Raffles Institution vs Guangyang Secondary School (54-49)
Everything seemed to be in the undefeated Guangyang's favor as we stepped into the court, and thus fueled by the strong desire to win and advance into the second round, we proceeded with the tip-off.
Despite losing the jump ball, we were able to regain the possession with a hard defense, forcing Guangyang to make a wrong pass. Guangyang put up an aggressive half-court 1-2-2 pressure and successfully stopped up from attacking the basket. We were having difficulties feeding the ball to our post, Danny (#10), and he was only able to score 2 points in the first quarter. As usual, the opponents were able to drive past our 2-2-1 pressure fairly easily, breaking the entire defense in a matter of seconds. Neither teams were able to get their offence going and the points remained at 0-0 for a few minutes. There were several easy baskets but we were not able to grasp these opportunities well and missed them all. Guangyang scored the first shot of the game by getting the rebound after missing their free-throw and making the shot. The main problem of the first quarter was that no one was running for safety man after missing the shot on the offence, allowing the opponent team to go for fast breaks and we ended up either fouling them or allowing them to score. We then continued to make many unnecessary turnovers from bad passes and Guangyang seized some of these chances by scoring the fast breaks. They also landed a three-pointer in their offence. By the end of the first quarter, they were able to keep us at only three points while they made twelve.
In the second quarter, both teams' offence started running smoothly. Guangyang had great team chemistry and were able to swing the ball swiftly around and break our defense. However we were also successfully cutting through Guangyang's 1-2-2 half court pressure and returned many baskets. Guangyang was generally scoring via pass and cutting while we were able to make one-on-one plays using our post, Danny. We ended the second quarter with a block by Yufan, which stopped their attempt in scoring a three point buzzer beater. We were able to outscore them by five points and were trailing by only four points by the first half.
The third quarter did not go as well as the second, our defense was getting a bit lackluster and Guangyang had several easy drives. However, Danny stepped up to the challenge and put up an impressive display of skills, scoring ten out of the eleven points we made in the third quarter. The third quarter concluded with Guangyang stretching the lead to seven points.
As the fourth quarter began, tension started to build up. We had three consecutive possessions in the beginning but we were not able to make a single basket. Danny were then able to make the first blood of the fourth quarter by scoring an under basket. Our forward, Jia Wei (#4), was able to score a free throw, further bringing down their lead to a mere four points. It was him again who then scored an amazing four point play, which made the bench and our supporters go into a frenzy as it meant that we were now tied at 38-38. We had our first lead (42-40) in the entire game after scoring two free throws, however we were not able to maintain that lead for long as Guangyang responded with a fast break, tying the game once again. After exchanging another two points, Jia Wei landed another three pointer. Sadly, Guangyang tied the game (47-47) once again after scoring a free throw and a deep two, both given to them free because of our mistakes. After another exchange of two points and little time on the clock, we decided to swing the ball around and if not able to score, head into overtime. As we held the ball, not making any moves towards the basket, Guangyang got anxious, which eventually lead to their loss. First, they fouled our vice-captain Yufan (#14), who made the first free throw but missed the second. However, Danny grabbed this rebound and put it back into the basket, drawing a foul. Though he did not land the free throw, we were able to get the rebound and pass it out to our point guard Marcus (#9). He was also fouled and made both free throws, which would be the last two points of the game. The game thus ended with us winning by five points, emerging as victors of our group.
We could not have won this game if not for Danny's and Jia Wei's great performance who scored 26 pts and 16 pts respectively. During the post-game team talk, it was reflected that the bench's cheering and encouragement also contributed a lot to our victory. Even though we were at a disadvantage in the first quarter, we did not give up and persevered, achieving the comeback in the last quarter. Having emerged as the overall champions of our group, our placement in the second round will be better. But we must not get complacent because of this win and train hard for a chance in the Top 4.
Points by Quarter
1st --------- 2nd -------- 3rd --------- 4th
RI: 03 17 11 23
GYS: 12 12 14 11
No comments:
Post a Comment