We will be wearing dark for all the matches.

U14 AND1 Tournament RI 71-33 Ahmad Ibrahim

When we started warming up, we heard the organiser saying that number 12 of ahmad ibrahim is big, strong and fast and a capable scorer.

But it doesn't matter.

We started off nervously, with many rushed shots from our wings. Our defense broke down at first as number 12 drained the first bucket of the game by doing a simple backdoor cut. From then, coach told us to do more help side and leave the perimeter players. Slowly, we managed to get our momentum and despite the miss shots, Chun Cheong and mark came out of nowhere to grab the rebounds and put it back in. Those second chance points slowly allowed us to catch up and we ended 9-13.

Second quarter we started brilliantly, with Wee Xuan knocking down both his free throws after a hard foul. With more help side on their star player number 12, ahmad ibrahim started taking many outside shots which were off, and that led to easy fast breaks at the other end. We were stepping up on defense, and we eventually grew the lead to 13-31, with only one 3 pointer and free throw from AI.

The second half, coach drew up a simple play for us which allowed the wings to get more three point shots. Slowing down our tempo, we executed the play, though due to inattentiveness during the break, one of our wings ran the wrong play, and we were saved by a couple of baskets and offensive rebounds. Fourth quarter, we tried to maintain the same tempo and yet we still fell short, and even worse, one of our post players fouled out but at the same time, no. 12 came down with an injury. Coach substituted in a whole different platoon of players and we managed to get the play running, but the frustrating fact was we weren't hitting our shots. Thankfully, our second and third quarter lead pulled us away to a 33 point deficit victory, 71-33.

Never be intimidated by your opponents. It doesn't matter whether they have big players, it matters most that we do not look at them before the match. Looking at them would only result in uncertainty, fear and anxiety, which is definitely not what we need. Kudos to Bao Kun for his good passes and Chun Cheong for his excellent defensive efforts. Good job on our defensive effort, and let's keep improving in that direction.

MVPs:

(RI)

Bao Kun

Chun Cheong

(AI)

No. 12

Milo U15 Youth Cup 2nd Round

30 Nov 1510hrs: Tagawa (White) vs Gryphons @ SBC1
01 Dec 1230hrs: Gryphons vs HCI @ SBC1
03 Dec 1630hrs: T-Net (Red) vs Gryphons @ SBC2

U14 AND1 Tournament RI 66-50 Deyi

It ain't over till the fat lady sings.

This came true for us for today's game.

We started off pretty badly, having major lapses in defense which including the wings simple doing a backdoor cut over and over again for the easy two points. As we were much shorter compared to our opponent, our many attempts at scoring were denied by their imposing number 9 many times, who got 4 blocks alone in the first quarter. We did not run our plays properly and were too focused on doing our own things. It was always the little ill-discipline that messed up the plays, and it was no surprise we ended 7 points down.

The second quarter, one of our guards managed to capitalize on the widespread defense continuously split the zone by going middle. Though not all shots were converted, we managed to get a few easy offensive rebounds that we managed to put in. With more experienced players and more help side, we stopped the numerous backdoor cuts by their players and their baskets were low-percentage jumpers or fast break points. However, just like the previous, there was another wasted timeout which led to a fast break at the other end. We ended the first half 27-23.

The third quarter, we started to employ our zone press, but due to serious communication errors between our wings, we didn't manage to get our press going, and due to our last man not intercepting the incoming balls, that led to easy points at the other end. Fortunately, mark and chun cheong came through with some strong finishing and big shots respectively, including foul-ins and knocking down high post jumpers in the face of the defense. Yet, our defense was still leaking horribly, like our players defending behind the post players. Good news though, we got the lead by the buzzer up by 1.

It was a world of difference the next ten minutes.

We eventually fought back, going hard for defense and we foiled deyi's comeback using a half court 3-2 zone by simple passing to the open wing. Mark did a fantastic job of driving past the defense and finishing well, drawing fouls and converting most of his free throw shots. Eventually, our lead grew so big that we didn't even need to use the zone press anymore, and good defense sealed the game with us 16 points up.

Throughout the game, we were blocked many times by number 9, who were taller than us. Yet, we shouldn't be at all frustrated with that, instead, go for the ball when the defense least expects it and run the offense again. Doesn't matter how many times our shots get denied, it matters most what we do after we get blocked. Kudos to mark for his game-high 25 points, and his much improved shooting form, which allowed the net to swish everytime he took a shot, and Bao Kun for lasting throughout his 36 minutes on the court. Great effort everyone, now lets bring that momentum into Saturday's game.

MVPs:

(RI)

Mark Khoo

Bao Kun

(Deyi)

no. 11

U14 AND1 Tournament RI 41-69 PLCC

What happens when calls do not go your way and the opponent is playing much more rough and aggressive than you?

We never found an answer to that question during today's match.

We started off extremely badly, unable to get any fast break opportunities and bad hustle caused some easy points over at the other end. Many fouls were called and we allowed the other team to edge ahead with their stellar free throw percentage. In fact, most of the points in the first quarter from PLCC came from free throws, which gave them a 7-11 lead at the buzzer. The next quarter was poor, as we allowed them to outrun, out-dribble and out muscle us on offense, which allowed them easy layup opportunities and putbacks. Ill discipline also wasted a timeout called by coach to get a 3-point shot off, and we even let them intercept the ball for an easy breakaway at the other end. We ended the first half 12-21, 9 points down.

The second half was horrible.

We ended the third quarter 28 points down, 21-49. The numbers show a huge difference and for a good reason; our players were not treasuring every possession, and one of our players was man-marked by our opponents, thus with one man down on the play, we were unable to execute good offense. Also, we were crushed by their star players number 23 and 13 by their fast-breaks. Yet, the saddening fact was no one rushed back on defense, which accounted for those easy points.

Fourth quarter, we came up with a zonal press, managing to get a few turnovers here and there. Mark and Chun Cheong salvaged us with a couple baskets and shots from a simple play the coach designed. Unfortunately, perhaps it was an off-day for us that night, our shots from the charity stripe never seemed to hit their target. Our substitute point guards also were doing an inefficient job of moving the ball around, always looking to drive by themselves, or making their passes much too predictable. Perhaps the only good thing that came out of it was that we equaled our scoring to our opponents 20-20.

