Raffles Institution vs Anglican High (57-64)
Points by Quarter:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RI-----22------14------11-----10
AHS---23------9-------14-----18
The game started off with both teams having no trouble finding the basket at all as each team got off to a blazing start. Defense may have been an issue as while we were getting to the basket often, we also allowed many 3-point shots to go in. Anglican High scored 4 three pointers in the quarter and this kept them in the game as we were unable to bother the shooter enough for him to miss. The talent of their star player #6 was also on full display as he scored 9 points in the first quarter alone and was a big reason for their scoring output. Despite that, we kept the gap close and after the first only were down by a point.
In the 2nd quarter, we turned decided to shut down #6 by putting our forwards Shiva and Ivan on him. They took turns to stick to him and harassed him for the rest of the game as he got frustrated and could not receive the ball on many occasions, much less score. This change in strategy contained him for the rest of the game as after scoring 9 points in the first quarter, he scored only two field goals for the rest of the game. This allowed us to take a 4 point lead by the end of the half.
In the 3rd quarter, Anglican High decided to turn to other scoring options with much success as their point guard #5 successfully created opportunities for his teammates and also carried some of the scoring load. The other portion of scoring was handled by #11 who drained 3 three pointers in the game and ended up scoring a total of 17 points. We did not do a good job defending him properly and preventing him from getting points in this game. This allowed them to chip into the lead, but we still lead by one entering into the 4th quarter.
The 4th was when the wheels fell off for us as we got to the rim on countless occasions but just barely missed the layups that we had inside. This caused a lot of wasted possessions in which we could have scored on and gave the opponents more confidence in themselves as they eventually took the lead with about 4 minutes left in the game. With Anglican up by 5, we fought back hard, giving them all we could and cut the lead to 2 at one point. The lead from then on fluctuated between 2 and 3 for several minutes. However, we were unable to score in the waning moments of the 4th when they were up by 5 and had to resort to playing the foul game. To their credit, they were able to make their free throws and hence sealed the game by a final score of 64-57.
Although we lost this game, we would be moving on to the second round of the nationals as both us and Anglican High have emerged top 2 in the group. The following schools were in our second round draw:
Dunman Secondary
North Vista Secondary
ACS (Barker Road)
Although the matchups may be tough, we understand that nothing will come easy in the second round of the nationals no matter who we would have drawn as we will be going up against the other 7 of the top 8 schools in the whole of Singapore, fighting for a top 4 spot. We will not give up and fight hard in every game that we play and this surely will be a great experience for all of us. Now, we have once again found ourselves as underdogs and have nothing to lose...
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