Gryphons in NBL 2009

Gryphons sent a team comprising of old boys and current school boys for NBL 2009 and following 3 games, we've qualified for the 2nd round.

• Gryphons 45 vs Xingers 34
• Gryphons defeated T-Net (score not reported)
• Gryphons 58 vs Wei Tiong 45

The last match in round 1 will be decide whether Gryphons or Yuen Tat (Yu Hua CSC) qualifies as group champions.

4 Oct 1915hrs @ SBC Gryphons vs Yuen Tat

Squad:

Chua Wei Xuan, Ravins Cheung, Wang Jia Cheng, Jonathan Cher, Low Jiaren, Warren Mah, Wong Hong Kai, Adrian Chan, Lim Ray Wen, Wang Jiun Haur, Du Zichao, Loy Jiaming, Wang Luo Kai, Wang Dingyuan, Tim Lim

Coach Low Tong Takes Charge

Gryphons vs Wei Tiong

U16 ISIBL RI 32 vs 35 AISS

(Unable to vote for AISS mvps as I do not have the scoresheet.)

The match was played at AISS today at 5:15pm.

This is one of our poorest match so far in the ISIBL U-16.

In the first quarter, we started off rather poorly, trailing by a few points when the game started. We were rushing our plays and the movements were rusty, always getting off bad shots and looks. As some people were fooling around earlier, our man-to-man defense was poor; we did not pressure our man, always defending them after they get the ball and not helping, which gave them easy shots with their dominant size. Offense, we were poor and missing easy baskets on breakaways.

Second quarter, we went on a roll. Our defense started to work and we were giving the AISS players trouble, communicating on screens, taking out the triple threats and every time a shot was fired, the post boxed out, rebounded and 0utlet to the point guard. Bao Kun and Wee Xuan both got a block each which stopped the AISS players attempts to score, and mark was converting all his fastbreak lay ups, including a foul in! We were doing so well, that we caught up from down by 3 to almost up by ten!

Yet, in the third quarter, our momentum seemed to disappear as soon as it came. Our defense started to loosen up, we stopped running the fast breaks and we let loose many shots, many of those which included our opponents out of angle running shots. By the end of the third quarter, our lead was reduced to 4 points. The last quarter, our fatigue started to show by committing silly mistakes such as passing near the receiver's legs, letting the opponents to score over us and we on the other hand, couldn’t convert our fastbreaks and our shots. At 3:30 minutes, we lost our hard-earned lead and were trailing by 1. Coach called a timeout and we decided to give one last push of our full court trap. However, we were not trapping nor pressuring our opponents and we even let them get another basket. At the last two minutes, we were still trailing by 3 points . Even when we still have chance to win the game, we gave a very "spiritless" fight, not denying our man after the point guard killed his dribble, not fighting for lose balls and letting them get rebounds and using up the remaining clock time, which explained for the 3 point deficit.

Dream.Team.Fight.Win. The motto of our CCA is not some clichéd words to make it sound nice, there is a deep meaning behind that. If we don’t have the determination to keep fighting despite the scoreline, we will never win a game. We are Raffles Basketball Team. Coach told us since day 1 that Raffles Basketball team never gives up, because that's our legacy, putting all our effort and last ounce of energy into the game and achieving the impossible despite the odds against us. We always fight hard and never stop fighting till the last second, but I guess we didn't implement today and let complacency get the better of us. We had no determination for today's match to FIGHT BACK and I think we should never repeat this lacklustre performance we gave today.

MVPs:

RI:

Mark Khoo

AISS:

No. 26

No. 34

ISIBL U16 RI 19-24 Pres High

The match was played in RI on 14th September at 4pm. This was essentially a poor match, filled with missed underbaskets and bad defense. In the 1st quarter, we started off extremely poorly, being very tentative on offense and not finding our shots. Our wings did not drive to the basket enough and we made several bad passes which led to fast breaks on the other end. We could not find our shots, and our man-to-man defense was not 'tight' enough and allowed the twins: Brendi and Brenwin to drive us constantly.

In the 2nd quarter, we came back stronger and played much better. We started looking for shots, and our offense finally got going, and we dropped the ball to the posts more often and scored better. In the 3rd quarter, we fell behind, allowing for easy drives and shots, and not finishing our underbaskets and converting the easy shots. In that quarter alone, we trailed 2-7.

In the last quarter, we pushed for the win, and we played a lot better than the previous three quarters, and scored more than the other quarters combined. We got the ball into the posts, we found our shots and we pushed hard. However, our defense led us down and we never were able to stop then twins, allowing them to score just enough points to beat us 24-19.

