Raffles Institution vs Guang Yang Secondary (31-18)
Points by Quarter:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RI------3-------3------8------17
GYS---5-------6-------6------1
The game started off as both teams struggled to make a basket. We were plagued by turnovers the whole of the first half and although our defense was reasonably solid, we were way to passive on the offensive end, passing the ball around the perimeter instead of attacking the basket. Though we did not score much the first half, our defense kept the opponent's point total in check and we were only down by 5 by halftime, as the score was a miserable 11-6.
In the third quarter, we started to play even harder on defense and started to force some turnovers from Guang Yang, while taking care of the ball better. However, we still missed shots that would have been automatic for us and although we won the quarter 8-6, we still trailed 17-14 entering into the final period.
The 4th quarter was when we really got our momentum going and finally got our engines started. It started of with an "And-One" from our captain Jovi which got everyone fired up. Although he missed the free throw, we still were only down by 1 pt. We then committed a foul on our end, giving up one point to the opponents from free throws. Then a few possessions later, our Vice-captain Daran calmly drained a three pointer, giving us a 1 pt advantage. This was a huge shot and got the whole team fired up. This was a spark for us and eventually lead to 3 more three pointers and a layup, as we ended the game on a 17-1 run in the 4th quarter, pulling away for the win.
Improvements
We started off this game way too slow. We need to get into our offense quickly and capitalise on our make-able shots. Had we done this better today, the game would not have been so close to start with. We also have to be more aggressive in attacking the basket so that we can open up opportunities to score not only for ourselves, but for our teammates as well.
Strengths
We remained composed in the last quarter and we were resilient, fighting all the way to the final buzzer instead of giving up halfway. As the game progressed, we got more and more comfortable playing and eventually allowed us to pull away. This was the second game this season where we remained composed in the last quarter and came through with timely big shots.
Our next game will be on Friday against ACS (Barker Road). It would be a great test for us and we must embrace it. Game will be played at 3:30pm. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
B Division South Zone Round 2 Game 1: Raffles Institution vs St Andrews Secondary (56-38)
Raffles Institution vs St Andrews Secondary (56-38)
Points by Quarter:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RI--------13------19-----13------11
SA--------7-------8-------7------16
The second round of the South Zone competitions started off with a game against St Andrews Secondary. We did not have much of a size advantage in this game as St Andrews had 4 big post players to match whatever height that we ourselves had to offer. However, we had scouted our opponents and were ready for whatever was coming.
With that being said, the game started off rather slow for both teams as both teams struggled to make baskets. For both teams, the majority of the points in the first quarter came from free throws, which slowed down the game a lot. However, we were still able to jump out to a 13-7 lead before closing the first.
The second quarter began and we started to find our groove as we got our hands on the passing lanes and were well prepared to stop their sideline and inbound plays from successfully working out. We forced many turnovers and got out on the break to get easy baskets to extend the lead. This saw us leading 32-15 at halftime.
In the 4th quarter however, we started to get a little complacent as we had done in previous matches and let our guard down as we started to commit almost half our total turnovers in the game in the 4th alone. This allowed the opponents to get easy layups on the other hand and boosted their morale by a little. However, it was too little too late as the lead that we had accumulated through 3 quarters was big enough to see us through the late run by St Andrews, allowing us to seal the game 56-38.
Improvements
We need to learn to box out more efficiently, especially when we are playing opponents that rely on one or two players to rebound or are bigger than us size wise. This game was a good lesson and reminder to us that we need to not only box out, but continue to push our opponents away from the basket after our box out to increase the amount of space we have to grab the rebound. In this game, we did not push after boxing out, resulting in the opponents tall post players grabbing the rebound, keeping the ball high and finishing.
Strengths
We were able to draw a lot of fouls in this game as we forced the opponents to commit 23 fouls while only getting 8 fouls ourselves. We also were able to get their key player #14 into quick foul trouble as he accumulated 3 fouls midway through the second quarter. We got them over the foul limit early and this allowed us to have many chances at the line, which we were able to convert on 24/35 of our free throw attempts. This is an encouraging sign from us and a weapon we can use for future games.
