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

Gryphons Cup 2009 (Day 2)

Nationals Second Round Fixtures

Looks like the second round just got fiercer.

RI vs Jurong 28/7/09 1.30pm

RI vs Pres High 29/7/09 2.45pm

RI vs Unity 31/7/09 4pm

Venue: Clementi Indoor Stadium

The matches will just be as hard, or even harder, than the first. With three zone champions in the same group, we will fight to the last second, no matter what the scores turn out to be.

RI 48-42 Christchurch

Before today's match, Jaycen reminded us that all four teams in our group has a chance of qualifying for the second round. Mentally ready, coach explained to us what were their weaknesses and our game plan, which was to secure the rebounds and run fast break, and play a box and 1 to total deny their star offensive player number 11.

Playing without our captain, we had a fairly bad start, trailing 5-12 at the start of the first quarter, and the rather fresh no. 11 was making strong and fast cuts through, getting the ball a number of times. We ran into a little foul trouble at the start, with a number of us getting a few fouls early.

Second quarter we fought back, securing rebounds and came to a close fight of 18-19 by the second half. We switched players on number 11, and he only scored 2 points throughout the entire quarter and tiring out. However, we were unable to draw fouls from many times we tried to finish under the basket, and missed a few shots. The third quarter, we ran the fast break many many times, scoring 17-7, with strong drives from a few plays and finishing. We pulled apart to a point lead, 35-26.

However, we performed super badly for the fourth quarter. We were rushing too much on our fast breaks and had bad finishing. We also almost went back to doing the risky passes that almost killed us in the Ngee Ann game. The last few minutes Christchurch hit a couple of free throws to bring the lead to only 6 points, ending the game 48-42.

And that concludes the risky first round! After many scares and hard fighting, we advanced to the second round as group champions. Come back for training tomorrow and we're ready to take on the second round, where the matches will be much fiercer and tougher, and we will just have to be ready for it when the time comes.

RI BBALL C DIV'09

Rebounds win championships!

Ngee Ann Secondary 53-54 RI

Deja vu.

That's the way to put this game.

This game was just like the previous. We had a slim lead at the start, with Joel hitting the first three pointer of the game, whereas we had some good plays with the posts. However, two of our starting 5 picked up two fouls each, ending the first quarter 7-11.

The second quarter, we were a little shaky here and there, though we still maintained the slight lead, which was unfortunately reduced to 2 by the end. Our players now were carrying more and more fouls as they played on. The third quarter one of our post players fouled out, and somehow most of things went downhill. We were miscommunicating, we weren't boxing out as hard before and let them grab offensive rebounds over our heads.

Fourth quarter was a major disaster. We let them claw their way back into the game so much they caught up with us and led us by 4 points. Our perimeter players were having many turnovers and they fought back. Fortunately, coach switched the defense and we were able to pull off some rebounds and draw some fouls. Daniel, like the previous game, sealed the game with 4 consecutive free throws.

Today's performance was really really poor. Even though we were big and skillful on the outside, we had no real strong heart and will to fight back. I think some of us were even SCARED, afraid of making mistakes. During debrief, we realised that our spirit was not even HALF of that of south zone, and we've got to get it back before it kills us all.

RI BBALL C DIV '09
Where's the fire?

RI 48 - 45 HCI

This match would be one that we will never forget.

Not because it is the first match of nationals, or because we did not repeat the mistakes of the B division, but because today's match was the first time we fought as a team, strong and hard to win the game, despite calls that did not go our way (edited by coach)

We did loads and loads of mental preparation, and when the game started, we went off at full burst, the bench talking, everyone focusing on defense and executing their plays well. But then all this seem to change when their power forward, no. 13 scored a fast break lay up, and somehow our momentum was distorted. We then exchanged baskets and ended the quarter 8-6 in our favour.

The second quarter, we were broken down by their offensive rebounding and we made many mistakes, with the referees and umpires calling many times against us. Most of us were frustrated, our fast breaks were also stolen by the quick hands of the opponents. On the good side, we did managed to foul out number 11 and 12 of HCI.

The third quarter, we seemed to have woken up, and we started to play ferociously with them after coach called a timeout to calm ourselves down. We fought back hard and did not allow them any easy baskets. Good post plays were done and Yves converted his two free throws to bring the score 25-27.

The last quarter was a world of difference. We had many good post plays, hit two three pointers and we rushed back after every time we missed, which is the fight we needed in this game all along. Down at the last couple of seconds, we used a few presses to force turnovers, and we drew many fouls. Daniel and Alex converted their free throws to bring up our score, and Daniel hit the last three pointer of the game to win the game by the slim lead, though he could have finished his last second lay in time.

Dream.Team.FIGHT.Win. This is what the fight in our CCA motto is about, we never give up, no matter how poor the score is. This what makes Raffles Basketball special, it's the spirit of never giving up that makes us an unbreakable and bonded team. From Daniel: " We have won by fighting, and we SHALL win by fighting." Let's make our opponents terrified (correction by coach: we don;t bother about how they feel, we focus on our game - anything else distracts us from our focus) before they even play us and let them fear our fighitng spirit which makes this team so strong.

RI BBALL C DIV '09
Fighting for our lives

Nationals Group Fixtures

Finally, the first round of nationals has arrived.

Here are our groupings:

RI - HCI 2.45pm, 17/7/09
Ngee Ann - RI 1.30pm, 22/7/09
RI - Christchurch, 24/7/09

All matches will be played at Clementi Indoor Stadium.

Come watch the boys in action!