Our boys played their 3rd group game of their A Division Championships against NJC on 20th April (Friday).
Right from the get go, NJC put up a strong fight which was countered by an equally valiant effort from our boys to end the first quarter with RI trailing by 2. However, we got into foul trouble in the first period, with 6 team fouls by the end of the first and this created a couple of free throw attempts for NJC. In the first period, we had an unusually high number of 7 turnovers in the first quarter and this led to NJC having more scoring opportunities. Both teams applied their variants of full court pressure defence which resulted in a low scoring match in the first half – a total of 32 points were scored between both teams.
In the second period, NJC continued their relentless effort that seemed to wear our players down a little as the period ended with NJC scoring 10 points and RI scoring only 5. In the second period, the same problems plagued us as we committed 6 turnovers compared to NJC’s 3 turnovers in the second. However, NJC got into foul trouble at about the 5th minute mark of the second period and ended off the quarter with 7 team fouls which meant more free throw attempts for RI. It was evident that team fouls and turnovers were what was causing the RI team to fall behind their opponents and the tide started to change in the third.
The third period started with the our boys coming up strong against their opponents in the paint as Jethro Kwong and Li Chen Bin snatched a handful of rebounds and putting them back in for some second chance baskets. Both Adam Harith and Leonard Tay also put up a strong defensive game with the former grabbing 5 boards and the latter, 4. It was evident that RI’s strong presence in the paint overwhelmed NJC in the third as RI went on a 13-1 run. However, RI went into foul trouble in the third with 6 team fouls by the end of the third compared to NJC’s 3 team fouls. What improved for RI in the third was definitely the lower number of turnovers committed. RI had only 1 turnover in the third which helped them limit their opponents’ scoring.
The fourth quarter started with NJC trailing by 5 points, with a scoreline of 21-26. NJC had a couple of three pointers in the fourth, including one clutch trey with 2 seconds remaining to win the game. Both teams played a tremendous game in the fourth with RI scoring 12 points and NJC scoring 18 with both teams having minimal turnovers.
Bryan Teo of RI had a team high of 14 points and Li Chen Bin had a team high of 6 rebounds. These numbers put up were, however, insufficient for us to win to game as NJC stole the win from RI right at the death. However, foul trouble plagued the RI team yet again and NJC capitalised on that to win the game, upsetting the RI team and their supporters. A close match up between the two schools ended up in a 39-38 victory by NJC as they edged RI out in the dying seconds of the game.
Our boys are still on track to make it to the Quarter-finals stage as we have a 2W1L record at the moment. Our last group game is against Jurong JC which is on this Wednesday, 25th April, 4.30pm. We will need to secure second spot by defeating JJC and shall then look forward to meeting the next round of opponents.