MVPs:
Pres High:
Brendwin
Brendi

RI:
Chun Cheong

ISIBL RI 39-31 North Vista Secondary School

This match was played on 10 September at North Vista Secondary School at 4pm. For this match, we were coached by Coach Lim. For the match, the team alternated between the secondary 1 team and the sec 2 and sec 3 team, which each team playing a quarter before alternating. The secondary 1s started the match brilliantly, with both Ming Jun and Jing Hui hitting the 1st two 3-pointers of the match. Bao Kun, too, hit a three in that quarter, and we ended the quarter with a 14-9 lead.

In the second quarter, the sec2s and sec3s came into the match, and we continued the run of strong plays, finding the low postman and also looking for the outside shots. Our posts were also grabbing offensive boards aggressively, but we were unable to convert most of our underbaskets due to various reasons. Yu Xuan also hit 2 jumpers down the stretch. Also, we managed to shut down the other team, limiting their points. Unfortunately, we still did not box out enough, and allowed North Vista to grab a few offensive rebounds and easy putbacks. Generally, we had a good first half, and played strong enough for us to go into the break with a lead.

In the 3rd quarter, the sec1s came back into the game, and we continued with our strong plays, finding answers to all their offense, and finding shots on the opposite end. We managed to get the ball to the high post, and ran our plays well, setting up shots for the cutting wings, otherwise driving hard to the basket. Chun Cheong was exceptionally effective in this quarter, scoring both from the line as well as for shot range jumpers. In the last quarter, we kept to the game plan, and played well enough to secure a win. The final score: 39-31.

MVPs:
RI:
Bao Kun
Chun Cheong

NVS:
Marcus

ACSIS U16: RI vs OFS

Team List for RI vs PHS, RI vs AISS, RI vs CHS

U16

Guards: Bao Kun, Ming Jun, Peter Pang (Captain), ZongTai, Seah Nguan (PHS only), Shin Liang (AISS only)

Forwards: Mark, Mikhael (PHS, AISS), Kim (PHS), Yu Xuan (AISS), Daryl (CHS), Jinghui (CHS)

Post: Mahmood (Vice Captain), Wee Xuan, Chun Cheong, Jack Zheng, Nicholas (CHS)

U19

Guards: Justin, Alex, Joel

Forwards: Jordaan (Captain), Sim, Daniel, Yaozhoong (Standby for 3 games)

Post: Yves, Greg, Benedict, Chng, Lawrence (Vice-Captain), Ding

U19 ISIBL North Vista 81-54 RI

After a horrible performance last Tuesday, our boys look forward to making it up for this match. Yet, things didn't go as planned.

Things were wrong right from the start, where we had poor plays which included our center not being active in the play, and we had scrappy offense there after. Fortunately, Jordaan hit the first three of the game and we got our momentum, making a few shots from the high post during plays, a few fast break points, but that's about it. Like in previous matches, we fired three pointers at will, most of the time it missed and were not rebounded. We led by 1 during the buzzer.

Second quarter, we were still maintaining the level of intensity as the first quarter. Joel kept us in the game after firing a three when NV got a good start in the second quarter, and two subsequent ones later. However, that was only Joel, and the other forwards were cold on the floor, firing a few airballs. Nearing the end of the quarter, we gave up quite a few fast break points and we allowed them to sink the buzzer beater, which gave them the lead of 8 by the first half ended.

The third half was a disaster.

Lousy plays, bad passes and decision making for shots, spacing and not even having the heart to get back on defense. We were destroyed by their fast breaking, mainly from their number 7 and their lanky number 10. In that quarter alone, we were outscored 23-4, outscored by a shocking 19 points. During that time, we were shouting at one other for making mistakes, not following plays made by our coach, everything you could think of that would lower our morale and spirit.

Fourth quarter however, we went all out on a 3-22, making a few key steals and making our lay ups, until we made a foul and we stopped. North Vista quickly pulled back two of their starters into the game and the game ended with a thrashing 81-54 scoreline.

Throughout the game, we were passive on the boards and not aggressive with rebounds. We also had scrappy plays that would have murdered us if it wasn't for the individual skills of the team. Basketball is a team sport. There is no way you can win it by yourself, you have to work together as a team; choosing the right times to shoot, communicating on defense(saying help only if you mean it), rebouding hard by boxing out your man, etc. That is why we love basketball so much, it is not an individual sport but one that relies on all 5 guys giving all out on the court and 7 guys cheering and encouraging the team from the bench, and when we win, we don't win alone. We WIN as a team and LOSE as a team, we share joy and pain. We work together and share the results together, because we know our teammates are always there for each other. Take this loss, learn from it, and let's perform better next match.

MVPs:

North Vista:

Larry

Kian Hao

RI:

Bryan