Friday Dec 23, 2011 - as promised, a WIN! We beat Winepak narrowly 63-59. We started the game struggling on offense with both Ching and Ming Lip missing many in-close shots. Fortunately, our defense held up resulting in a low scoring 1st quarter 12-13.
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Ching and Phang both had a sub-par offensive games scoring only 3 points and 2 points respectively in the 1st half (Ching finished with "only" 14 points for the game - though 14 points is "good" for most players, by Ching's high standards, it is "sub-par"!!) (Phang finished the game with only 4 points). But with our usual top scorers scoring only 3 points and 2 points in the 1st half, the rest of us stepped up and picked up the slack (as we should) with Sem and I each getting (top 1st half scores of) 7 points each, Ming Lip with 5pts, Ben with 4pts and Poh Guan with 3pts. We had a better 2nd quarter offensively but Winepak also started adjusting to our man-to-man offense. We narrowly won the 2nd quarter (19-17) for a slim half time lead of 31-30.
In the 3rd quarter, our inability to stop Winepak on defense started to put pressure on us to score to keep pace and we struggled offensively. Even on 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 fast breaks, we failed to score, with Ching and Ming Lip getting offensive rebounds but failing to score on put backs. We lost the 3rd quarter (11-16) and found ourselves trailing 41-46 to start the final quarter.
We started switching our defense from man to zone and back to man etc. Each time we switched defense, it took Winepak 4 or 5 possessions before they realized we'd switched defense. As soon as they realized and started changing their offensive scheme, we would change our defense again. In this way, we were able to neutralize their offense and their 4th quarter offense consistedly mainly on offensive rebounds and put backs (which they had some success due to superior size). Ching also finally came alive and started scoring and Ben hit 2 critical 3 pointers to give us the lead late. Still with only 30+ seconds left, we only had a slim 2 point lead (61-59), possession of the ball and with Phang having fouled out a few possessions earlier.
After a time out, we in bounded and Ben & I worked the clock down using power dribbles / hand offs. As we neared the end of our shot clock, I passed to an open, cutting Ming Lip but he started to turn into his move before he fully caught the ball and lost the ball! To Ming Lip's credit, he stayed with the play and almost immediately stripped the ball off the opposing player's hands, recovering the ball with a new shot clock and 7.5 seconds left to the game and ... Instead of maintaining possession of the ball, Ming Lip takes an 8 foot jump shot!!! Luckily for us it swished!! 63-59!! It was truly a "No, no, no ... Yes, yes!!" moment!
That forced Winepak to have to try for a 3 point shot on their final possession (and even that would have been insufficient). Winepak missed he contested 3 point shot and Ching (smartly) hit the rebound out to mid-court and Winepak missed another desperation shot from mid-court and time ran out. Victory!!
Although we continue to improve our play this week, playing better than last Wednesday, our performance is still below our Ex-UM "peak" or even "usual standard". All of us have to continue to practice and bring our level of play back up to where we know we can be. Still, as the last competitive game of 2011, it is way better to have finished with a victory than otherwise. Well done Ex-UM!
Again, thanks to all supporters who have supported us throughout. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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