RI 52 - 41 Serangoon Gardens Secondary

The semi-finals. Initially we were confident of winning. However, the first quarter of the match made us less certain. We scored the first 3 points of the game, taking the lead. However, the opponent quickly came back with a 3-pointer of their own and 2 more shots, taking a 4 point lead. We played pretty good defence but allowed them to take 3 pointers around the baseline. This was extremely costly for us because they made most of their shots. Fortunately, the opponents still made some unnecessary turnovers which we capitalised on, narrowing their lead.

Thanks to all our tough physical training before the match, we outlasted the opponents. By the second half, they were clearly exhausted. We were exhausted ourselves too, but we were better able to persevere. We were able to make our shots and secure our defensive rebounds, and finally took the lead. We continued with the suffocating defence throughout the rest of the game, and ended the game with an assuring 11 points victory margin.

We will be playing in the finals against ACS Barker on 5th March at Jurong Sports Hall. This will be a rematch for the disappointing 9 points loss we suffered during the quarter finals against them. During that game, we had a very strong first quarter both offensively and defensively and also took the lead. However, the turning point in the game during the third quarter when we allowed their centre to score consecutive under baskets against our zone defence. This tremendously boosted their moral and their wings started to hit their 3-pointers, and their forwards were motivated to go for the offensive rebounds. I believe that if we want to win the South Zone finals for the fourth straight year, we will need to up our defence to a whole new level. Our guards will have to be quick on their feet and prevent any uncontested 3 pointers by their wing, without committing a foul in the process. Our forwards and centre will have to front the centre and provide help defence to prevent their centre from using his drop step to score on us. Additionally, they will need to box out and get all the defensive rebounds since we are obviously shorter than them. I believe that we can win this match, the choice rests with us.


Points per quarter for RI vs SGS match
First quarter: RI 11 - 12 SGS
Second quarter: RI 12 - 14 SGS
Third quarter: RI 11 - 2 SGS
Fourth quarter: RI 18 - 13 SGS

RI 42 - 34 Pei Cai Sec

A crucial match for the quarter finals. If we won, we would be able to proceed to the semi finals. Otherwise, we would have to win the next game.

We played good defence throughout the game and managed to make our shots. Although we lead throughout the game, we could have won by a bigger margin. We made bad decisions in the closing minutes allowing them to take many shots, making 2 three pointers on us.

Our next game will be against ACS Barker on Monday.


Points per quarter:
First quarter: PCS 5 - 12 RI
Second quarter: PCS 11 - 6 RI
Third quarter: PCS 6 - 10 RI
Fourth quarter: PCS 12 - 14 RI

RI 54 - 49 Catholic High

A great win for us.

In the first quarter, the opponents were blazing hot, hitting almost all of their shots. We were down 15 points at the end of the first quarter.

Although onlookers would have thought that the game was over and Catholic High had won the game, we never gave up. In the second quarter, we outscored the opponents by 7 points, closing the lead to 8 points. However, one of our starters, Chun Cheong, had a very unfortunate fall and sprained his ankle. He was out the entire game, and had to pay the doctor a visit after the match.

Nevertheless, we stuck to our game plan; To get all our defensive rebounds and prevent any under-basket shots from their center. In the middle of the fourth quarter, we tied the game and we never looked back, taking the lead and sealing our victory.

This was indeed a great game for us. It shows the RI basketball spirit of never giving up and fighting to the end. We definitely have to ride this positive momentum and win our next game against Pei Cai Secondary on Friday.


Points by quarter:
First quarter: RI 4 - 19 CHS
Second quarter: RI 13 - 6 CHS
Third quarter: RI  16 - 16 CHS
Fourth quarter: RI  21 - 8 CHS

RI 42 - 26 Queensway Sec

The first game of the second round. We started off with an extremely high intensity on defense. The players on court was constantly communicating with each other while those on the bench provided much support with their reverberating cheers. Naturally, we were able to restrict the opponent to only 4 points in the first quarter.

The same was to be said in the second quarter. We were able to secure most of the defensive rebounds and manage to grab a couple of offensive rebounds too. Furthermore, our offensive was not as stagnant as the last game and all of our key players contributed equally to the 42 points.

However in the third quarter, our intensity went down probably because we were exhausted or because we substituted our key players out of the match. We rushed our offense, making unnecessary turnovers and took untimely shots. Nevertheless, we managed to sealed the victory in the fourth quarter.

An improvement over the last game was that the entire team was talking throughout the game. This allowed us to keep our intensity up, and play our best.

However, every game will be a tough one in the second round of the South Zone competition. Even when we are leading, we still need to keep up the intensity on defense and make our shots on offense, otherwise the opponents might catch up and steal the game from us.

Finally, with 3 games in a short span of 5 days, we definitely need to rest well so that we can give our 100% for each and every game.


Scoring by quarter:
First quarter: RI 12 - 4 QSS
Second quarter: RI 12 - 5 QSS
Third quarter: RI 6 - 7 QSS
Fourth quarter: RI 12 - 10 QSS