Our next game will be on Wednesday against Guang Yang Secondary followed by a Friday game against ACS (Barker Road) which should be an interesting game. Do stay tuned for more updates!
Points by Quarter:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
RI--------13------19-----13------11
SA--------7-------8-------7------16
The second round of the South Zone competitions started off with a game against St Andrews Secondary. We did not have much of a size advantage in this game as St Andrews had 4 big post players to match whatever height that we ourselves had to offer. However, we had scouted our opponents and were ready for whatever was coming.
With that being said, the game started off rather slow for both teams as both teams struggled to make baskets. For both teams, the majority of the points in the first quarter came from free throws, which slowed down the game a lot. However, we were still able to jump out to a 13-7 lead before closing the first.
The second quarter began and we started to find our groove as we got our hands on the passing lanes and were well prepared to stop their sideline and inbound plays from successfully working out. We forced many turnovers and got out on the break to get easy baskets to extend the lead. This saw us leading 32-15 at halftime.
In the 4th quarter however, we started to get a little complacent as we had done in previous matches and let our guard down as we started to commit almost half our total turnovers in the game in the 4th alone. This allowed the opponents to get easy layups on the other hand and boosted their morale by a little. However, it was too little too late as the lead that we had accumulated through 3 quarters was big enough to see us through the late run by St Andrews, allowing us to seal the game 56-38.
Improvements
We need to learn to box out more efficiently, especially when we are playing opponents that rely on one or two players to rebound or are bigger than us size wise. This game was a good lesson and reminder to us that we need to not only box out, but continue to push our opponents away from the basket after our box out to increase the amount of space we have to grab the rebound. In this game, we did not push after boxing out, resulting in the opponents tall post players grabbing the rebound, keeping the ball high and finishing.
Strengths
We were able to draw a lot of fouls in this game as we forced the opponents to commit 23 fouls while only getting 8 fouls ourselves. We also were able to get their key player #14 into quick foul trouble as he accumulated 3 fouls midway through the second quarter. We got them over the foul limit early and this allowed us to have many chances at the line, which we were able to convert on 24/35 of our free throw attempts. This is an encouraging sign from us and a weapon we can use for future games.
Our next game will be on Wednesday against Guang Yang Secondary followed by a Friday game against ACS (Barker Road) which should be an interesting game. Do stay tuned for more updates!
Thursday, February 13, 2014
B Div South Zone Round 1 Game 4: Raffles Institution vs Catholic High School (44-40)
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
B Division South Zone Round 1 Game 3: Raffles Institution vs NJC (83-25)
Raffles Institution vs NJC (83-25)
Scoring by Quarter
National Junior College vs Raffles Institution
1st Quarter: 6–19
2nd Quarter: 7–22 (13–41)
3rd Quarter: 4–18 (17–59)
4th Quarter: 8–24 (25–83)
In the 3rd game of the first round, we faced NJC. If we were
to come out victorious in this game, we would be guaranteed a second round
spot. Hence we came out with a sense of urgency and made sure we got out to a
sizable lead and not look back.
Much like the previous game against Bukit Merah, we used our
length and size to our advantage as we continuously racked up steals while
keeping our own turnovers at a low rate. We accumulated 27 steals in this game
while only committing 8 turnovers. This was the story of the game as we
continuously forced turnovers and got out on the fastbreak every chance we got.
This resulted in us getting many easy baskets while the opponents rarely had
such opportunities as we always had time to set up our full court press after
our scores. Hence we lead throughout the whole game and came out with the win
by a big margin of 83-25.
Improvements
Although we had a size advantage this game, the opponents
still had 2 big men inside and these 2 posts fought very hard for rebounds. We
were unable to box them out on some possessions, giving them an opportunity to
try at the basket again which could cost us dearly in future matches albeit not
having any detrimental consequences in this game. We need to learn how to box
out on every single possession.
Strengths
Once again we were able to disrupt the opposing team's
offense with some solid defense, and this resulted in us getting more fast
break points, which would be crucial for us to continue to do in future
matches. We have to keep the steal numbers high, but have to be careful not to
foul too much in the process or get ourselves out of position unnecessarily.
