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