Today's match is an important one. When calls do not go your way, and if the opponents are much more rough and aggressive with you, you just have to be equally fierce back. We do not cover before the opponent team, and ALWAYS get back on defense. The safety man can't do it by himself. The duty of the point guard is also to move the ball around so our teammates can get an easy shot, and we would definitely have to work on that.

MVPs:

(RI)

Chun Cheong

(PLCC)

no. 23

no. 13

U14 AND1 Tournament RI 61-21 Clementi Town

(Due to the bad weather the recent days, the other matches are postponed to a later date and this is considered the first match of the tournament.)

Today sparked off the U14 AND1 tournament! Our team arrived there early and we were much more warmed up compared to the other team, and we were determined to perform our best for the first match.

Probably due to first game jitters, we loss the tip-off at the start, and we let number 6 of clementi town have an easy layup in, starting off at a slight disadvantage. Worse still, during the first quarter our plays were run very poorly and it let to serious turnovers, especially from short corner our post passer. Fortunately, we made it up with good defense at the other end which led to good breakaway layups, and we crawled back into the game with a couple of finishes by our perimeter players, mostly Mingjun and Bao Kun.

Second quarter, a new set of players comprising of more sec 2s came in. With an obvious edge in fitness, we ran the fast-break well, with Wee Xuan scoring 3 easy to back-to-back baskets to widen the lead. We broke their defense down as we took advantage of their confusion during our play, though one of our players did not ran the play smoothly due to initial communication problems. However, even though we got through the lose defense, we did not finish everytime and it was sad to say most of our points came from either fast-break or low percentage jumpers. We finished the first half with a 20 points lead of 32-12.

Beginning of the second half our opponents came out with a full-court press. Though our play didn't run smoothly, a few good passes from Bao Kun found the open man at the other end which led to easy layups. Good defensive pressure also prevented our opponents from scoring at all in that quarter along and we ran on a 19-0 run in the third. Fourth quarter, we finished strong for the win, though we let our opponents score a couple of points here and there.

Today's match we were running our plays poorly and relying too much on fast breaks. Even during our fast-breaks we couldn't finish at the rims every time. If our opponents were as athletic as us and could get back every time we ran the fast-break, we would have to rely on plays to win and that would be disastrous for us. Relax, go home and have a good rest, and start praying that it wouldn't rain tomorrow.

MVPs:

(RI)

Bao Kun

Wee Xuan

(Clementi Town)

No. 14

Milo U15 Youth Cup Results

Gryphons 39-30 Bedok View Secondary School

This match was played without Coach, as he was away in China for a business trip, and so we were coached by Liu Dong. Milo Cup has a rule that says that only 6 players can play in the 1st quarter, and a different 6 in the 2nd quarter, so this is very much like primary school basketball, where each player can only play a max of 3 quarters. We started this match brilliantly, pressing hard, grabbing rebounds, and attacking well. Our defense worked for us in the 1st quarter, and we limited them to only 3 points while scoring 13. The 2nd and 3rd quarters were horrible. We failed to convert our underbaskets or layups, our defense was leaking horribly, and we just played badly. We combined for a total of 5 points in the 2 quarters, while allowing them to score 19. At the start of the 3rd quarter, we were down 22-18. In the last quarter, we cam back hard. This time around, we defended and gave it our best shot because we didn't want to open our campaign with a loss. We fought hard, went for all the loose balls, and shot well. In that quarter we outscored Bedok View 21-8, and finished the match 39-30

Gryphons 32-49 T-Net @ Bukit Merah

This was a tough match, and the score was close primarily because the other team played their 2nd team for most of the match. It was a disappointing game, we tried our best but we were never close. We allowed them to drive to the basket too easily, and our rebounds were nearly non-existent. We also found out that Milo Cup does not allow the teams to play a zone press, which meant that our defense was 'disallowed'. We were outplayed by the other team.

Gryphons 77-34 Clementi Town

We played very well for the first half of this match. We rebounded hard in the first half, and defended well as a team. After several reminders, we finally got the weak side defense going in the first half, and also fought hard for the rebounds. We cleared up the boards, preventing the other team from getting easy put-backs, and also starting fast-breaks for our team. It worked extremely well for us in the 1st and 2nd quarter, where we outscored the opponents 22-6 and 21-2 respectively. In the 2nd half, things changed, as we wanted to get more steals, and started to do our own individual things instead of playing as a team. We didn't rebound as a team anymore, allowing for them to grab more defensive and offensive rebounds. We were also unable to break their full-court press. In the fourth quarter, we tried to outscore them, instead of focusing our efforts on defense. We also missed many underbaskets in the last quarter. However, we still managed to pull off a victory, mostly due to the good defense and rebounding that we had in the first half.

Gryphons 48-34 AMK CC
This was a match whereby we allowed to other team to score way too many 3 pointers. We failed to work as a team to defend the three pointers, allowing the team to hit 5 throughout the match. What was disappointing was that many of these 3s were from the top of the key or just 1 pass away, and yet we failed to stop them. We managed to run our plays that we had practised, but only once or twice. We never really pulled away in this match, but it was great that we managed to pull through for a win that'll take us to the next round.

Team list for U14 AND1 tournament

Thursday (November 19)

- Nicholas Lim

- Hao Yu

- Edward Kim

- Kevin Khoo

- Edison Low

- Shing Liang

- Chun Cheong

- Mark Khoo

- Bao Kun

- Wee Xuan

- Jack

- Ming jun

Friday(November 20th)

- Wee Xuan

- Seah Nguan

- Ming Jun

- Zong Tai

- Daryl

- Jing hui

- Chun Cheong

- Mark Khoo

- Bao Kun

- Jack

- Yao Zhong

Saturday/Sunday (November 21st/22nd)

- Seah Nguan

- Ming Jun

- Zong Tai

- Daryl

- Jing Hui

- Chun Cheong

- Mark Khoo

- Bao Kun

- Wee Xuan

- Yao Zhong

- Nicholas Lim

Changes may be made, this is just the first draft.

