Raffles Institution vs Fairfield Methodist School (59-47)
Points by Quarter:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RI----------19------12-------18------10
FMS--------8-------6--------12------21
This was a rematch of the friendly game that we had played with Fairfield last year. The friendly game last year was played at our RJC courts and we were victorious 76-56. Although we won that one, we knew that we had to treat this game seriously and play hard, not taking anything for granted. Fairfield has improved tremendously and they were unbeaten thus far in the season. We knew we had to make sure we matched their fighting spirit and follow our game plan if we were to come out with the win where it actually matters the most.
The game started out as we bolted out to a 13-3 lead early. We did this mostly by pounding the ball inside and grabbing offensive rebounds for put backs, while making sure that we secured our own defensive rebounds on our side of the floor, not giving them any second chances at the basket. The 2nd quarter was more of the same as we defended Fairfield's drive and kick well and closed out on their shooters and made them commit bad passes and turnovers. We eventually were able to take a double digit lead going into the 2nd half 31-14.
We knew that we had to come out strong in the 3rd quarter and make sure we built a larger lead. We did just that as we did not take anything for granted and treated the second half like it was a new game, coming out scoring the moment the half started with the goal of extending our lead. There was a point in time where our lead ballooned to 28 points. At the end of the 3rd quarter, we still were up big by 23.
However in the 4th quarter, Fairfield started to mount a furious rally as every basket they scored received a loud cheer from their supporters and started to build up their momentum as well as confidence. Whats more is that we started to commit unforced turnovers from bad passes and losing the ball out of bounds, giving Fairfield even more reason to cheer. Most of the points scored during this run were off our own turnovers as we lost the ball above the 3 point line, allowing them to streak to our basket for the layup. To compound our woes, our 2 point guards Daran and Tristen both exited the game with 5 fouls. At the 3 minute mark, our lead dwindled to only 10. However, we stood our ground and continued to be patient with the ball, letting time tick off the clock as much as we could and drove to the basket for fouls. We complemented this with hard defense, closing out on shooters and pressuring them into misses or forced shots and secured the defensive rebound for consecutive possessions. Eventually, the lead that we had built throughout the 3 quarters saw us through the 4th quarter and we won the game 59-47.
This win earned us a spot in the South Zone finals where we would once again face ACS (Barker Road), who won their semifinals matchup with Queensway. The game would be played on Thursday at 2:30 pm. The venue would be Jurong East Sports Hall. We are looking forward to this game as we compete to reclaim the B Division South Zone Championship for the first time since 2011. ACS (Barker Road) took home the Gold medal in both 2012 and 2013. See you on Thursday!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment