Wednesday, 13th May 2015, Temasek Polytechnic – Raffles Institution Junior College (RIJC) emerged victorious in the ‘A’ Division Round 2 playoff against Saint Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC), with a superb 53-31 win, after the previous victory against Temasek Junior College.

The 1st and 2nd quarter were close fights between the two teams as one team vied for the lead, the other team retaliated to keep their opponent from scoring points. This led to the 1st quarter ending with RIJC taking the spotlight with only 3 points ahead of SAJC with 12-8.

Defending champion RIJC slowly gained their momentum from the 1st quarter and brought it into the 2nd quarter. RIJC’s Goal Shooter (GS) almost never miss consecutive shots, bringing the 
crowd to cheer for them, hence boosting their morale. By half time, it was decided that RIJC would also take this quarter 10-4, further enabling them to widen the gap 22-12.

SAJC attempted to pick up pace in the 3rd quarter when making passes. Although effective in a way, RIJC defenders had no qualms intercepting those passes. This enabled RIJC to make a turnover to their own players, ruthlessly attacking and scoring goals. Despite this, SAJC did not give in and defended valiantly against their opponents with their high lobs in the final minutes of the 3rd quarter, bringing the overall score up to 22-40.

Even though the determination of SAJC was commendable, RIJC had more possession of the ball, allowing them to score more goals and once again take the lead with 20-7 by the end of the 3rd quarter to 42-19.

RIJC and SAJC gave it their all in the 4th quarter, neither one backing down from continuous shifting of defending and attacking. RIJC’s GK and GD made excellent interceptions which enabled them to shift the favor to their own and score points.

SAJC, too, still had the same determination as they made accurate passes through the court, even with the little fumble at the final five minutes of the game. The two teams traded point-for-point, pressuring RIJC to make high lobs due to the fight SAJC was giving which resulted in a first lead for SAJC with 12-11.

With less than a minute, SAJC fought to score the last point, attempting to get every rebound they could. Unfortunately, the whistle went, and they had to settle with 31-53.

On how they thought they did this round, RIJC’s captain and Wing Attack (WA), Tessa, said, “There’s an improvement from previous matches with consistent play, more daring passes and a better timing for the shots.”

Yan Yi, captain and Centre (C) for SAJC, said, “I think we did well and played our own game. We did not give up and tried to keep possession of the ball.”

Scoring by quarter

RIJC vs SAJC
1Q: 12-8
2Q: 10-4 (22-12)
3Q: 20-7 (42-19)
4Q: 11-12 (53-31)