Milo U15 Youth Cup

Gryphons has cleared the 1st round of the Milo Youth Cup. The groups for the 2nd round are as follows:


Group W: Catholic High, Siglap Youth, Jurong Sec, Home United
Group X: T-Net (White), Minyi Youth, Chong Ghee, Minyi Chang Zheng
Group Y: Tagawa (White), HCI, T-Net (Red), Gryphons
Group Z: Whye Name (Red), Tagawa (Blue), Whye Nam (White), Christchurch


Fixtures
30 Nov 1510hrs: Tagawa (White) vs Gryphons
1 Dec 1230hrs: Gryphons vs HCI
3 Dec 1630hrs: T-Net (Red) vs Gryphons

Schedule for U14 AND1 Tournament

Wed 18/11 1715hrs - RI vs Unity
Thur 19/11 1600hrs - Springfield vs RI
Fri 20/11 1830hrs - Jurong Sec vs RI
Sat 21/11 1600hrs - Clementi Town vs RI
Sun 22/11 1840hrs - RI vs Paya Lebar CSC
Thur 26/11 1715hrs - Deyi vs RI
Sat 28/11 1600hrs - Ahmad Ibrahim vs RI
Sat 12/12 1600hrs - Eastview vs RI


We wear white jerseys if listed first, dark coloured jerseys if listed next.


There will only be one training session this week (Monday) - Conditioning & Briefing
Tuesday session will be postponed in view of tournament schedule 

End Of Year Examinations

To all the RI Basketballers,

All the best for your End of Year exams, hope you guys have a great 10 days ahead, and may your hard work and efforts pay off! And to all the sec ones, hope you guys enjoy your first major exam in RI, three more to come after this hahaha (:

Believe guys, BELIEVE :D

Ryan

Summary of NBL 1st Round

(Commentary written by Poh Kwang, minor edits by Yeang Cherng)

Game 1 vs Xingers
This was our first game, I was not present but understand that we did not play well. The good news, our opponent did not perform too. Probably due to first game jitters, both team struggle and the match was a scrappy affair. I understand they were unable to contain JR's inside game and we won 45-34. Ugly but we had our 1st win in the bag.

Game 2 vs T-Net
Coach Low was unavailable and Yeang Cherng was playing for another team at the same time. So I was asked to help call the game from the sidelines. T-Net is a youth team coached by an ex-national player. They looked a decent team though no particular player stoodout during the warmups. We only had 7 players dress up for the start so instruction was to control the tempo and try to feed JR in the paint.

We did not start the game well, our perimeter defence was poor and gave plenty of good looks from 3-pt zone. T-Net captalised and hit at least 4 3-pts in the 1st quarter alone. We trailed by as much as 8 points early in the game but managed to close the gap to around 4pts by end of 1Q. By 2Q, we knew we had the advantage in the paint. We switched to a half court man-to-man defence and T-Net was reduced to trying their luck with long range shots. With better defence, we eventually took the lead in the 2Q thru' strong play from Jiaren and Jiacheng. However T-Net refused to fade away, each time we open up the lead, they would hit some shots (largely due to our defensive lapse on the perimeter) to close the gap.

Start of 3Q, T-Net came out with a half-court press. We fumbled initially and allowed then to close the gap to 1 pt. After a timeout, we re-grouped and handled the half-court press better. Managed to break the press and open the lead back to 6pts, T-Net went back to a zone defence after that. Slowly, we built the lead to double digits but towards the end of the game, defensive lapses allowed T-Net to hit some long range bombs to close the gap to 3pts. Fortunately, they were in a penalty situation so we managed to kill the game from the charity stripe. Final score : 59-53. 2 wins from 2 game.

Game 3 vs Wee Tiong
It was supposed to be a stroll as our opponents are mostly in their 30s (if I guess correctly) so I was shock to see us leading only by 2pts when I arrived at the end of the 1Q. According to Simon, we were not hitting our shots thus the close scoreline but to be fair, I think Wee Tiong played better than expected and also had a few big players who can handle JR in the paint. Defensively, we were kind of naive, going for the easy fakes and poor perimeter defence allowed several uncontested shots. We ended the 2Q up by only 2 points.

Start of the 3Q was no different as the game remained closed. But midway thru 3Q, the difference in age showed. Jiacheng capitalised by hitting 2 3pointers and a few drives to the basket. Within minutes, we built a double digit lead heading into the 4Q. We continue to cruise in the 4Q, widening the lead further. With less than 3 minutes to go, Wee Tiong had no choice but to play man to man. Again we did not handle the press well and had successive turnovers. This allowed Wee Tiong to score some points but it was a case of too little too late. We won our 3rd game 58-45.

Game 4 vs Yuen Tat
This is a veteran team who has also won all their game so far. From earlier games, we can see that they have good ball movement and a few perimeter shooters. They also have a good mix of young and old.

This was our 1st game with 12 players, we started brightly with Dingyuan hitting 3 outside shots and we led by 8pt in the early stages. Yuen Tat was clearly aware of JR presence in the paint and they counter by double or triple team him whenever he touches the ball. From then on, both team were evenly matched but we managed to hold on to our early lead.

We started the 3Q resting all our starters except JR. Yuen Tat made a few runs but each time we responded and managed to maintain a cushion of around 6pts for the entire 3Q. The strategy paid dividends as our starters are fresh foer the 4Q. By the 4Q, Yuen Tat was getting frustrated and getting physical in their play. They started to press but we did not panick and managed to score some easy baskets of their press. Hongkai drilled the nail in the coffin when he hit 2 base line jumpers to kill Yuen Tat's comeback spirits. We could have won by a bigger margin if not for the missed free throws near the end of the game. Noetheless, we are happy to settle for our 4th win. In the end, it was a strong effort by all 12 players that won us the game, everyone played with effort and followed instructions.

Summary

The NBL team will be playing their 2nd round matches (4 matches in 10 days) from 11Oct to 21Oct. If we have a full team, I think we have good chance of making the semis. However, the 2nd round opponents are stronger and we will miss the school boys (Jiacheng, Weixuan and Ravins) who were instrumental in our earlier wins. If you are available, do come down to the Singapore Basket Center to support our own chaps. Fixtures to be announced later.

Gryphons in NBL 2009

Gryphons sent a team comprising of old boys and current school boys for NBL 2009 and following 3 games, we've qualified for the 2nd round.

• Gryphons 45 vs Xingers 34
• Gryphons defeated T-Net (score not reported)
• Gryphons 58 vs Wei Tiong 45

The last match in round 1 will be decide whether Gryphons or Yuen Tat (Yu Hua CSC) qualifies as group champions.

4 Oct 1915hrs @ SBC Gryphons vs Yuen Tat

Squad:

Chua Wei Xuan, Ravins Cheung, Wang Jia Cheng, Jonathan Cher, Low Jiaren, Warren Mah, Wong Hong Kai, Adrian Chan, Lim Ray Wen, Wang Jiun Haur, Du Zichao, Loy Jiaming, Wang Luo Kai, Wang Dingyuan, Tim Lim

Coach Low Tong Takes Charge

Gryphons vs Wei Tiong

U16 ISIBL RI 32 vs 35 AISS

(Unable to vote for AISS mvps as I do not have the scoresheet.)

