UM is through to the Semi Finals! It was no easy task though. There are 8 teams in the Inter Zone Round, with each match up being played in a best of 3 format. Essentially, the 1st round is already the Quarter Finals.
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Our Quarter Finals opponent was Nan Yi Old Boys. In the 1st game, Nan Yi was surprised by our aggressive man to man defense and had difficulty adjusting all game long. At the same time they played a relatively passive zone defense that gave up many open shots to us. As a result we led most of the way, with our biggest lead being a 26 point lead and we won comfortably by 14 in the end (96-82).
Game 2 was at Rawang. Nan Yi's coaches did a fantastic job and prepared their team well for our man to man defense. From the start they kept going to the low post, taking advantage of their bigger size and strength. At the same time, they also played an aggressive man to man defense, with lots of holding, pushing and bumping, getting them a 20-16 after 1 quarter. Still, our patented tough defense and our high octane offense got us back into the game in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and staked us out to a 10 point lead for most of the game. However we couldn't pull away and in the 4th quarter, fatigue started to become a factor. Our players made several uncharacteristic mistakes at critical times allowing them to close the gap and we had one of our lowest scoring quarter in a long time, scoring only 7 points whilst giving up 20 points! With less than 1 minute left, Nan Yi took a 1 point lead, their first lead of the game!! Although we had our chances, our last few shots would not go down for us and we lost by 1 point!! Final score 57-58, indeed an uncharacteristically low score for us.
Game 3 was last Friday (19 Nov), an elimination game. This time it was our turn to make coaching adjustments. We made sure players we prepared mentally for all the physical contact as well as ready to return physical contact ourselves and reminded them to keep a very high pace.
Our players responded emphatically and we had one of our best ever starting periods. Incredible super-aggressive defense and lightning speed offense. We basically jumped on them and exploded to a 31-17 lead after just 1 quarter!
However Nan Yi stayed focused and continued to force the action into the low post. At the same time our players started to get tired and were not able to maintain the super high intensity constantly at both ends of the floor. Nan Yi slowly cut into our early lead.
We were therefore forced to make yet another coaching adjustment, this time "in-game". We made the decision to go instead to a sagging 1/4 court man to man as well as to front their post. As we had hoped, in the intensity of the game, Nan Yi did not realize the change and kept picking up their dribble way earlier than necessary and tried to pass into the post from too far away.
This kept Nan Yi struggling on offense and at the same time allowed our players to catch their breath on defense so they could continue to maintain the super high speed offense.
Although Nan Yi managed to close the gap to as close as 5 points, critical shooting especially from Jensen prevented them from getting any closer and with a few minutes left, Nan Yi finally lost focus for just a few minutes and we ran off several fast break points bumping the lead to 15. From there we were able to hold on and coast to a hard fought and well earned victory. Final score 79-69.
Well done to all our UM players including the bench players who were able to play critical minutes at critical junctures of the game, enabling our starters the crucial few minutes of rest here and there. Truly a team effort victory.
Many thanks to the many loyal UM supporters who came and cheered for the team in Subang as well as, as far away as Rawang.
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