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Win vs South Korea U21: 122-113
We had a bad first half, but the third gave us hope. Down by 4 heading into the final lap, a comeback seemed possible and it seemed like we were on pace to escape the claws of our opponents. But that 4 point lead quickly turned into a double digit lead. But our boys pushed on. We reached single digits midway through the fourth, but the Koreans were stubborn and kept us at arms length. With less than 2 minutes to go, the Koreans brought in their freshly rested starters to finish us off, and Yong Won-Sang did just that - he hit a jumper from the wing which everyone thought would have been the dagger.

But thankfully, our boys didn't give up. Hack-a-Shaq strategies got us within 5 points with less than a minute left, and that was when Goh Kwang Jia took over.

He was pretty quiet all game. By then he just had 12 points on 40% shooting and missed all 4 of his 3 point attempts. How could the guy expected to lead our offense end his night with such numbers? He must have felt the same, as he slid into space to and fired a quick jumper from the top of the key to cut the lead to 3, but Yong Won-Sang caught him as he was going up and sent him to the line. He hit both of his clutch free throws, before launching a three over Yong Won-Sang to send the game into overtime.

But that wasn't all from him. He hit 15 of our 22 OT points, even outscoring South Korea U21, to finish the game with 32 points on 54% shooting. What's most amazing was that he hit all 3 of his three point attempts and was 5 of 6 from the field in OT. Kum Fu Keong also put in an amazing performance, with a 25 point 10 rebound double double. He also had 5 steals, including one crucial steal near the end of the 4th to spark our comeback. Jimmy Elbert also had a double double with 10 point and 18 rebounds (5 OR). He also blocked 4 shots and hit all 2 of his three pointers. Despite that impressive two way statline, he was pretty unlucky as he ended the game as the only player with a negative +/- (-11). Meanwhile Sng Hao Heng flirted with a double double with 12 points and 9 assists. With 18 assists in 2 games, will he emulate the feats of Poh Sze Jian?

We face Pakistan U21 next Monday. Let's hope our players have good game shape!

Win vs Pakistan U21: 108-106
The game was too close for comfort honestly, we started off with quite a comfortable lead but the Pakistanis almost staged a comeback against us. Going into this game, I expected Goh Kwang Jia to play little to no part in the team as his game shape was unsatisfactory. The same goes for Kwa Ming, hence Kum Fu Keong had his second start in 2 games, and the latter did not disappoint.

Kum Fu Keong finished the game with 27 points 7 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 50% from the field and 44% from 3. Another standout player was Sng Hao Heng, who once again showed his prowess in controlling the offense, dishing out 8 assists alongside 15 points from 54% shooting. He now has 8.7 apg, and is projected to break Poh Sze Jian's season assist record, should he manage to keep it up for another 11 games.

The other 3 starters stuffed the stat sheet (Jimmy 12 pts 12 reb, Seah 16 pts 7 reb 7 ast, Pang 20 pts 6 reb 5 ast) but failed to make much impact on winning, as all 3 had negative +/-. It boiled down to Hu Chaoting making the biggest impact, as he was +14 in 17 minutes. His stats might not be impressive (6 pts 3 ast 2 blk), but he did all the dirty work that didn't show up in the box score.

Our next game will be against India U21. Should we win, we would virtually secure our place in the next round (unless Japan loses to one of the other countries we beat). Let's hope everything goes well for our boys!

Great job here, congrats!

GG amazing work so far!

Win vs India U21: 89-82
We did it! Our boys are through to the next round! Although it is also thanks to Japan U21 from beating South Korea U21. Even if we lose our next 3 games, we will finish with a 3-3 record, and that should be 4th place at worst, as South Korea U21 and India U21 would battle it out to see who finishes with a 1-5 or 2-4 game record (assuming India U21 beats Pakistan U21, and based on tonight's game, it is highly possible).

Things started off pretty badly for us. I didn't expect them to be that strong. At the surface they seemed similar to us quality-wise. Plus we had a good GS week. But they just burst ahead with a 5 point lead in the first, then kept us at bay all the way til the third, where our boys slowly chipped away the lead, before Seah Yew Shi dished a sweet one to Jimmy Elbert, to brought the crowd to their feet with a thunderous dunk to take the lead.

Then it was a totally different game in the final lap. Our boys raced to a 21-8 run in the 4th, before taking their foot off the pedal. It got awfully close near the end, and our opponents we trying their luck with Hack-a-Shaq, where they almost succeeded. Thankfully, Sng Hao Heng came in with the clutch. He hit two clutch FTs with 23 seconds to go, extending the lead to 5, then stopped two consecutive shots, and got sent to the line again where he hit another two shots, then challenged another two shots to hand us the dub.