The match was played at AISS today at 5:15pm.

This is one of our poorest match so far in the ISIBL U-16.

In the first quarter, we started off rather poorly, trailing by a few points when the game started. We were rushing our plays and the movements were rusty, always getting off bad shots and looks. As some people were fooling around earlier, our man-to-man defense was poor; we did not pressure our man, always defending them after they get the ball and not helping, which gave them easy shots with their dominant size. Offense, we were poor and missing easy baskets on breakaways.

Second quarter, we went on a roll. Our defense started to work and we were giving the AISS players trouble, communicating on screens, taking out the triple threats and every time a shot was fired, the post boxed out, rebounded and 0utlet to the point guard. Bao Kun and Wee Xuan both got a block each which stopped the AISS players attempts to score, and mark was converting all his fastbreak lay ups, including a foul in! We were doing so well, that we caught up from down by 3 to almost up by ten!

Yet, in the third quarter, our momentum seemed to disappear as soon as it came. Our defense started to loosen up, we stopped running the fast breaks and we let loose many shots, many of those which included our opponents out of angle running shots. By the end of the third quarter, our lead was reduced to 4 points. The last quarter, our fatigue started to show by committing silly mistakes such as passing near the receiver's legs, letting the opponents to score over us and we on the other hand, couldn’t convert our fastbreaks and our shots. At 3:30 minutes, we lost our hard-earned lead and were trailing by 1. Coach called a timeout and we decided to give one last push of our full court trap. However, we were not trapping nor pressuring our opponents and we even let them get another basket. At the last two minutes, we were still trailing by 3 points . Even when we still have chance to win the game, we gave a very "spiritless" fight, not denying our man after the point guard killed his dribble, not fighting for lose balls and letting them get rebounds and using up the remaining clock time, which explained for the 3 point deficit.

Dream.Team.Fight.Win. The motto of our CCA is not some clichéd words to make it sound nice, there is a deep meaning behind that. If we don’t have the determination to keep fighting despite the scoreline, we will never win a game. We are Raffles Basketball Team. Coach told us since day 1 that Raffles Basketball team never gives up, because that's our legacy, putting all our effort and last ounce of energy into the game and achieving the impossible despite the odds against us. We always fight hard and never stop fighting till the last second, but I guess we didn't implement today and let complacency get the better of us. We had no determination for today's match to FIGHT BACK and I think we should never repeat this lacklustre performance we gave today.

MVPs:

RI:

Mark Khoo

AISS:

No. 26

No. 34

ISIBL U16 RI 19-24 Pres High

The match was played in RI on 14th September at 4pm. This was essentially a poor match, filled with missed underbaskets and bad defense. In the 1st quarter, we started off extremely poorly, being very tentative on offense and not finding our shots. Our wings did not drive to the basket enough and we made several bad passes which led to fast breaks on the other end. We could not find our shots, and our man-to-man defense was not 'tight' enough and allowed the twins: Brendi and Brenwin to drive us constantly.

In the 2nd quarter, we came back stronger and played much better. We started looking for shots, and our offense finally got going, and we dropped the ball to the posts more often and scored better. In the 3rd quarter, we fell behind, allowing for easy drives and shots, and not finishing our underbaskets and converting the easy shots. In that quarter alone, we trailed 2-7.

In the last quarter, we pushed for the win, and we played a lot better than the previous three quarters, and scored more than the other quarters combined. We got the ball into the posts, we found our shots and we pushed hard. However, our defense led us down and we never were able to stop then twins, allowing them to score just enough points to beat us 24-19.

MVPs:
Pres High:
Brendwin
Brendi

RI:
Chun Cheong

ISIBL RI 39-31 North Vista Secondary School

This match was played on 10 September at North Vista Secondary School at 4pm. For this match, we were coached by Coach Lim. For the match, the team alternated between the secondary 1 team and the sec 2 and sec 3 team, which each team playing a quarter before alternating. The secondary 1s started the match brilliantly, with both Ming Jun and Jing Hui hitting the 1st two 3-pointers of the match. Bao Kun, too, hit a three in that quarter, and we ended the quarter with a 14-9 lead.

In the second quarter, the sec2s and sec3s came into the match, and we continued the run of strong plays, finding the low postman and also looking for the outside shots. Our posts were also grabbing offensive boards aggressively, but we were unable to convert most of our underbaskets due to various reasons. Yu Xuan also hit 2 jumpers down the stretch. Also, we managed to shut down the other team, limiting their points. Unfortunately, we still did not box out enough, and allowed North Vista to grab a few offensive rebounds and easy putbacks. Generally, we had a good first half, and played strong enough for us to go into the break with a lead.

In the 3rd quarter, the sec1s came back into the game, and we continued with our strong plays, finding answers to all their offense, and finding shots on the opposite end. We managed to get the ball to the high post, and ran our plays well, setting up shots for the cutting wings, otherwise driving hard to the basket. Chun Cheong was exceptionally effective in this quarter, scoring both from the line as well as for shot range jumpers. In the last quarter, we kept to the game plan, and played well enough to secure a win. The final score: 39-31.

MVPs:
RI:
Bao Kun
Chun Cheong

NVS:
Marcus

ACSIS U16: RI vs OFS

Team List for RI vs PHS, RI vs AISS, RI vs CHS

U16

Guards: Bao Kun, Ming Jun, Peter Pang (Captain), ZongTai, Seah Nguan (PHS only), Shin Liang (AISS only)

Forwards: Mark, Mikhael (PHS, AISS), Kim (PHS), Yu Xuan (AISS), Daryl (CHS), Jinghui (CHS)

Post: Mahmood (Vice Captain), Wee Xuan, Chun Cheong, Jack Zheng, Nicholas (CHS)

U19

Guards: Justin, Alex, Joel

Forwards: Jordaan (Captain), Sim, Daniel, Yaozhoong (Standby for 3 games)

Post: Yves, Greg, Benedict, Chng, Lawrence (Vice-Captain), Ding

U19 ISIBL North Vista 81-54 RI

After a horrible performance last Tuesday, our boys look forward to making it up for this match. Yet, things didn't go as planned.

