Thursday, July 17, 2014

C Division South Zone Round 2 Game 3: Raffles Institution vs Henderson Secondary School (56-32)

Raffles Institution vs Henderson Secondary School (56-32)

               The game started off pretty well for our side. Despite them putting on quite a pressure on us, we were able to advance the ball rather easily. Our shots were also falling in with a high percentage from the inner area. However, Henderson’s key players, #6 & #7 did not give up. #6 is a skillful right hander while #7 is an adept at left hand. #6 stepped up to the challenge, managing to drive into our defense and knocked down all 9 points Henderson scored in the first quarter. Our box-out was not working out too, allowing Henderson to get many offensive rebounds, going for another try at offence. At one point of the 2nd quarter, we were only leading by a mere 4 points. The first half then ended with us taking a steady 11 point lead.

               Coming into the second half, we came back strong and adjusted our defense, closing down the lane for #6 or #7 to drive. This forced them to take 3 point shots instead which did not fall in as successfully as their drives. Even though our defense began to click, we did not overlook our offence. We were able to break their defense with ease and also went for many fast breaks. More rebounds, both offensive and defensive, were seen in our hands and this helped us to stretch the lead to even more. In the 3rd quarter, we only allowed Henderson to score 4 point while we increased the lead by a further 11 points.

               But in the final quarter, our offence started to fell apart. Everyone was rushing the ball for offence, resulting in low shot percentage and many unnecessary turnovers. Henderson grasped these chances well; making quite a number of lay ups and even an and-one. The game then ended with us emerging as victors, taking a closer step to Top 4 while Henderson is unfortunately eliminated.

               Although we beat Henderson with a high lead, players are reminded not to get complacent. We have to consider the factor that Henderson was already eliminated before playing with this, this could cause their players to have a low morale, not giving all they got. But on the bright side, we also did wonderful as compared to previous games. Even more improvements were seen as players started to show more confidence in offence. The next game would be against Pei Cai. They are not to be belittled as they defeated us last year and emerged as South Zone 2nd. This victory has drawn us closer to a spot in Top 4. Fairfield will be playing Catholic High next Monday, before our match, this will be crucial as it would decide our chances in advance. We would definitely not give up and continue to fight hard for our common dream.


Points by Quarter
                                1st ------- 2nd ------- 3rd ------- 4th
RI:                            14             15            15             12
HSS:                          9                9              4            10

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