Although this was not really a close game, and we got the
win, we cannot be complacent especially with our next opponents being Catholic
High, a championship contender. The Catholic High match will be our last match
of the first round as both Catholic High and Raffles Institution are fighting
for the top spot in the group. The upcoming game will definitely be an exciting
one and will be a good chance for us to gain many learning points to go deeper
into the season.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
B Division South Zone Round 1 Game 2: Raffles Institution vs Bukit Merah Secondary (85-19)
Raffles Institution vs Bukit Merah Secondary (85-19)
Points by Quarter:
1st-------2nd-------3rd-------4th
Raffles Institution--------17--------15--------27-------26
Bukit Merah--------------3---------5---------2--------9
In the second game of the first round, we faced a familiar foe in Bukit Merah Secondary. We have faced each other in the first round of the zonals for 3 straight years. Although we had won previous meetings, we were reminded not to be complacent and continue to go out strong and play hard defense.
The first quarter began with a bucket scored on the very first possession by us. Our offense was very smooth as we could constantly get inside the paint for easy layups, taking advantage of our height against the shorter players from the opposing team. This saw us jump out to an early lead, as we ended the first up 17-3. The second half was more of the same as we constantly attacked the paint while forcing Bukit Merah to shoot outside jump shots. At the half, the score was 32-8.
The 3rd quarter was the most well played in this game as we managed to score 27 points while only allowing them to score 2 points on us. This was mostly due to our full court pressure defense as we managed to get tons of steals in the front court, converting them to layups immediately after the steal. Our center Danny played a huge role in this 27-2 run as he single handedly racked up 10 steals by himself in the whole game, to go along with his 11 points. Most of his steals came in this 3rd quarter, as it seemed like as long as he raised up his long arms, he would get his hand on the ball and get the steal.
Shao Jie and Jovi were dominant on the glass in this game as they managed to grab 10 rebounds and 9 rebounds respectively. Whats more is that they had a total of 17 offensive rebounds out of the 19 rebounds that they grabbed. (9 Shao Jie, 8 Jovi). We need to keep this aggressiveness up.
Improvements
We need to make sure we capitalise on every layup that we take as we cannot afford to keep missing open looks under the basket against stronger teams. In this game, due to our height advantage, we were able to grab the offensive rebound even after we missed the layup until we eventually scored. This would definitely be hard against stronger teams with inside presence.
Strengths
We did a great job on the free throw line in this game, largely thanks to Shao Jie as he was a stellar 9/11 from the free throw line as he was always aggressive, drawing fouls on the Bukit Merah players. This resulted in 2 of the Bukit Merah players fouling out eventually. But as a whole, we still did well from the line as we were 14/19 as a team. We need to keep this up
We kept the turnovers in this game way down to only 9, while also racking up a total of 38 steals, the highest we have gotten through all the games we had played so far. Although this will most likely not recur against better teams, we need to constantly be alert in intercepting passes from our opponents.
We will be playing NJC in the third game of the 1st round, followed by Catholic High in the finale. Stay tuned!
Points by Quarter:
1st-------2nd-------3rd-------4th
Raffles Institution--------17--------15--------27-------26
Bukit Merah--------------3---------5---------2--------9
In the second game of the first round, we faced a familiar foe in Bukit Merah Secondary. We have faced each other in the first round of the zonals for 3 straight years. Although we had won previous meetings, we were reminded not to be complacent and continue to go out strong and play hard defense.
The first quarter began with a bucket scored on the very first possession by us. Our offense was very smooth as we could constantly get inside the paint for easy layups, taking advantage of our height against the shorter players from the opposing team. This saw us jump out to an early lead, as we ended the first up 17-3. The second half was more of the same as we constantly attacked the paint while forcing Bukit Merah to shoot outside jump shots. At the half, the score was 32-8.
The 3rd quarter was the most well played in this game as we managed to score 27 points while only allowing them to score 2 points on us. This was mostly due to our full court pressure defense as we managed to get tons of steals in the front court, converting them to layups immediately after the steal. Our center Danny played a huge role in this 27-2 run as he single handedly racked up 10 steals by himself in the whole game, to go along with his 11 points. Most of his steals came in this 3rd quarter, as it seemed like as long as he raised up his long arms, he would get his hand on the ball and get the steal.
