RI 46 - 48 Dunman Sec

This was the final chance for us to qualify for the semi-finals. To achieve that, we had to win by more than 10 points. Even though some might have thought that it was a seemingly impossible task, we were confident of achieving it.

Despite having our starting power forward out for the game due to an injured shoulder, our bench stepped up their game and contributed significantly. Our objective for the game was to get the defensive rebounds while preventing the opponents from getting the offensive rebounds, and to run as many fast breaks as possible. Although we were down by 9 points at the end of the first quarter, our spirits were not dampened. We continued to fight, and executed a full court press on them, which proved rather successful.

However, the turning point came at the start of the fourth quarter. At around the 7 minutes mark of that quarter, we hit two consecutive 3 pointers, cutting the lead to 4. This was followed by a well contested mid range jumper which still managed to fall and a foul and 1 under-basket shot. Then, the score was tied 46-46. The opponents had a chance to take the lead but we played excellent half court defense, forcing their forward to take a tough mid range jumper which did not fall. After getting the rebound, our point guard attempted a fast break and got fouled in the process, hence getting to shoot 2 free throws to take the lead, and perhaps the game too.

However, during the time out, the team agreed in unison that we were not contented to just get the win. We wanted to win by ten and move on to the semi finals. In order to do that, we had to force an overtime. Therefore, with 7.8 seconds left on the clock, he intentionally missed the two free throws. Unfortunately, we did not secure the rebound, and allowed a fast break by the opponents. Left without any other choices, we fouled him and prayed that he would miss both the free throws. To our utmost dismay, he made both. Left with 2.4 seconds, there was little that we could do other than to try our luck on a full court shot. It did not fall, and we loss the game 48 to 46.

Despite the lost, our fighting spirit remain high. Given the chance to take the game, we chose not to because we were not satisfied with a win. Perhaps some might consider this as a silly move on our part. However to me, this was the best decision the team has made for the season.

Scoring by quarter:

1st Quarter--RI 7 DS 16

2nd Quarter--RI 11 DS 12

3rd Quarter--RI 10 DS 13

4th Quarter--RI 18 DS 7

RI 'B' Division 2011

SOUTH ZONE CHAMPIONS! NATIONALS TOP 8!

RI 46 - 39 Yishun Secondary

After a disappointing loss yesterday, we were determine to play much better this game. Instead of playing a zone defense, we went back to our usual man to man defense, and it proved rather effective. We managed to secure most of the defensive rebounds and our offense was quite smooth in the first half. This was despite having our starting centre, bryan, out from an ankle injured he suffered yesterday

At the start of the third quarter, a very unfortunate accident occurred; our starting power forward, Chun Cheong, dislocated his shoulder joint while fighting for the offensive rebound. It seem serious enough that paramedics had to be called in. Here's wishing Chun Cheong a speedy recovery.

Back to the game, with the loss of our power forward, we also loss our momentum. On the other hand, the opponents were slowly getting their confidence in their offense. Our 15 points lead at 1 point in the second quarter was cut down to 1 at the end of the third. Nevertheless, we kept our morale high, and managed to get the win.

We still have a day to prepare for Dunman Sec. Hopefully we will be able to defeat them and move on to the semi final, reaching our goal for the season.

Impossible is Nothing.

1st Quarter--RI 18 YS 9

2nd Quarter--RI 7 YS 7

3rd Quarter--RI 9 YS 17

4th Quarter--RI 12 YS 6

RI 41 - 56 Jurong Sec

The first loss of our season... :(

We attempted a different defense and offense against Jurong Sec; going to the 3-2 zone and adding a baseline cut for the wings. The purpose of the 3-2 zone was to prevent their drives by providing lots of help defense. However, there was a few problems when we executed this defense. Firstly, with our starting centre, Bryan, spraining his ankle in the second quarter, our bigs were no longer that big. We allowed their centre, #15, to have his way in the paint; getting countless number of offensive rebounds. Secondly, Jurong manage to knock down a couple of 3 pointers, to our dismay.

Perhaps it was because Jurong was more prepared than us, or perhaps it was because we were just not energetic enough. Nevertheless, our defense was "the worst in the season" (as quoted from Coach Lim), and we did not score a single point in the third quarter.

Hopefully we will still be able to proceed to the semi finals despite this lose. That we can't control. What we can control is to win the next game tomorrow against Yishun Sec by more than 15 points.

1st Quarter--RI 15 JS 18

2nd Quarter--RI 13 JS 13

3rd Quarter--RI 0 JS 9

4th Quarter--RI 13 JS 16

RI 37 - 34 Fairfield

This was a close match from the beginning and we only started to pick up the pace in the 2nd quarter. We trailed behind by 1 point at the end of the 1st quarter. At the start of the 2nd quarter, our zone defense started to work out. However, we were just very rushed in this match and failed to listen to the coach's instructions. Luckily there was internal dispute among the opponents which helped us a little. In the last few seconds. the opponents started to foul us intentionally out of desperation. We managed to keep our cool and maintain possession.

This was a rather good match. We definitely have overachieved, but could have pushed harder and get even better results in this South Zone Tournament.

1st Quarter--RI 7 FMS 8

2nd Quarter--RI 8 FMS 13

3rd Quarter--RI 15 FMS 4

4th Quarter--RI 7 FMS 9

RI 50 - 60 Queensway

This was a really bad match, we were just not in the game throughout the whole match. We also had very low intensity showing that we just were not prepared. We lost mainly due to too many silly mistakes and poor weak side rebound.