Contribution was pretty even throughout the team, with all our starters hitting double digits, and two players coming close. The ball was also well spread around with 5 players having 4 or more assists. Sng Hao Heng of course, had the most, with 8 assists. He now has 8.5 apg, on pace for 119 assists this season. Let's hope he keeps up the good work. Kwa Ming spent another game on the bench, but he was the spark that ignited our comeback, finishing the game with an amazing +18 to cement his position as our most impactful player.

We will be facing Philippines U21 next. Let's hope our boys put on a good show as we prepare for the next qualifying round.

Epic stuff, congrats!

Thanks! The NT is also amazing. Consolation tourney is always hard but you still pulled off a 3 game winning streak!

Thanks and absolutely, being in the NT has tough me a lot of things

Loss vs Philippines U21: 86-110
Our high flying boys were finally brought down to earth. It was an expected result tho. They controlled the whole game, all the way til the fourth where it was garbage time.

That said, despite the heavy loss, I was quite satisfied with the performance of some of our boys. We focused on channeling our attack via Seah Yew Shi this time round and he did not disappoint. He finished the game with 32 points on 48% shooting, and hitting all 6 of his free throws. He also grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out 6 assists to be our stat leaders in all 3 categories. Alongside him, Kum Fu Keong once again put in an allstar performance with 27 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Thong Chong Lai had a terrible shooting night (23% from the field, 1/6 from three), but he made sure he worked hard in other areas, finishing with 7 rebounds and 6 assists to go with his 7 points. Meanwhile Sng Hao Heng just had a night to forget after putting in mesmerizing performances in the last 3 games. He only managed 3 assists, but also lost the ball 3 times.

We will be playing Japan U21 next. If we are lucky, we will see Sim Chuan Dong and Ong Jian Shi back into the team, as their respective franchises have been knocked out of the Cup (although Ong Jian Shi's club has scheduled a scrimmage, let's hope the manager doesn't sabotage us by playing him in a scrimmage).

Scrimmage vs Kazakhstan U21: 96-89 (W)
Our boys had a well deserved break from competitive basketball with a scrimmage against Kazakhstan U21 tonight. It was a good warm up game for Ong Jian Shi and Sim Chuan Dong as they made a return to international basketball after being dropped due to game shape issues. Kwa Ming also saw a return to form, and given his second start on the season tonight. He put up a show with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. He hit 2 of his 3 three point attempts, and was a perfect 10 of 10 from the free throw line. Seah Yew Shi also put up some pretty amazing stats, with 23 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Meanwhile Jimmy Elbert flirted with a triple double with 7 points, 10 rebounds and 8 blocks. I actually wish we recorded blocks on the overview page, because it would be interesting to see where his performance tonight ranks. Sng Hao Heng also put up a similar performance with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists, controlling the offense like he always does.

We'll be facing Japan U21 next. This international break week came at a pretty bad time, as Japan U21 would have the enthusiasm advantage against us in the next match if they played TIE tonight. But regardless, the next match isn't the most important because we have virtually qualified for the next round (India U21 is the only team that can mathematically beat us to the spot, but it won't happen unless they cause an upset against Philippines U21).

Loss vs Japan U21: 99-108
I came into the game with no expectations, and seeing the Japanese putting in more effort in the game made me accept the fact that we would qualify in fourth place (India U21 beat South Korea U21 tonight, but I realized that due to their forfeit match, they wouldn't qualify even if they beat Philippines U21 with a big enough margin to go above us on point difference). But the game engine just had to be cruel and torture me.

To be fair, they could have just boosted the Japan U21 team and made our players underperform all round. But no, they had to pick a scapegoat, and a ridiculous one that is. Goh Kwang Jia, who is our best scorer in his best form, actually goes 22% from the field, missing even his wide open shots.

In the end, Sng Hao Heng had to take the reigns on offense and switch his mindset to be a score first guard to log 27 points, including 5 of 7 from 3. Jimmy Elbert was active on the boards, pulling down 18 rebounds. Meanwhile Kum Fu Keong showed his defensive prowessness from the bench as he picked up 6 stocks.

We have one last game to go, against China U21, whom will also play us in the next round (let's hope it's our opening game for the next stage, haha). Next round predictions will likely be Saudi Arabia U21, Vietnam U21/Australia U21 (depending on who wins their matchup), Thailand U21, and Kazakhstan U21. Let's hope for a favourable draw!