Raffles Institution vs Catholic High School (44-40)
Points by Quarter:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RI-------15-------14-------9-------6
CH------11--------8------12-------9
This was the final game of the first round. Although the game was somewhat insignificant with both teams already guaranteed a spot in the second round, it was still important as this game decided our seedings which could greatly benefit us in the second round, should we be able to lock up the first seed.
The game started off with both teams firing shots without hesitation. Catholic High used their Full court man on man defense throughout all 4 quarters in this game. This caused us a little bit of trouble as there were times where we found ourselves dribbling too much, creating turnovers for ourselves. However despite this, we still managed to score by driving to the basket and taking outside shots, giving us the lead by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, we finally broke off and got ourselves some breathing space as we continued to take advantage of their over aggressive defense to cut to the basket for lay ins. Catholic High on the other hand went through a bit of a scoring drought, which allowed us to stretch the lead to 10 by the end of the first half.
However in the 3rd quarter, Catholic High started to step up their defense to a higher intensity as many fouls started to be called on them. In retaliation, our players also started to accumulate fouls while trying to match their intensity. Both sides were still able to score points, but Catholic High had the slight advantage, winning the quarter by 3. The vital point however, was that our key players Jovi and Shao Jie had 4 fouls apiece and were one away from fouling out.
In the fourth quarter, Our offense went stagnant throughout the first 7 mins of the quarter as it seemed like we could not get any offense going. Catholic High on the other hand started to slowly but surely chip away on our lead. To compound our woes, Shao Jie fouled out at the 8 minute mark of the game. This boosted the morale of the other team. Before we knew it, our lead was down to 1 by the 3 minute mark of the 4th quarter. After our opponents failed to convert on a few easy baskets inside the paint, we brought the ball down the court and managed to swing it around the perimeter, with the ball eventually ending up in the hands of Tristen, one of the two point guards we had on the floor at that moment. He gathered himself and calmly sunk a three pointer, giving us a 4 point lead, shifting the momentum back to our side. This was a huge shot and quietened the oppositions bench down a little. Shortly after, we managed to get in possession of the ball, got fouled and converted on a free throw to make it a 5 point game. Catholic High responded with a quick 3 to get them back within 2, but fouled us again to stop the clock. This happened another time but Catholic High could not score the second attempt and had to foul again. We converted on 1/2 free throws each time we got fouled and time expired with us escaping with a 2 point lead.
Improvements
We have to cut down on our fouls as this is crucial giving the other team an advantage, while at the same time giving us foul trouble and may lead to disqualification. We really escaped with this win despite our key player fouling out.
Strengths
We managed to play solid defense throughout the winding minutes of the 4th quarter, preventing a possible comeback from our opponents. We need to play this kind of defense throughout all 4 quarters for us to improve.
The first round concluded with us ending up with a 4-0 record, best in the group earning us the first seed. We will see who we play next in the second round. Until then, stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment