Written by: Ong Jia Jie Edited by: Leung Lok Heng & Choa Zhao Xiang Photos by: EusoffWorks
If you missed last week’s quest to 100 points by our basketball boys, you probably missed this high octane game as well since you’re reading this (come on la). Our basketballers finally faced a challenge this time against Sheares Hall, and had to show the (rather empty due to wuhan) crowd why Eusoff are the reigning champions.
Our boys started off hot and within no time there were alleys flying in already with a lob from Ashley over to Jovi who NEARLY misses. The basketballers then decided to focus on defence and suffocated the Sheares players by denying them any space to execute their moves. The Sheares players found it hard to get into the paint and resorted to firing contested shots from deep outside the arc (and even airballing a few). But alas, “the best defence is a great offence”, everyone’s favourite controversial quote – the boys attacked the paint hard, with Shyann spinning past his defender before kicking it out to Raymond who puts up a three and gets fouled in the process, earning three points to take at the free throw line. Good ball movement allowed our boys to take good shots with Shyann nailing a three after several passes by our boys. Feeling hot, Shyann chucks another deep three in his defender’s face despite the contest – BANGBANG. Clinical performance by Eusoff forces SH to foul into bonus territory, which led to Raymond getting two free throws late into the first quarter (which he obviously swishes).
15-6 to Eusoff
Shyann was everywhere in the first quarter.
Eager to pull ahead, Eusoff came back hard in the second quarter with retired sports D Raymond Loo a strong drive in towards the basket and laying it in with the AND-1 to start off the second. Ashley once again demanding all the attention of the SH defenders, pulling them in before kicking it out to Jason who swishes it in from beyond the arc. This was the start of Jason’s takeover in the second quarter, as he sinks yet another three right after this and drives in 1v5 in the next, getting fouled and bagging points from the free throw line. Jason & “handles” are two words that come hand-in-hand, and he demonstrates that everytime he brings the ball down the court, and he even feeds one to Jovi after a behind-the-back cross and Jovi finishes a strong contested layup.
Jason passes the ball in true Kuroko no Basketo fashion.
SH truly found it hard to break the Eusoff defence, throwing up contested shots time and time again, and even turning over the ball a lot as they broke under the pressure from our defence. With the final seconds of the half ticking down, SH had possession and were setting up for a make at the basket – “3…2…1…” BLOCKED BY RAYMOND!!! Not in Mr. Loo’s house no no no.
35-21 to Eusoff at the end of the half!
Reminding everyone he’s still a force to be reckoned (and a big one at that), freshie Bryan Beh receives the ball from Wenjie in the low post and we all know what happens next – my man gives the SH defender the booty treatment and sinks a tough spinning AND-1. In the next possession, the big boy sets up a high screen for Raymond who launches one from way outside and BANGBANG! Raymond really stepped up in the third quarter to show the young’uns what’s up. Uncle Loo hustled hard and got lots (really LOTS n LOTS) of intercepts, carrying out his own rendition of money heist out there, robbing the SH players blind. Jovi had enough of the laojiao domination and decides to flex his moves too, scoring two back to back layups. The second layup was a 3 point play as he cuts in while shielding the ball with his body in the air before getting the foul-in. Wei Shyann wanted some of the spotlight too with a sick fake from outside before driving it deep and finishing it in reverse from under the basket. A strong third gets our boys up to a 54-37 lead by the end of the third.
The quarter started off pretty slow on our end, with Sheares exploiting the space on the court and scoring some baskets to keep them in this game. Bryan and Shyann decided they had enough of this scoring drought – Shyann feeds it to Beh in the low post who draws in the defenders before kicking it back out to Shyann who instantly fires it off the catch from the DEEP corner for a big fat juicy three pointer. Jem also had his share of the spotlight in the fourth by putting up a contested three and FOULS IT IN… (3 + 1 = 4 points WOW). SH seemed to show more life in the fourth, making good use of the space they created – but Jem had enough of this and gives us a MONSTER BLOCK as Sheares tried to fire a three off of a fast break.
Freshie Shawn comes on in the final minutes and shows us why he deserves to be on the court with a sick spin move in the low post and flicking the ball up and off the glass for his first bucket of the game. In the final few seconds of the game, Eusoff calls a timeout to set LYLC Jon with the final basket of the game – he receives the inbound and immediately puts up a sexy clinical jumpshot which hits nothing but net 🙂 75-51 to Eusoff at the end of regulation. GOOD JOB BOYS, and with that, our Basketballers (M) have secured their spot in the grand finals which is being held this Sunday 6pm against KR @ USC. With the current wuhan situation, make sure to send the boys your love before/after the game (hearsay stand outside the window area also can). You will DEFINITELY want to catch them in action!
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