Shao Jie and Jovi were dominant on the glass in this game as they managed to grab 10 rebounds and 9 rebounds respectively. Whats more is that they had a total of 17 offensive rebounds out of the 19 rebounds that they grabbed. (9 Shao Jie, 8 Jovi). We need to keep this aggressiveness up.
Improvements
We need to make sure we capitalise on every layup that we take as we cannot afford to keep missing open looks under the basket against stronger teams. In this game, due to our height advantage, we were able to grab the offensive rebound even after we missed the layup until we eventually scored. This would definitely be hard against stronger teams with inside presence.
Strengths
We did a great job on the free throw line in this game, largely thanks to Shao Jie as he was a stellar 9/11 from the free throw line as he was always aggressive, drawing fouls on the Bukit Merah players. This resulted in 2 of the Bukit Merah players fouling out eventually. But as a whole, we still did well from the line as we were 14/19 as a team. We need to keep this up
We kept the turnovers in this game way down to only 9, while also racking up a total of 38 steals, the highest we have gotten through all the games we had played so far. Although this will most likely not recur against better teams, we need to constantly be alert in intercepting passes from our opponents.
We will be playing NJC in the third game of the 1st round, followed by Catholic High in the finale. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
B Division South Zone Bball: Round 1 Game 1--- Raffles Institution vs ACS International (50-9)
Raffles Institution vs ACS International (50-9)
Points by Quarter:
1st-------2nd-------3rd-------4th
Raffles Institution 19---------6---------18--------7
ACS International 0--------- 8----------1--------0
Our season started off with a breakout in the first quarter as we constantly scored on our opponents through fastbreak opportunities and tough pressure defense. The opponents getting any kind of offense going and we ran off to an early lead by the end of the first, while holding our opponents to 0 points. After the first, we lead 19-0.
However, the next quarter was disastrous for us as we ourselves started getting too shot happy as we started launching from the outside most of the time instead of driving in and getting layups. The opponents managed to capitalize on our long misses, getting most of their 8 points from fastbreaks. We actually lost in this quarter 6-8, and this was the quarter in which they scored 8 of their 9 total points in the whole game.
But then again as we have done in most of our other previous games, we jumped out in the 3rd quarter after discussing about how we had to lock up our defense during halftime. After scoring 8 points in the 2nd quarter alone, we held ACS International to only 1 point in the 2nd half. We closed the game shooting 46% from the field and had 21 steals as a team.
Improvements
We need to cut down on our fouls. In this game, we had a total of 16 fouls compared to 9 fouls by ACS International. We had almost 3/4 of our fouls called on the perimeter as we kept reaching in or kept getting called for blocking fouls. We will play harder but smarter on defense, sliding more and reaching in less.
We need to do a better job running out on the fastbreak as this will be the way in which we can generate points quickly and a more easier way. In this game we did not run out on the break that often, resulting in us only scoring 50 total points throughout the whole game.
Strengths
We once again got alot of steals on defense, a total of 21 as a team. This will be crucial as forcing turnovers on the defensive end can give us more opportunity to run out on the fastbreak and can also demoralise our opponents.
On the other hand, we only got 11 turnovers as a team, showing that we took care of the ball pretty well. Of course, we will definitely like to improve even more in this number as taking care of the ball is crucial in key games.
We just got our feet wet in the first game of the tournament and we felt that we could have definitely done much better in many different aspects. We will however strive to improve on these aspects and perform better in future games while maintaining humility. More to come soon!
Points by Quarter:
1st-------2nd-------3rd-------4th
Raffles Institution 19---------6---------18--------7
ACS International 0--------- 8----------1--------0
Our season started off with a breakout in the first quarter as we constantly scored on our opponents through fastbreak opportunities and tough pressure defense. The opponents getting any kind of offense going and we ran off to an early lead by the end of the first, while holding our opponents to 0 points. After the first, we lead 19-0.