Things were wrong right from the start, where we had poor plays which included our center not being active in the play, and we had scrappy offense there after. Fortunately, Jordaan hit the first three of the game and we got our momentum, making a few shots from the high post during plays, a few fast break points, but that's about it. Like in previous matches, we fired three pointers at will, most of the time it missed and were not rebounded. We led by 1 during the buzzer.

Second quarter, we were still maintaining the level of intensity as the first quarter. Joel kept us in the game after firing a three when NV got a good start in the second quarter, and two subsequent ones later. However, that was only Joel, and the other forwards were cold on the floor, firing a few airballs. Nearing the end of the quarter, we gave up quite a few fast break points and we allowed them to sink the buzzer beater, which gave them the lead of 8 by the first half ended.

The third half was a disaster.

Lousy plays, bad passes and decision making for shots, spacing and not even having the heart to get back on defense. We were destroyed by their fast breaking, mainly from their number 7 and their lanky number 10. In that quarter alone, we were outscored 23-4, outscored by a shocking 19 points. During that time, we were shouting at one other for making mistakes, not following plays made by our coach, everything you could think of that would lower our morale and spirit.

Fourth quarter however, we went all out on a 3-22, making a few key steals and making our lay ups, until we made a foul and we stopped. North Vista quickly pulled back two of their starters into the game and the game ended with a thrashing 81-54 scoreline.

Throughout the game, we were passive on the boards and not aggressive with rebounds. We also had scrappy plays that would have murdered us if it wasn't for the individual skills of the team. Basketball is a team sport. There is no way you can win it by yourself, you have to work together as a team; choosing the right times to shoot, communicating on defense(saying help only if you mean it), rebouding hard by boxing out your man, etc. That is why we love basketball so much, it is not an individual sport but one that relies on all 5 guys giving all out on the court and 7 guys cheering and encouraging the team from the bench, and when we win, we don't win alone. We WIN as a team and LOSE as a team, we share joy and pain. We work together and share the results together, because we know our teammates are always there for each other. Take this loss, learn from it, and let's perform better next match.

MVPs:

North Vista:

Larry

Kian Hao

RI:

Bryan

U16 ISIBL RI 25-36 OFS

We pushed hard right from the start, wanting to fast-break and trying to get easy baskets. And our fast-breaks worked for us in the first quarter, with both Yu Xuan and Mark getting fast break opportunities and scoring. We played our motion and tried to break them down in a half-court setup, but this was eventually not very successful, but we still managed to get the ball to the posts (both high and low) and drawing fouls. Our free-throw shooting was much better than our previous match, but improvement is still desired. On the defensive end, however, we did not stop the 3-points by OFS and they sank 2 of their attempts. Despite that, we ended the quarter leading 7-6.

As the match developed, our fast breaks did not work for us, and our motion offense too did not produce the desired results. We could not find open shots, and when there was an opportunity we did not take it. On defense, their point guard Felix ran circles around our defense, and we never really stopped him. In our man-to-man we 'opened' too much and wasn't able to help whenever Felix or Ori (shooting guard) drove past us. As a result of that, they found many easy shots, as well as drive-and-dishes to the open 3-point shooter. We began to trail from then on.

However, late in the game we began to charge and tried to overturn the deficit. Bao Kun and Mikhael both played excellently, driving hard to the hoop and scoring. However, our 3-22 never took off, as we were too slow to react. Yu Xuan also scored from an inbound play. But they proved to be too strong for us, as they continued to bomb threes and we eventually lost 25-36. Our next match is against North Vista on Thursday, we will come back stronger than before.

MVPs:

RI:
Bao Kun
Mikhael

OFS:
Felix Tsai

U16 ISIBL RI 21-20 WRS

This match was a really close one. We started the match with Chun Cheong sinking his trademark jumper, and our confidence was relatively high. As already mentioned in the U19 report, their tactics for the U16 match was largely similar, with two post players coming to screen for the point guard. This was a pretty big issue for us in the 1st quarter, with us not communicating on defense and not warning Bao Kun about the oncoming screen. However, we slowly got used to their plays and were far more effective on defense. Still, WRS slowly built a lead as they rebounded harder than us and had many easy put-backs. On the other end of the court, they pressed us with a half-court man-to-man, which we found trouble breaking. There was a general lack of coming hard to the ball, as well as screens which could have helped break the defense.

In the 2nd half, all that changed when WRS changed into a less aggressive defense, and we were able to take advantage of it. We were able to find open shots, and were more aggressive when it came to driving towards the basket. Our defense was also much stronger, forcing turnovers and more importantly grabbing defensive rebounds. The weak-side man started to sink lower for rebounding (on Coach's instructions) and we slowly cut into WRS's lead.

And that led to the most intense last minute that we've had for a long time. Down by 1 point with approx 40 seconds left to go, we made a play to score 2 points, and defend hard to get the win. Benedict then drew a foul, scoring 1 freethrow and missing his second. Then, Mikhael grabbed the rebound and drew a foul of his own, also scoring only 1 free-throw. On the defensive end, WRS missed their first shot but managed to get an offensive rebound. However, they missed their subsequent shot and made a team effort to box out, and secured the rebound. Pushing forward, Yao Zhong drew another foul, and his freethrows could have sealed the game, but he missed both. Thankfully for us, by then there wasn't enough time for the WRS squad to react, and we won by 1 point.

MVPs:
RI:
Bao Kun
Chun Cheong

WRS:
Nicholas

U19 ISIBL RI 33-14 WRS

We started off really strong and well, with jordaan converting his two free throws after a hard foul. However, we had a little problem communicating on defense when WRS did a play which involved two of their posts screening the point guard at the same time. Fortunately, they did not manage to convert any of their plays and their only point came from a fast break from their no. 4. The second quarter was played the same intensity, though the scoring was much less reduced after WRS adjusted to the pace of the game. However, perhaps it was our homground, Jordaan hit his jumper and lawrence converted his free throw, and Alex scored his first shot of the game.

The second half however, when the opponent decided to press, we had some difficulties adjusting; we had a few turnovers from a few bad passes and decision making. We weren't finishing well when we got to the botttom of the rim, and we did not run our press breaker smoothly. To make it worse, we were outscored 4-5. Last quarter though, we slowly got used to the pace of the game, and we pulled apart 9-3, ending the game 33-14.

Our fast breaking and plays percentages are as high as our 3 pointers, which is unacceptable. We have to be better in our finishing and run plays more smoothly, in order to do better for the matches ahead.

