Raffles Institution vs Presbyterian High (60-53)

Raffles Institution vs Presbyterian High (60-53)


The road of preparation towards our season in January next year has begun! This was our first of many friendly games to come as we continue to get ourselves back into game shape. Our opponent today was Presbyterian High, one of the powerhouses in the North Zone. The game was played at Presbyterian High.

We started off the game strong, gaining an early edge of 10-4. They continued to fight back, but we were able to force them to take many outside shots which they were unable to convert and we were able to capitalize on their misses, creating fastbreak chances for ourselves.

In spite of their struggles from the outside, Pres High was able to get the ball deep into the post on several occasions where they were able to finish with ease, also drawing fouls from our players. They were strong inside and managed to grab many offensive rebounds for easy putbacks. This kept them in the game leading into the 2nd Quarter.

In the 2nd, RI was able to break away by sticking to our zone defense and game plan, allowing them to continue to shoot from the outside. Our full court press created turnovers which turned into easy lay ups for us as we were able to pressure the ball man and swipe the ball loose by double teaming them. This allowed us to gain a huge lead of 32-16 leading into the 2nd half.

Right at the start of the 3rd quarter, Pres High was able to knock down 2 three pointers in a row to cut our lead down to 10. This gave them a boost in morale and it looked like they were able to shake off the rust from earlier on as now they were starting to make jumpshots. We held our ground though, as we were able to still score points, keeping our lead.

However deep into the 4th quarter, Pres High was able to make a run as they cut our lead all the way down to just 52-51 with just over 3 mins left in the game. It looked like we were about to let this one slip away, as we had on numerous occasions the previous season. However, we were able to maintain calm despite the loud cheering from the opposing bench and their spectators, and knocked down a three to push our lead to 4. After they failed to convert on our side of the court, we were able to sprint down the court and get a fastbreak layup pushing it to 6. This took the air out of them and we were able to hang on to win with a final score of 60-53.


Improvements

We need to learn to box out better so as to prevent the opponents from getting 2nd chance points as when they get an offensive rebound, they get more possessions and this means that they will have more chances to put the ball in the basket than us.

We also need to cut way down on our turnovers as we were not in control many times on the fastbreak, losing the handle of the ball, or making careless passes without looking. We should also keep our eyes off the ball and look up so that we can find cutting and open teammates.  

Free throw shooting was our Achilles heel once again as we missed plenty of opportunities to get points at the free throw line. As they say, "Games are won at the line", we have to make sure we convert on more of our free throws. If we had done that this game, perhaps the score would not have been that close towards the end.

For our 2-2-1 defense, the second line has to remember to rush back to prevent a 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 situation at our disadvantage. This happened alot during this game and they were able to get easy fastbreak layups. We do need to make sure we pressure the ball man as well as we often underestimated our opponents, not pressuring them and letting them shoot right in our faces.


Strengths

We played hard on defense, pressuring the ball and were able to get alot of steals which turned into easy layups. Our zone defense did its job as well as we were able to prevent many drives, forcing them to take outside jumpers which are shots of much lower percentage. We need to continue to do this well.

We were also able to maintain our cool towards the end of the game as we did not falter, but calmly made crucial shots which helped to break their momentum and which won us the game.

Today, the whole team was able to contribute as many players were able to score points and this carried over to the defensive side of the floor as they were able to play with more energy. We definitely need to have everyone on the team contribute to the scoring and not just depend on a few players. This is the only way we will go far when the season starts.