However, the next quarter was disastrous for us as we ourselves started getting too shot happy as we started launching from the outside most of the time instead of driving in and getting layups. The opponents managed to capitalize on our long misses, getting most of their 8 points from fastbreaks. We actually lost in this quarter 6-8, and this was the quarter in which they scored 8 of their 9 total points in the whole game.
But then again as we have done in most of our other previous games, we jumped out in the 3rd quarter after discussing about how we had to lock up our defense during halftime. After scoring 8 points in the 2nd quarter alone, we held ACS International to only 1 point in the 2nd half. We closed the game shooting 46% from the field and had 21 steals as a team.
Improvements
We need to cut down on our fouls. In this game, we had a total of 16 fouls compared to 9 fouls by ACS International. We had almost 3/4 of our fouls called on the perimeter as we kept reaching in or kept getting called for blocking fouls. We will play harder but smarter on defense, sliding more and reaching in less.
We need to do a better job running out on the fastbreak as this will be the way in which we can generate points quickly and a more easier way. In this game we did not run out on the break that often, resulting in us only scoring 50 total points throughout the whole game.
Strengths
We once again got alot of steals on defense, a total of 21 as a team. This will be crucial as forcing turnovers on the defensive end can give us more opportunity to run out on the fastbreak and can also demoralise our opponents.
On the other hand, we only got 11 turnovers as a team, showing that we took care of the ball pretty well. Of course, we will definitely like to improve even more in this number as taking care of the ball is crucial in key games.
We just got our feet wet in the first game of the tournament and we felt that we could have definitely done much better in many different aspects. We will however strive to improve on these aspects and perform better in future games while maintaining humility. More to come soon!
Thursday, January 2, 2014
B Division: Raffles Institution vs Boon Lay Secondary (90-25)
Raffles Institution vs Boon Lay Secondary (90-25)
This would be the last of our series of friendly games to end the year 2013. Our opponent was Boon Lay Secondary and the game was once again played at the sheltered courts at the JC side.
The game got off to a really rough start as we struggled to put the ball in the basket, missing many easy opportunities near the rim. We were still able to score points, but instead of us bursting ahead right from the start to open the gap and break their confidence, they scored right after we scored to make it 2-2. This gave them some confidence in themselves and pushed them to score 9 points in the 1st quarter despite our defensive efforts. However, we were still ahead by a decent margin 21-9 by the the end of the 1st quarter.
In the 2nd quarter, we made sure we came out stronger to erase any hope that they still might have had and started playing harder on defense, while running out on fastbreaks more. They could not keep up to the pace that we were at and our hands were everywhere, getting a total of 23 steals in the game.
The 3rd and 4th quarters were more of the same as we relied on our whole teams effort to score as everyone chipped in with the scoring while Boon Lay largely relied on their starting center #10, who single handed scored pretty much half or more than half of his team's points. We were once again to win this game by a final margin of 90-25.
Our player of the game would go to Tristen as he shot a perfect 3/3 from 2pt range and 1/1 from 3pt range. In addition to that, he added 5 rebounds (1 off, 4 def), 2 steals, 2 assists, while only turning the ball over once. It was a very efficient game on his part.
Improvements
Our free throw shooting has to be more consistent throughout the games that we play. In the Dunman Secondary game that we played earlier in the year, we were a perfect 8/8 from the free throw line. Whereas in other games, we were only slightly above 50%. Similarly, we shot 7/12 from the free throw line in this game and we definitely have to improve on this area.
Next, communication. While we are definitely improving a little on this area, we still need to talk every second of the game. We tend to just talk when we feel like it our when we have adrenaline after we score baskets. We should just keep it on for the whole game. This will help us both on the defensive side and the offensive side of the court. Also, the bench can help out. Instead of sitting there and shouting "Good ball" everytime our player scores, we can help to talk on defense and offense as well. All in all, the more mouths the better.
Strengths
We took care of the ball well in this game only committing 7 turnovers as a team while getting 23 steals as well. This means that the number of turnovers we made is at least 1/3 of what we forced from our opponents. We have to keep our turnovers down and steals high consistently in every game.