MVPs:

RI:

Jordaan

Brendan Sim

WRS:

De Jin

Team List for RI vs WRSS, RI vs OFS, RI vs NVSS

U16

Guards: Bao Kun, Ming Jun, Peter Pang (Captain), Seah Nguan (OFS only), Shin Liang (WRSS only), Zong Tai (WRSS only)

Forwards: Mark, Yao Zhong, Kim (NVSS, OFS only), Mikhael, Yu Xuan (OFS, WRSS only), Daryl (OFS only), Jinghui (NVSS only)

Post: Benedict (Vice Captain), Wee Xuan, Chun Cheong, Jack Zheng (NVSS, WRSS only), Nicholas (NVSS only)

U19

Guards: Justin, Alex, Joel

Forwards: Jordaan (Captain), Sim, Daniel,

Post: Yves, Greg, Mahmood, Chng, Lawrence (Vice-Captain), Ding

ISIBL Updated Basketball League Schedule

These are the fixtures for ISIBL

U-16
RI vs United World College 1/9/9 4.45pm @ UWC
RI vs Woodlands Ring 7/9/9 4pm @ RI
RI vs Overseas Family School 8/9/9 4.45pm@ OFS
RI vs North Vista 10/9/9 4pm @ North Vista
RI vs Pres High 14/9/9 4pm @ RI
RI vs Australian International School 17/9/9 5.15pm @ AISS
RI vs Cat High 18/9/9 4pm @ Cat High

U-19
RI vs United World College 1/9/9 6pm @ UWC
RI vs Woodlands Ring 7/9/9 5pm @ RI
RI vs Overseas Family School 8/9/9 5.45pm@ OFS
RI vs North Vista 10/9/9 3pm @ North Vista
RI vs Pres High 14/9/9 5pm @ RI
RI vs Australian International School 17/9/9 6.15pm @ AISS
RI vs Pioneer JC 29/10/09 4pm @ RI
RI vs New Town 30/10/09 3.30pm @ RI

U19 ISIBL UWC 45 - 38 RI

The match was played immediately after the U16 one.

(As I was not watching the match entirely, pardon for the lack of information.)

Compared to the previous game, we started off better than the previous. We grabbed the rebounds after their missed attempts and we box out hard. However, probably due to the fact that we were impatient, we fired three pointers at will, and only one was made throughout the entire first quarter. Second quarter, coach substituted the wings, though the wings had to make a few mistakes in order to get their momentum going, before we saw a nice breakway lay up by Daniel and a beautiful three by Alex. We ended 21-15.

Third quarter, we hit three three pointers and we went off for a full court zone press that failed as many times it succeeded. We did not intercept after trapping, which defeated the purpose of the trap. Fourth quarter we were still unable to catch up, though we hit two three pointers from jordaan and joel, and ended 45-38.

Throughout the match, we were not aggressive with our rebounding, always not boxing out fully and jumping with the guys much taller than us. We also did not treasure our ball possessions, like playing with the ball at half court doing fancy moves and firing shots that were ill-advised and challenged, when we know we can get better looks than that. Patience goes a long way in basketball, and we should know how to use that.

U16 ISIBL RI 17 vs UWC 43

Today kicks off our ISIBL campaign.

The match started off with UWC's number 19 Prithvi winning the tip-off, and soon we found ourselves facing physically dominant players than us. Much smaller and less physical than them, we were out-rebounded many many times when their forwards took their shots, them even grabbing the rebounds over our heads. Though not all of them were converted, the number of rebounds they got killed us and we were limited to only 10-2, with Bao Kun scoring the only basket in that quarter.

The second quarter was not much different from the first, where sloppy offensive plays and poor rebounding almost murdered us. The only points we got was only after a successful screen, where our forward fired a mid range shot. On defense we were terribly careless, allowing them to receive the ball in the middle over and over again after the post players set screens for the forwards, which resulted in the pathetic 21-4 scoreline by the end of the first half.

Third quarter was the only time where our scoring really began. Changing to a different strategy which included firing of more three pointers, we released more shots, though not all of them were converted. Fortunately, one of our forwards converted both his free throws and took one for the team. Also, one of our sec one also scored the only three pointe made by our team in this game! However, the final quarter we still couldn't really pull it together. Though we drew some really nice fouls, it still wasn't enough, and we were destroyed 9-5.

Despite knowing that we were going to have a disadvantage due to our smaller size, we still didn't treasure every possession and we made silly mistakes that were just due to poor planning and communication. That was the worst part of it. Hopefully we can take a break now, and come back stronger for next week matches.

ISIBL Basketball League Schedule

These are the fixtures for ISIBL

U-16
RI vs United World College 1/9/9 4.45pm @ UWC
RI vs Woodlands Ring 7/9/9 4pm @ RI
RI vs Overseas Family School 8/9/9 4.45pm@ OFS
RI vs Pres High 11/9/9 4pm @ RI
RI vs Cat High 14/9/9 4pm @ Cat High
RI vs Australian International School 17/9/9 5.15pm @ AISS

U-19
RI vs United World College 1/9/9 6pm @ UWC
RI vs Woodlands Ring 7/9/9 5pm @ RI
RI vs Overseas Family School 8/9/9 5.45pm@ OFS
RI vs Pres High 11/9/9 5pm @ RI
RI vs Australian International School 17/9/9 6.15pm @ AISS
RI vs New Town 30/10/09 4pm @ RI

Gryphon's Cup Finals

It was a match to remember. For both teams, the stakes were high: Black's 95 are chasing their 8th G-Cup win; for the Reds'03, it was the first time that they have reached the final. Both teams wanted to win,and the desire that both teams had showed from the start.

For the Reds, the key was to stop Jiaren, and they managed to do just that, not allowing Jiaren to take any open shots, and forced him to earn many of his points from the line. In terms of FG, Jiaren made only 1/7 and grabbed only 3 rebounds. The reds played some of the toughest defense on Jiaren, double-teaming him whenever he got the ball.

It was an extremely close match, and the lead changed numerous times throughout the match. Jiaren and the blacks proved to be too strong in the paint, and forced the reds to take many of their shots from the perimeter or mid-range. However, led by Gabriel Pang, the Reds refused to back down and showed their mettle by knocking down key threes down the stretch.

The above pretty much sums up the first 3 quarters of the match, where both teams were almost evenly matched up, and the lead never got more than 5 points during these periods.