Coach prepared us well for this match, but the moment we stepped into the court, we just did not play to what we trained. We failed to deny their key player, had bad weak-side rebound and outlet passes. Every time we caught up, we simply made several silly mistakes and gave the opponent the lead again. It was basically a really disappointing match.

1st Quarter--RI 7 QSS 15

2nd Quarter--RI 13 QSS 14

3rd Quarter--RI 11 QSS 14

4th Quarter--RI 19 QSS 17

RI 60 - 27 Pierce

This was the last match of Round 2. Our defense was not working out very well throughout this match. We had a 13 point lead in the first quarter and managed to maintain the lead, taking home this match.

Our main goal now is to defeat Queensway this Wednesday and progress to the finals to face off with Catholic High. Although we are quite familiar with Queensway, defeating them will not be an easy task(especially since we lost to them before), they have several skillful players and move the ball fast. We have to play extremely solid defense in order to emerge victorious.

1st Quarter--RI 20 PS 7

2nd Quarter--RI 12 PS 7

3rd Quarter--RI 7 PS 10

4th Quarter--RI 21 PS 3

RI 78 - 40 PeiCai

This was the first time we ever scored more than 70 points in any match we had played before. With this victory, we secured a spot in the semi-finals.

We started off the match with a close fight due to our inability to block the cutting lanes and stop the drives. We ended off the 2nd quarter losing 20-22. However in the 3rd quarter we managed to step up the pace and shoot consistently with slightly better defense. Thus, by the start of the 4th quarter we had gained a big lead(44-29). In the 4th quarter we played extremely good offense and scored 34 points in just 10 minutes!

We hope to improve ourselves as we will meet stronger teams like Cat High and Queensway in the semi-finals.

1st Quarter--RI 8 PCS 12

2nd Quarter--RI 12 PCS 10

3rd Quarter--RI 24 PCS 7

4th QUarter--RI 34 PCS 11

RI 40 - 30 North Vista

This was crucial match of the first round. Even though we won the first two games, this did not guarantee us a place in the second round.

Before the start of the game, we could clearly see the size difference between us. We were clearly the underdog. However, this did not distract us from the task ahead; to full court press them for all four quarters. Like the previous game against New Town, the opponents were exhausted by the third quarter and were clearly less active on the boards and had less fast breaks. However, we too were exhausted and caused our offense to dry up. In fact, we only scored 7 points in the third quarter.

However, we held on to the lead, and by the last 2 minutes of regulation, we were up by 4 points. Sensing a defeat, the opponents changed their strategy and started fouling us intentionally. However, we converted on the 2 free throws, going 6 for 8 at the line. Furthermore, we managed to grab the crucial offensive and defensive rebounds in the last few minutes, sealing the victory for RI.

With this win, we will progress to the Top 8 of the Nationals. Our next game will be on 18 March.

1st Quarter--RI 14 NV 11

2nd Quarter--RI 5 NV 8

3rd Quarter--RI 7 NV 7

4th Quarter--RI 14 NV 4

Redsport's match report for this game here.

RI 67 - 66 Guangyang

This match was a very close and exhausting match and we only managed to win by a narrow margin. Our intensity was not as high as our previous match and our defense was not very good in the 1st quarter. We failed to deny their key player and had little help side defense, allowing the enemy to cut to the basket easily. We also had way too many fouls(24).

In the 2nd quarter we managed to play slightly better defense and offense. The game was still very close and we trailed behind by 3 points. However we manage to out score them in the 3rd quarter, making the score 41- 41. In the 4th quarter both teams fought hard to win the game but ended up with a tie 56 - 56 leading to overtime(OT).

In OT we managed to maintain our composure and concentration, play out our plays on the offensive end and secure our basket on the defensive end, allowing us to win. We also faced 2 difficulties in this match. No.1 2 of our key players were fouled out. No.2 another 2 of our players were injured.

We hope to win the next two matches and make it to the semi-finals as the top of our group.

1st Quarter--RI 14 GYS 16

2nd Quarter--RI 12 GYS 13

3rd Quarter--RI 15 GYS 12

4th Quarter--RI 15 GYS 15

OT--RI 11 GYS 10

RI 46 - 45 New Town Secondary

This was the second game of the Nationals, and we played well. The objective for us this game was to tire our opponents, so as to get easy points in the second half. However, in the first half, we were allowing the opponents to get many offensive rebounds and fast breaks (This due to our poor help defense). On the other hand, we were not getting many fast breaks or offensive rebounds.

Things changed in the second half. Our opponents started to become exhausted, and did not play as good a defense as the first half. We managed to grab a couple of offensive rebounds and fast break, and also stopped their star player from scoring as much. Nevertheless, we were exhausted ourselves, and took quite a few low percentage shots.

The next game against North Vista is a do or die match; either we win them and proceed to the second round, or lose by more than 1 points and be eliminated from the competition. Hence, we have to play even harder than we did today, and get closer to our goal of the top 4.

1st Quarter--RI 11 New Town 12

2nd Quarter--RI 6 New Town 11

3rd Quarter--RI 15 New Town 12

4th Quarter--RI 14 New Town 10

RI 58 - 48 Fairfield Methodist

This was the first game of the 2nd round and we were up against quite a strong team with big players. We started off strong but as we entered the 2nd quarter some of us lost concentration. We played strong defense except for several leaks where their point guard was able to dribble all the way down. We managed to get back our momentum in the 3rd quarter and maintained the lead. This is probably one of our best games yet and we hope to strive to win the next few games and emerge as top in our group.

1st Quarter--RI 19 FMS 8

2nd Quarter--RI 9 FMS 13

3rd Quarter--RI12 FMS 10

4th Quarter--RI 18 FMS 17