We also got huge production from the whole team as 8 players scored at least 6 points. This will be huge if we can maintain it throughout the season coming up as we wont miss a beat regardless of who is on the bench resting.
Last but not least, our rebounding was stellar again as we got 39 total rebounds (22 off, 17 def), almost breaking the 40 mark. We must continue to go in for offensive rebounds regardless of whether we think we have a chance or not and this will then keep our rebound numbers high.
We conclude this year's friendly games winning all games except the aforementioned controversial loss at Ngee Ann Secondary. Our win column consists of teams like Dunman Secondary and Presbyterian High and we have definitely learnt a lot from these games, while boosting our confidence as we now know roughly where we stand. However, we cannot be complacent at all and continue to play hard in every single game. It does not matter if we win by 5 or 50, we have to be there each game, ready to go hard on defense, run back in transition, and run out on the fastbreak while communicating at all times.
2014 South Zone Season, here we come...
This would be the last of our series of friendly games to end the year 2013. Our opponent was Boon Lay Secondary and the game was once again played at the sheltered courts at the JC side.
The game got off to a really rough start as we struggled to put the ball in the basket, missing many easy opportunities near the rim. We were still able to score points, but instead of us bursting ahead right from the start to open the gap and break their confidence, they scored right after we scored to make it 2-2. This gave them some confidence in themselves and pushed them to score 9 points in the 1st quarter despite our defensive efforts. However, we were still ahead by a decent margin 21-9 by the the end of the 1st quarter.
In the 2nd quarter, we made sure we came out stronger to erase any hope that they still might have had and started playing harder on defense, while running out on fastbreaks more. They could not keep up to the pace that we were at and our hands were everywhere, getting a total of 23 steals in the game.
The 3rd and 4th quarters were more of the same as we relied on our whole teams effort to score as everyone chipped in with the scoring while Boon Lay largely relied on their starting center #10, who single handed scored pretty much half or more than half of his team's points. We were once again to win this game by a final margin of 90-25.
Our player of the game would go to Tristen as he shot a perfect 3/3 from 2pt range and 1/1 from 3pt range. In addition to that, he added 5 rebounds (1 off, 4 def), 2 steals, 2 assists, while only turning the ball over once. It was a very efficient game on his part.
Improvements
Our free throw shooting has to be more consistent throughout the games that we play. In the Dunman Secondary game that we played earlier in the year, we were a perfect 8/8 from the free throw line. Whereas in other games, we were only slightly above 50%. Similarly, we shot 7/12 from the free throw line in this game and we definitely have to improve on this area.
Next, communication. While we are definitely improving a little on this area, we still need to talk every second of the game. We tend to just talk when we feel like it our when we have adrenaline after we score baskets. We should just keep it on for the whole game. This will help us both on the defensive side and the offensive side of the court. Also, the bench can help out. Instead of sitting there and shouting "Good ball" everytime our player scores, we can help to talk on defense and offense as well. All in all, the more mouths the better.
Strengths
We took care of the ball well in this game only committing 7 turnovers as a team while getting 23 steals as well. This means that the number of turnovers we made is at least 1/3 of what we forced from our opponents. We have to keep our turnovers down and steals high consistently in every game.
We also got huge production from the whole team as 8 players scored at least 6 points. This will be huge if we can maintain it throughout the season coming up as we wont miss a beat regardless of who is on the bench resting.
Last but not least, our rebounding was stellar again as we got 39 total rebounds (22 off, 17 def), almost breaking the 40 mark. We must continue to go in for offensive rebounds regardless of whether we think we have a chance or not and this will then keep our rebound numbers high.
We conclude this year's friendly games winning all games except the aforementioned controversial loss at Ngee Ann Secondary. Our win column consists of teams like Dunman Secondary and Presbyterian High and we have definitely learnt a lot from these games, while boosting our confidence as we now know roughly where we stand. However, we cannot be complacent at all and continue to play hard in every single game. It does not matter if we win by 5 or 50, we have to be there each game, ready to go hard on defense, run back in transition, and run out on the fastbreak while communicating at all times.
2014 South Zone Season, here we come...
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