It was in the last quarter that the match changed.

In the crucial last quarter, the youth of the Reds proved to be too much for the Blacks to handle. The Reds fast-breaked at every opportunity, and played tough intense defense on the Blacks. Already tired, the Blacks made several turnovers, allowing the Reds to have easy baskets on the other end. However, the Blacks never gave up and continued pushing for the win. In a time-out, Jiaren and Leon gave an inspiring talk to remind the team that they were here to fight and give it their all. And the effects were obvious. They pushed the ball up the court, and by sheer determination, found cracks in the Reds defense and made a couple of key shots.

However, would it be a case of too little too late?

With seconds to go in the match, the Blacks were down by two. The Blacks had the chance to finish the match, but the Reds felt otherwise. The Reds pressed the inbound pass, and subsequently stripped the ball away from the Blacks, leading to a quick basket on the other end. And that was in.

Eventually, the Reds won the match 53-49. It was a tough match for both teams, and their spirit, determination and fight proved to be a reminder for all that came down to watch that day.

This is dream team fight win.

Eventually, the top individual stats of the finals stand as such:
Rebounds: Xun Shi 11
Steals: Derrick Guo 3
Blocks: Jiaren 2
Assists: Derrick Guo 4

MVP: Gabriel Pang
3 assists
1 steal
field goal: 8/20 and 24points

Gryphon's Cup 3-on-3 pictures

Gryphons Cup Final Day: 3 on 3

The final day of Gryphon's Cup included not just the semis and finals of the Gryphon's Cup proper, it also included the 3-on-3 competition and the 2-ball shootout. Both were interesting and nail-biting mini-competitions, and all teams that played enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

In the 3-on-3 competition, 20 players came together into 6 groups. The groupings were made random (more fun!) and it was to be a mixture of girls and guys in each team. Also, shots by the gals would count for 1 more point (3s by girls are counted as 4s). The teams are as follows:

Group 1:
A: Nicole, Wei Han, Ying Xin
B: Nic, Joel, Warren
C: Jinyu, Raywen, Grace

Group 2:
D: Vanessa, Ho Choon, Zi Bing,
E: Vienna, Qi Ming, Jing Heng, Jermaine
F: Tarzan, Shing Liang, Eugene, Jon Chew

The results are as follows:

Group1:
A vs B: Nicole's team versus Nic's team. Nicole's team started strong, with Ying Xin hitting many 2 4-pointers at the start, but they could not find an answer to Warren's height advantage, and allowed for many shots underbasket and were eventually overpowered. Score: 13 vs 21

A vs C: Nicole's team versus Raywen's team: A lopsided affair, Raywen and Jinyu provided the height and Grace proved to be strong driving to the basket. Nicole's team combined well but was unable to find an answer against the eventual champions of the 3-on-3 tournament. 3 vs 21

B vs C: Nic's team versus Raywen's team: A nailbiting affair.Raywen and Warren were equals in the post, and both teams gave it their all. Nic's team held a 19-18 lead towards the end, but a buzzer-beating 3 pointer by the opponents meant that Raywen's team progressed as the team-champions. 19-21

B and C progressed into the semi-finals

D vs E: Vanessa's team vs Vienna's team: score 14-19 (apologies, we are unable to comment/have photos as both weihan and joel were playing during this match)

D vs F: Vanessa's teams vs Tarzan's team: Vanessa made many important and big shots down the stretch and Tarzan's squad was unable to find an answer. 21-17

E vs F: Vienna's team vs Tarzan's team: Jon and Eugene combined to overpower Vienna's team 18-20.

Vienna's team (E) ended with a +3 advantage
Vanessa (D): -1
Tarzan (F) : -2

D and E progressed, F got kicked out by a 1 point margin.

In the semi-finals, E defeated B 21-15. Vienna's squad was quicker of the blocks, made many good shots, and although Nic's team fought back, they were unable to turn the game around.

In the other match, Raywen's team overpowered Vanessa's team 21-3.

In the finals, it was an extremely close match, with team E getting many steals and proved to be very aggressive. Team C's Jinyu made a few very important shots, and Grace provided many important drives to the basket. Team E fought back hard, and closed the deficit to 16-14 with seconds to go, but was unable to convert and lost the final 16-14 as time expired.

GRYPHON'S CUP 3-ON-3 CHAMPIONS: TEAM C--Jinyu, Raywen, Grace

C Div 2009 End-of-Season Dinner Treat

RI 54- 63 Unity Secondary School

(the report was done without the scoresheet, and some information might be inaccurate.)

We already knew before the match, that this might very well be the last game of our C division season. We knew that B division was much tougher and we wanted to make sure we were cherishing this chance of a lifetime. With a win and a loss, we had to ensure a win in order to qualify. Either we will make it in as group champions or we would be eliminated. Unity's skill level is way above us, but we decided, we won't go don't without a fight.

The game plan was too deny Delvin Goh, their star 1.93m center and to keep him between the two free throw lines of the game. However, there were many stupid fouls and the first three points came from the free throws of the Unity players. With their big, imposing center on defense, our shots were knocked away by Delvin in the many attempts we tried to score. They got many easy baskets, though we got our fair share when we got our momentum going, with Alex making a couple of layups with Daniel. The first quarter ended 10-18.

The second quarter, we were still unable to catch and match up with our opponents. Joel scored 6 out of the 9 points we scored in that quarter, but our opponents edged ahead with 17 points in that quarter. Daniel also managed to tipped in an alley after a missed three point attempt. Even though we did a decent job denying and wearing Delvin out, we still did not box him out at the crucial moment when he entered the paint area, allowing him easy putbacks and rebounds. The third quarter, we seemed to be wearing down, and the superstar center sprinted past us after our opponents set a screen for him. We were missing many our rebounds, we were missing easy baskets, we had more of the stupiud fouls in the first quarter and it seemed like we were almost giving up, we ended the quarter 27-52. Down by 25 points, most teams would have given up by now.

But we didn't.

We fought back up, with our full court zone press and man to man, we caught off Unity by surprise. Many turnovers came about, and we were making layups, fastbreaking, hitting our three pointers, including Yves fadeaway hook shot from the free throw line! We fought our hearts out, we could feel our teammates supporting one another, we could see the fear in the Unity players eyes, and even Joel grabbed 3 offensive rebounds. Chng and Yves punished the Unity offense by grabbing the rebounds and outlet to the wings for fast break. Slowly, we chased from 25 points down to only 9 points down. But it was a little too late, for we got beaten by the clock, and the game ended 54-63.

And with that, that's the end of our C Division season! After all the blood, sweat, tears, sprains and injuries, it has all ended. From the time when we were selected to join Basketball, to the first friendly we ever played as a batch against Yishun to ISIBL, to south zone and finally, to the nationals, our team has matured a lot. From training under the blazing sun to running and gymming, this was the team that trained together for the past one and a half years. We won as a team and lost as a team, because no one gave up. We fought till the last second, we struck fear deep into the hearts of Unity. We won as a team, lost as a team. Tonight when we go to sleep, we wouldn't think about all the mistakes that we've made today or the past matches. Tonight we'll dream of all the achievements and victories our great team has achieved, because I don't want any of us to remember this season with all the pain and losses, I want us to remember this magical season as one that will live in my heart forever, that every time someone talks about it I'll be able to say: We're proud of our team, we love our teammates and that no one can ever change that.

RI BBALL C DIV'09

NATIONALS TOP 8
TEAMMATES FOREVER

Presbyterian High 45-49 RI

All of us knew that today's game was either win, or go home. At school, instead of our usual mental preparation, we gathered in a circle and we stressed to each other the importance of this match, though some people were still concerned about their personal affairs instead of the game.

Better prepared than Presbyterian High, we started off intensively with a 1-1-3, where we limited their superstar point guard Nethaniel from getting the ball many times. The second row also limited the high post and we disrupted their plays, giving them bad shots or low percentage ones. However, it wasn't good enough, and we ended with a slight lead of 15-16. The second quarter was a low scoring one. We totally denied Nethaniel and it became more of a 4-on-4 game, and we continued to outscore them 5-7. Third quarter, we managed to foul their key high post player out, and the game became easier for us, where we outscored them again 8-11. We ended the third quarter 27-33.

However, at the starting of the fourth quarter, we suddenly had so many turnovers that it should be illegal, resulting in easy lay ups for them. The zone press that we broke continuously for the past 3 quarters suddenly seemed to breaking US, and we even let them get the score even with us. There was one instance on defense, we played so badly, we let them grab the rebounds over and over again until they scored. Fortunately, we managed to pull a two point lead and we held onto the ball till the last second and Alex scored the last second layup, which ended the game 49-45.

Today's match, even though by score it's a victory for us, we did not win the game. Pres High lost the game. Just like the old boys said, in life you cannot be happy with small victories, because when you are contented with a small victory, you woul stop pushing yourself to be even better. You are your own worse critic, when you are the cream of the crop, you only can compare with yourself and no one else, and that's the only way for yourself to improve. Good job everyone, and now let's get our mind set for the Friday's game.

RI BBALL C DIV' 09

No one breaks the team except ourselves

A few words before the Presbyterian High match...

Hey guys, after today's substandard performance, I would like to say some words before the Presbyterian High match.

This is the nationals. In the quarter finals, anything is possible. Despite today's loss, ALL TEAMS STILL HAVE A CHANCE OF QUALIFYING. That means if we win tomorrow's match, we can still make it. It's possible. Our dream is still alive. If we want to finish top 4, this is the time to step up to fight for the chance.

As I have noticed, some people don't believe that we can win, some even say they don't really care. We are here to win, win as a team, lose as a team. How can we have a chance of win nationals if our team doesn't even belief in our team? Some people nervous, and some even talk about how good other teams are, how good other players are individually. The point is, we don't care. Why would we care about how other team performs when we can't even settle ourselves?

Relax, calm down, don't get frustrated if things don't go your way. A way to put it is to play emotionlessly. That way you don't get complacent if we're winning, and we don't getting so frustrated that we make even more mistakes. Remember what coach said during south zone finals? "Whoever settles down early will have a big advantage." Calm ourselves, play like a machine, play like someone who has no emotions, and we can celebrate AFTER THE WIN.

Tomorrow's opponent, even though we've lost to them twice, twice in two friendlies this year, remember this: we lost to catholic high twice too, but in south zone because of our SPIRIT and FIRE, we defeated them. Our defense intensity was also so high they were limited to 10-0 in the first quarter. Presbyterian High may not have some of the problems Catholic High had, but it's due time we got back the intensity and fight that we needed in this nationals all along.

Go to sleep tonight. Dream about how tomorrow we show up much more ready to fight that we startle the Presbyterian High players. Dream about us making our shots and if not out post players grabbing the offensive rebounds and putbacks. Dream about them getting so frustrated they commit fouls during offense and us converting those free throws. Prove that you're worthy of the jersey you wear to every match.

In addition, you might want to look at some examples of the Raffles fighting spirit here.

DREAM.TEAM.FIGHT.WIN

RI BBALL C DIV' 09 FOR THE NATIONALS TITLE.

RI 47-61 Jurong Secondary School

Coach said if we managed to get 60% of the rebounds today, we would win the match.

Today was the start of our the second round, and it was evident that we were much less prepared compared to Jurong, which was obvious from the start.

The start of the match was terrible. We let in many many points, most of them fast break lay ups, or uncontested shots which kept flowing. After letting in many shots, we changed from 1-1-3 to a 3-2, which we managed to fight back a little, but still unable to get back our momentum, and we ended 10-22.

We started off the second quarter much better than the first, and we went to a full court trap, forcing many turnovers and performing well. However, we were still unable to catch up, and we were letting in too many shots that should be contested, including two three pointers. However, we still outscored them 17-14. The third quarter, we repeated what we've done in the second quarter, and we outscored them 11-8.

The last quarter, however, we seemed to have lost heart, not trapping on the full court trap, not even bothering to contest their shots. We missed easy lay ups and underbaskets even against guys who had 4 fouls. Because of that, we were down from 6 to down by 14, and the game ended 47-61. Probably the two good things that came out of this was that we got at least 55% of the rebounds, and that we got them into foul trouble since the first quarter. However, we lacked that 5% to make it a win, and once again, too many turnovers.

This is our first loss ever in a season, and hopefully our LAST lost this season. Tomorrow we will be playing against Presbyterian High, where it's a break or make match. If you have a winner's mentality, think about what mistakes you made and how NOT TO REPEAT THEM. Take it easy, breathe in and stop thinking about today's game, think of how much better you'll perform tomorrow and how you'll make up for your lack of effort in tomorrow's game.

RI BBALL C DIV' 09

It ain't over till the fat lady sings